ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, III. xiv. 13 



rather than smooth. The tree is large, being both 

 tall and wide-spreading. It is not common about 

 Ida, but rare, and likes wet ground. The wood is 

 yellow strong fibrous and tough ^ ; for it is all heart. 

 Men use it for expensive doors 2 : it is easy to cut 

 when it is green, but difficult when it is dry. The 

 tree is thought to bear no fruit, but in the ' wallets ' ' 

 it produces its gum and certain creatures like gnats ; 

 and it has in autumn its peculiar ' winter-buds ' ^ 

 which are numerous small and black, but these have 

 not been observed at other seasons. 



The abele and the black poplar have each but a 

 single kind : both are of erect growth, but the black 

 poplar is much taller and of more open growth, and 

 is smoother, while the shape of its leaves is similar 

 to those of the other. The wood also of both, when 

 cut, is much the same in whiteness. Neither of 

 these trees appears to have fruit or flower.^ 



The aspen is a tree resembling the abele both in 

 size and in having whitish branches, but the leaf 

 is ivy-like : while however it is otherwise without 

 angles, its one angular*^ projection is long and 

 narrows to a sharp point : in colour the upper and 

 under sides are much alike. The leaf is attached 

 to a long thin stalk : wherefore the leaf is not set 

 straight, but has a droop." The bark of the abele 

 is rougher and more scaly, like that of the wild pear, 

 and it bears no fruit. 



The alder also has but one form : in growth it is 



* KCLXpvi, here probably a gall, mistaken for winter-bud. 



* c/., however, .3. 3. 4 ; 4. 10. 2, where T. seems to follow a 

 different authority. 



" Supply ywy'tay from aytiviot^. 



' ifKiKhiuivov : sc. is not in line with the stalk. 



