BOOK XVI. XIX. 46-49 



of the pitch-pine is scantier a-nd also drier and thinner 

 and ot a colder nature, and the whole tree is rougher 

 and is covered with resin ; the wood more resembles 

 that of the fir. When the roots of a larch have been 

 burnt it does not throw out fresh shoots, but the 

 pitch-pine does, as happened on the island of Lesbos 

 after the grove of the town of Pyrrha had been 

 burnt. Moreover there is another difterence within 

 these species themselves in the matter of sex : the 

 male tree is shorter and has harder leaves, while the 

 female is taller and its leaves are more unctuous and 

 not forked and not stiff ; and the wood of the male 

 is hard, and when used in carpentry spUts crooked, 

 while that of the female is softer, the manifestation 

 of the difference resting with the axe, which in every 

 variety detects the male, because it meets with re- 

 sistance and falls with a louder crash and is pulled 

 out of the wood with greater difficulty. With the 

 male trees the wood itself is parched and blacker in 

 colour. In the neighbourhood of Mount Ida in the 

 Troad there is also another variation among the 

 larches, the mountain larch and the coast larch being 

 different. As for Macedonia and Arcadia and the 

 neighbourhood of EHs, in these places the varieties 

 exehange names and the authorities are not agreed 

 as to which name to give to each species, though for 

 our part we settle that sort of question by the 

 verdict of Rome. 



The biggest of the entire group is the fir, the female Tiiefir. 

 being even taller than the male, and its timber softer 

 and more easily worked, and the tree rounder in 

 shape, and with dense feathery foHage, which makes 

 it impervious to rain ; and in general it has a more 

 cheerful appearance. From the branches of these 



419 



