Quercus
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Quercus
The Oak
Family: Fagaceae
The Oak
Family: Fagaceae
Haec nemora indigenae Fauni Nymphaeque tenebant
gensque virum truncis et duro robore nata,
quis neque mos neque cultus erat, nec iungere tauros
aut componere opes norant aut parcere parto,
sed rami atque asper victu venatus alebat.
The local Nymphs and Fauns once lived in these groves
and a race of men born of trees with tough timber,
who had no laws or culture, and didn’t know how
to yoke oxen or gather wealth, or lay aside a store,
but the branches fed them, and the hunter’s wild fare.
In this passage of the Aeneid,
the king Evandro, the founder of the stronghold where it was established
Rome, tells to Aeneas the birth of
Lazio. According to his story, the native forests of Lazio were originally
peopled by wild men, fauns and nymphs born from an unique strong oak, that used
to live with hunting and wild fruits only.
