Chap. 13,] THE SUMACH-TEEE. 1/9 



no fruit, while, on the other hand, the one that bears fruit has 

 no blossom, and the fruit, as it falls, is being continually replaced 

 by fresh. The seed of this tree is similar to that of the cy- 

 press. Some persons give this tree the name of " cedrelates." 

 The resin produced from it is very highly praised, and the 

 wood of it lasts for ever, for which reason it is that they have 

 long been in the habit of using it for making the statues of the 

 gods. In a temple at Rome there is a statue of Apollo Sosi- 

 anus 58 in cedar, originally brought from Seleucia. There is a 

 tree similar to the cedar, found also in Arcadia ; and there is 

 a shrub that grows in Phrygia, known as the " cedrus." 



CHAP. 12. (6.) THE TEKEBINTH. 59 



Syria, too, produces the terebinth, the male tree of which 

 bears no fruit, and the female consists of two different va- 

 rieties ; 60 one of these bears a red fruit, the size of a lentil, 

 while the other is pale, and ripens at the same period as 

 the grape. This fruit is not larger than a bean, is of a very 

 agreeable smell, and sticky and resinous to the touch. About 

 Ida in Troas, and in Macedonia, this tree is short and shrubby, 

 but at Damascus, in Syria, it is found of very considerable size. 

 Its wood is remarkably flexible, and continues sound to a very 

 advanced age : it is black and shining. The blossoms appear 

 in clusters, like those of the olive-tree, but are of a red colour ; 

 the leaves are dense, and closely packed. It produces foili- 

 cules, too, from which issue certain insects like gnats, as also a 

 kind of resinous liquid 61 which oozes from the bark. 



CHAP. 13. THE SUMACH-TREE. 



The male sumach-tree 62 of Syria is productive, but the 

 female is barren. The leaf resembles that of the elm, though 

 it is a little longer, and has a downy surface. ^ The footstalks 

 of the leaves lie always alternately in opposite directions, and 



5S See B. xxxvi. c. 4. 



59 Pistacia terebinttms of Linnaras. 



60 These varieties, Fee says, are not observed by modern naturalists. 



01 Garidel has remarked, that the trunk of this tree produces coriaceous 

 vesicles, filled with a clear and odoriferous terebinthine, in which pucerons, 

 or aphides, are to be seen floating. 



62 "Rhus." The Rhus coriaria of Linnaeus. Pliny is wrong in distin- 

 guishing this tree into sexes, as all the flowers are hermaphroditical, and 

 therefore fruitful. 



N 2 



