384 pltny's natural history. [Book XVI. 



their constellation. 1 As for the vine, it blossoms at the summer 

 solstice, and the olive begins to do so a little later. All blos- 

 soms remain on the trees seven days, and never fall sooner ; 

 some, indeed, fall later, but none remain on more than twice 

 seven days. The blossoms are always off before the eighth 

 day 2 of the ides of July, the period of the prevalence of the 

 Etesian 3 winds. 



CHAP. 43. (26.) — AT WHAT PERIOD EACH TREE BEARS FRUIT. 



THE CORNEL. 



Upon some trees the fruit does not follow immediately upon 

 the fall of the blossom. The cornel 4 about the summer sol- 

 stice puts forth a fruit that is white at first, and after that 

 the colour of blood. The female 5 of this tree, after autumn, 

 bears a sour berry, which no animal will touch ; its wood, 

 too, is spongy and quite useless, while, on the other hand, that 

 of the male tree is one of the Very strongest and hardest 6 woods 

 known: so great a difference do we find in trees belonging to 

 the same species. The terebinth, the maple, and the ash pro- 

 duce their seed at harvest-time, while the nut-trees, the apple, 

 and the pear, with the exception of the winter or the more 

 early kinds, bear fruit in autumn. The glandiferous trees 

 bear at a still later period, the setting of the Vergilise, 7 with 

 the exception of the aesculus, 8 which bears in the autumn only ; 

 while some kinds of the apple and the pear, and the cork-tree, 

 bear fruit at the beginning of winter. 



The fir puts forth blossoms of a saffron colour about the 

 summer solstice, and the seed is ripe just after the setting of 

 the Vergilise. The pine and the pitch-tree germinate about 

 fifteen days before the fir, but their seed is not ripe till after 

 the setting of the Vergiliae. 



1 It was supposed in astrology that the stars exercised an effect equally 

 upon animal and vegetable life. 



2 25th of July. 3 See B. xviii. c. 68. 



4 The Cornus mas of botanists ; probably the Frutex sanguineus men- 

 tioned in c. 30. See also B. xv. c. 31. 



5 Probably the Lonicera Alpigena of Linnaeus ; the fruit of which resem- 

 bles a cherry, but is of a sour flavour, and produces vomiting. 



6 The wood is so durable, that a tree of this kind in the forest of Mont- 

 morency is said to be a thousand years old. 



« Serf B. xviii. cc. 59, 60. 8 See c. 6 of this Book. 



