CHAP. 49.—THE SEA BRYON.
There is another kind of marine shrub, known by the name of “bryon;”[1015] 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[1016] and an oak,[1017] 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[1018] 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,[1019] indeed, grows everywhere. The sea-fig[1020] is destitute of leaves, and the bark is red. There is a palm-tree[1021] 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,[1022] and of thyme. Both of these last, when thrown up by the tide, are transformed[1023] into pumice.