Chap. 92.] PLANTS THAT GROW UPON TREES. 433 



the appearance of being trimmed by art. Passienus Crispus, 

 the orator, who in our time was twice consul, and afterwards 

 became still more famous as having Nero for his step-son, on 

 marrying his mother Agrippina, was passionately attached to 

 a fine tree that grew in this grove, and would often kiss and 

 embrace it : not only would he lie down, too, beneath it, but 

 he would also moisten its roots with wine. 71 In the vicinity 

 of this grove there is a holm-oak, likewise of very considerable 

 celebrity, the trunk of which is no less 72 than thirty-four feet 

 in circumference ; giving birth to ten other trees of remarkable 

 size, it forms of itself a whole forest. 



CHAP. 92. PLANTS THAT HAVE NO PECULIAR SPOT FOR THEIR 



GROWTH : OTHERS THAT GROW UPON TREES, AND WILL NOT 

 GROW IN THE GROUND. NINE VARIETIES OE THEM : CADYTAS, 

 POLTPODION, PHAULIAS, HIPPOPHiESTON. 



It is a well-known fact that trees are killed by ivy. 73 The 

 mistletoe also has a similar influence, although it is generally 

 thought that its injurious effects are not so soon perceptible : 

 and, indeed, this plant, apart from the fruit that it bears, is 

 looked upon as by no means the least remarkable. There are 

 certain vegetable productions which cannot be propagated in 

 the ground, and which grow nowhere but on trees ; having no 

 domicile of their own, they live upon others ; such, for instance, 

 is the case with the mistletoe, and a herb that grows in Syria, 

 and is known as the " cadytas." 74 This last entwines around 

 not only trees, but brambles even ; in the neighbourhood of 

 Tempe, too, in Thessaly, there is found a plant which is called 

 " polypodion ; 75 the dolichos 76 is found also, and wild thyme. 77 

 After the wild olive has been pruned there springs up a plant 

 that is known as " phaulias ; 78 while one thai grows upon the 



71 To its great detriment, probably. 



73 Fee says that no holm-oak is ever known to attain this size. 



73 See c. 62. 



74 Sprengel says that this is the parasitic plant, which he calls Cassyta 

 filiformis. Fee says that this opinion, though perhaps not to be absolutely 

 rejected, must be accepted with reserve. 



75 It does not seem to have been identified. 



76 See B. xviii. c. 35. 77 Serpyllum. See B. xx. c. 90. 



78 A mistletoe, apparently, growing upon the wild olive. Fee says that 

 no such viscus appears to be known. 



VOL. III. F F 



