ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, III. iv. 4-6 



a little later, manna-ash^ and maple in summer ; alder 

 hazel and a certain kind of wild pear in autumn ; 

 oak and chestnut later still, about the setting of the 

 Pleiad ; and in like manner alaternus kermes-oak 

 Christ's-thorn cotoneaster after the setting of the 

 Pleiad ; aria (holm-oak) when winter is beginning, 

 apple with the first cold weather, wild pear late - in 

 winter. Andrachne and hybrid arbutus first ripen 

 their fruit Avhen the grape is turning, and again ^ 

 when winter is beginning ; for these trees appear to 

 bear twice. As for ^ silver-fir and yew, they flower 

 a little before the solstice ; ^(the flower of the silver- 

 fir is yellow and otherwise pretty) ; they bear their 

 fruit after the setting of the Pleiad. Fir and Aleppo 

 pine are a little earlier in budding, about fifteen 

 days, but produce their fruit after the setting of the 

 Pleiad, though proportionately earlier than silver-fir 

 and yew. 



In these trees then the difference of time is not 

 considerable ; the greatest difference is shewn in 

 Phoenician cedar holly and kermes-oak ; for Phoe- 

 nician cedar appears to keep its fruit for a year, the 

 new fruit overtaking that of last year ; and, accord- 

 ing to some, it does not ripen it at all ; wherefore 

 men gather it unripe and keep it, whereas if it is left 

 on the tree, it shrivels up. The Arcadians say that 

 the kermes-oak also takes a year to perfect its fruit ; 

 for it ripens last year's fruit at the same time that 

 the new fruit appears on it; the result of which is that 

 such trees always have fruit on them. They say also 



^ After Z<mpov Aid. adds aveovmi (so also H and G) ; Plin. 

 13. 121. omits it ; om. W. after Sch. 

 * yhp Aid. ; S^ conj. W. 

 5 Probably an early gloss, W. c/. Plin. 16. 106. 



183 



