In Ovid's 'Metamorphoses', the artbute tree is among the trees which characterise his 'Golden Age' - an age in which the earth yields its fruit of its own accord. There is doubtless some irony in this, for the arbute is not among the most palatable of fruits - despite being known as the 'strawberry tree'. Nevertheless, this picture of a lean perennial abundance appears profound to me, for surely this is the nature of an 'abundance within ecological limits.'
Another ancient reference to the arbute fills out this picture. In
book II of Virgil's 'Georgics', where he begins to write of trees,
there is the line:
"By grafting the rough arbute yields the walnut ..."
His point is similar to the one I would make. He writes that:
"The trees that lift themselves spontaneously
Into the realms of light are blithe and strong,
For power is in the soil, but prove unfruitful."
but by skills such as grafting might be brought to a desirable yield.
The grafting of walnut into arbute may be wholly in the realm of imagination but stands as a potent symbol of skill turning the lean abundance of nature to the products of culture. That is, it is by design, skill, knowledge and imagination that a future golden age of 'abundance within ecological limits' is sought.
