PLNQUIRY INTO PLANTS, III. xn. 5-6 



kinds it is somewhat smaller, 1 more fragrant and of 

 more astringent taste, so that it can be stored for a 

 longer time. The wood also of these kinds is closer 

 and yellower, though in other respects it does not 

 differ. The flower in all the kinds is like the almond 

 flower, except that it is not pink, as that is, but 



greenish 2 In stature the tree is large and it 



has thick foliage. The leaf in the young tree is 

 round 3 but much divided and like celery at the tip ; 

 but the leaf of older trees is very much divided and 

 forms angles with larger divisions ; it is smooth 4 

 fibrous thinner and more oblong than the celery 

 leaf, both as a whole and in its divisions, and it has 

 a jagged edge all round. 5 It has a long thin stalk, 

 and the leaves turn bright red before they are shed. 

 The tree has many roots, which run deep ; wherefore 

 it lives a long time and is hard to kill. The wood 

 is close and hard and does not rot. The tree grows 

 from seed and also from a piece torn off. It is 

 subject to a disease which causes it to become worm- 

 eaten 6 in its old age, and the worms are large 

 and different 7 to those engendered by other trees. 



8 Of the sorb they make two kinds, the 'female' 

 which bears fruit and the ' male ' which is barren. 

 There are moreover differences in the fruit of the 

 ' female ' kind ; in some forms it is round, in others 

 oblong and egg-shaped. There are also differences 



4 rtravitv: cf. 3. 11. 1; 3. 15. 6. 



5 irepLKfX a P a y/ J -^ ov conj. Seal.; TrepiKeOap/j.ei'oi' U; irepiKfuap- 

 /j.fi>ov MVAld. cf. allusions to the leaf of /ueo-TrtATj, 3. 13. 1 ; 

 3. 15. 6. 



6 cf. 4. 14. 10 ; Plin. 17. 221 ; Pall. 4. 10. 



7 idiot Aid. (for construction cf. Plat. Gorg. 481 c); IStovs 

 UMV (the first t corrected in U). W. adopts Sch.'s conj., 

 tjHiovs, in allusion to the edible cossua : cf. Plin. I.e. 



6 Plin. 15. 85. 



239 



