BOOK XVI. VIII. 19-21 



with wavy edges, and they do not turn yellow 

 when they fall Hke beech leaves ; they differ in 

 lcngth according to the variety of their kinds. 



There are two classes of holm-oak. The ItaUan 

 variety, called by some Greeks milax, has a leaf not 

 very different from that of the ohve, but the holm- 

 oak in the provinces is the one with pointed leaves. 

 The acorn of both kinds is shorter and more slen- 

 dcr than that of other varieties ; Homer calls it Od. xi. 212. 

 akylon and distingiiishes it by that name from the 

 common acorn. It is said that the male holm-oak 

 bears no acorns. 



The best and largest acorn grows on the common 

 oak, and the next best on the ^Wnter oak, as that of 

 the hard-oak is small, and that of the Turkey oak 

 a rough, bristly thing with a prickly cup hke that 

 of the chestnut. But also in the case of the oak 

 in gcneral the acorn of the female tree is sweeter 

 and softer, while that of the male tree is more 

 compact. In the most esteemed variety called de- 

 scriptively the broad-leaved oak, the acoms differ 

 among themseh^es in size and in the thinness of 

 their shell, and also in that some have under the 

 shell a rough coat of a rusty colour, whereas in 

 others one comes to the white flesh at once. Those 

 acorns are also esteemed the kernel of which at 

 each extremity taken lengthwise has a stony hard- 

 ness, those having this in the husk being better than 

 those with it in the flesh of the nut, but in either 

 case it only occurs with a male tree. Moreover 

 in some cases the acorn is oval, in others round, and 

 in others of a more pointed shape, just as the colour 

 also is blacker or hghtcr, the latter being preferred. 

 The ends of acorns are bitter and the middle parts 



401 



