Throughout the middle ages, moreover, the word alba was somewhat loosely used.
Alba decided to take a self-defense so that she would be able to overpower anyone who came at her.
Both the alb and its name are derived ultimately from the tunica alba, the white tunic, which formed part of the ordinary dress of Roman citizens under the Empire.
P. alba suffers much from the ravages of wood-eating larvae, and also from fungoid growths, especially where the branches have been removed by pruning or accident.
The Latin colony of Alba Fucens near the north-west corner of the lake was founded in the adjoining Aequian territory in 303, so that from the beginning of the 3rd century the Marsians were in touch with a Latin-speaking community, to say nothing of the Latin colony of Carsioli (298 B.C.) farther west.