Latin Texts & Translations

There is another kind of marine shrub, known by the name of "bryon;" ^[Note] it has the leaf of the lettuce, only that it is of a more wrinkled appearance; it grows nearer land, too, than the last. Far out at sea we find a fir-tree ^[Note] and an oak, ^[Note] each a cubit in height; shells are found adhering to their branches. It is said that this sea-oak is used for dyeing wool, and that some of them even bear acorns ^[Note] in the sea, a fact which has been ascertained by shipwrecked persons and divers. There are other marine trees also of remarkable size, found in the vicinity of Sicyon; the sea-vine, ^[Note] indeed, grows everywhere. The sea-fig ^[Note] is destitute of leaves, and the bark is red. There

is a palm-tree ^[Note] also in the number of the sea-shrubs. Beyond the columns of Hercules there is a sea-shrub that grows with the leaf of the leek, and others with those of the carrot, ^[Note] and of thyme. Both of these last, when thrown up by the tide, are transformed ^[Note] into pumice.