ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, III. ix. 4-6 



in the pine too it is scanty and bitter,^ as in this 

 other cone-bearing tree, but in the fir it is fragrant 

 and abundant. Now the pine is rare in Arcadia, 

 but common in Elis. Tlie Arcadians then dispute 

 altogether the nomenclature. 



The pine appears to differ also from the fir in 

 being glossier and having finer leaves, while it is 

 smaller in stature and does not grow so straight ; 

 also in bearing a smaller cone, which is stiffer and 

 has a more pitchy kernel, while its wood is whiter, 

 more like that of the silver-fir, and wholly free from 

 pitch. And there is another great difference 2 

 between it and the fir ; the fir, if it is burnt down 

 to the roots, does not shoot up again, while the 

 pine, according to some, will do so ; for instance 

 this happened in Lesbos,^ when the pine-forest of 

 Pyrrha * was burnt. The people of Ida say that the 

 fir is liable to a kind of disease ; — ^when not only the 

 heart but the outer part of the trunk becomes glutted ^ 

 with pitch, the tree then is as it were choked. This 

 happens of its own accord through the excessive 

 luxuriance of the tree, as one may conjecture ; for 

 it all turns into pitch-glutted wood. This then is an 

 affection peculiar to the fir. 



' The silver-fir is either ' male ' or ' female,' and 

 has differences in its leaves "^ ; those of the ' male ' 

 are sharper more needle-like and more bent ; where- 

 fore the whole tree has a more compact appearance. 

 There are also differences in the wood, that of the 

 ' female ' being whiter softer and easier to work, 



* iv Affffi^ conj. W. from G, and Plin. 16. 46 ; els hia&ov 

 MSS. 



* On the W. of Lesbos, modem CalonL cf. 2. 2. 6 ; Plin. I.e. 

 » c/. 1. 6. 1 ; Plin. 16. 44. 



« PUn. 16. 48, 7 cf. 1. 8. 2. 



217 



