ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, III. xvi. 1-3 



of the mistletoe. It produces the oak-mistletoe on 

 the north side and the mistletoe on the south. 



The Arcadians have a tree which they call smilax l 

 (holm-oak), which resembles the kermes-oak, but 

 has not spinous leaves, its leaves being softer and 

 longer 2 and differing in several other ways. Nor 

 is the wood hard and close like that of the kermes- 

 oak, but quite soft to work. 



The tree which the Arcadians call ' cork-oak ' 3 

 (holm-oak) has this character: to put it generally, 

 it is between the kermes-oak and the oak ; and some 

 suppose it to be the ' female ' kermes-oak ; wherefore, 

 where the kermes-oak does not grow, they use this 

 tree for their carts and such-like purposes; for instance 

 it is so used by the peoples of Lacedaemon and Elis. 

 The Dorians also call the tree aria. 4 Its wood is softer 

 and less compact than that of the kermes-oak, but 

 harder and closer than that of the oak. When it is 

 barked, 5 the colour of the wood is paler than that of 

 the kermes-oak, but redder than that of the oak. 

 The leaves resemble those of both trees, but they 

 are somewhat large, if we consider the tree as a 

 kermes-oak, and somewhat small if we regard it as 

 an oak. The fruit is smaller in size than that of the 

 kermes-oak, and equal to the smallest acorns ; it is 

 sweeter than that of the kermes-oak, bitterer than 

 that of the oak. Some call the fruit of the kermes- 

 oak and of the aria ' mast,' 6 keeping the name 

 ' acorn ' for the fruit of the oak. It has a core which 

 is more obvious than in kermes-oak. Such is the 

 character of the e cork-oak.' 



4 Already described ; cj. 3. 4. 2 ; 3. 17* 1. 



6 cf. Pans. Arcadia, 8. 12. 



&KV\OV : cf. Horn. Od. 10. 242. 



261 



