Pretty Lessons in Verse :: :: University of Virginia Library

The cypress with her lofty spire,
A tree which poets much admire,
Was cyparissus named of old,
And eke cupressus, I've been told;
And betula's the slender birch,
For twigs of which we need not search;
And fagus is the spreading beech,
The top of which a boy can reach;
And tilia is the light green lime,
The boughs of which a boy may climb;
And suber is the cork tree's name,
And buxus what the box doth claim;
The strawberry tree is arbŭtus,
The poplar tall is popŭlus;
And salix doth the willow mean,
With hoary leaves of soft sea-green;

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And cornus is the cornel-tree,
The fruit of which is fair to see—
'Tis also called cornelian cherry;
And sorbus bears the service-berry;
And spinus is the armed thorn,
Which lovely flowers in spring adorn;
And alnus is the alder dark,
With blackish spots upon its bark.
Castanea is the chestnut-tree,
On which the bearded nuts we see;
And palma is the palm so high,
Which grows beneath a burning sky.
The olive-tree of graceful growth
Is olea and olīva both:
The wilding olive's oleaster;
And so you'll find, my little master.

These trees are all feminine, saving a few,
And those that are masculine are but these two;
The thorn, which produces the wild plum or sloe,
And also the tree on which wild olives grow;
Their names, oleaster and spinus, you know.
But five are called neuter, as Latin books say, sir,
Thus, robur, and suber, and siler, and acer.