374 PLINY* S NATUEAL HISTORY. [Book XVI. 



ing a strong resemblance to the rose-tree, and throwing out 

 numerous branches from the stem ; to beasts of burden, goats, 

 und sheep it is poisonous, but for man it is an antidote 40 against 

 the venom of serpents. . 



(21.) The following among the forest-trees do not lose their 

 leaves: the fir, the larch, the pinaster, the juniper, the cedar, 

 the terebinth, the box, the holm-oak, the aquifolia, the cork, 

 the yew, and the tamarisk. 41 A middle place between the 

 evergreens and those which are not so, is occupied by the an- 

 drachle 42 in Greece, and by the arbutus 43 in all parts ofthe 

 world ; as they lose all their leaves with the exception of those 

 on the top of the tree. Among certain of the shrubs, too, the 

 bramble and the calamus, the leaves do not fall. In the territory 

 of Thurii, where Sybaris formerly stood, from the city there 

 was a single oak 44 to be seen that never lost its leaves, and 

 never used to bud before midsummer : it is a singular thing 

 that this fact, which has been so often alluded to by the Greek 

 writers, should have been passed over in silence by our own. 

 Indeed, so remarkable are the virtues that we find belonging 

 to some localities, that about Memphis in Egypt, and at Ele- 

 phantina in Thebais, the leaves 46 tail from none of the trees, 

 not the vine even. 



CHAF. 34. (22.) THE NATTTEE OF THE LEAVES WHICH WITHER 



AND FALL. 



All the trees, with the exception of those already men- 



40 It has certain dangerous properties, which cause the herbivorous ani- 

 mals to avoid touching it. It acts strongly on the muscular system, and, 

 as Fee remarks, used as an antidote to the stings of serpents, it is not im- 

 probable that its effect would be the worst of the two. 



u See B xiii. c b7. The tamarisk of the moderns is not an evergreen, 

 which has caused writers to doubt if it is identical with the tamariscus of 

 the ancients, and to be dispqsed to look for it among the larger encse or 

 heaths. The leaves of the larch fall every year ; those of the other ever- 

 o-reens'mostly every two or three years. 42 See B. xiii. c. 40. 



43 s ee b, xiii. c. 40. This assertion of Pliny is erroneous, as these trees 

 are in reality evergreens, though all trees of that class are liable to lose their 

 leaves through certain maladies. 



44 " Quercus " Tbe ilex or holm-oak is an evergreen. 



« Pliny is in error here. Varro, De He Rust. B. i. c. 7, has made men- 

 tion of this tree. , , ' 



*fl The hot climates possess a greater number of evergreens than the tem- 

 perate regions, but not of the same species or genus. The vine invariably 

 loses its ieaves each year. 



