ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, III. vm. 2-3 



1 Take then the various kinds of oak ; for in this 

 tree men recognise more differences than in any 

 other. Some simply speak of a cultivated and a wild 

 kind, not recognising any distinction made by the 

 sweetness of the fruit ; (for sweetest is that of the 

 kind called Valonia oak, and this they make the wild 

 kind), but distinguishing the cultivated kind by its 

 growing more commonly on tilled land and having 

 smoother timber, while the Valonia oak has rough 

 wood and grows in mountain districts. Thus some 

 make four kinds, others five. They also in some 

 cases vary as to the names assigned ; thus the kind 

 which bears sweet fruit is called by some hemeris, 

 by others 'true oak.' So too with other kinds. 

 However, to take the classification given by the 

 people of Mount Ida, these 2 are the kinds : hemeris 

 (gall-oak), aigilops (Turkey-oak), ' broad-leaved ' oak 

 (scrub oak), Valonia oak, sea-bark oak, which some 

 call ' straight-barked ' oak. 3 A11 these bear fruit; 

 but the fruits of Valonia oak are the sweetest, as has 

 been said ; second to these those of hemeris (gall-oak), 

 third those of the 'broad-leaved' oak (scrub oak), 

 fourth sea-bark oak, and last aigilops (Turkey- 

 oak), whose fruits are very bitter. 4 However the 

 fruit is not always sweet in the kinds specified as 

 such 6 ; sometimes it is bitter, that of the Valonia oak 

 for instance. There are also differences in the size 

 shape and colour of the acorns. Those of Valonia 

 oak and sea-bark oak are peculiar ; in both of these 

 kinds on what are called the ' male ' trees the acorns 

 become stony at one end or the other ; in one kind 

 this hardening takes place in the end which is 



4 Plin. 16. 19-21. 



8 oi/x More conj. W.; text defective in Ald.H. 



205 



