BOOK X\'I. .wviii. 70 XXX. 73 



as I believe of the \\i\d hox, which spreads more 

 than the others and fornis a thick hedge ; it is an 

 evergreen, and will stand ch})ping, The box abounds 

 in the Pyrenees and the Kidros mountains and in 

 the Berecyntus district, and it grows thickest in 

 Corsica, where it bears an objectionable blossom, 

 which causes the bitter taste in Corsican honey ; 

 its seed arouses the aversion of all Hving creatures. 

 The box on Mount Olympus in Macedonia makes 

 as thick a growth as the Corsican, but it is of a low 

 height. Box loves cold and rugged places ; also in 

 a fire it is as hard as iron, and is of no use for fuel 

 or charcoal. 



XXIX. Among these and the fruit-bearing trees Theeim. 

 a place is given to the ehn, because of its timber and 



the friendship betw^een it and the vine.° The Greeks 

 are acquainted with two kinds of elm : the mountain 

 elm which makes the larger growth, and the elm of 

 the plains which grows hke a shrub.^ Italy gives the 

 name of Atinian elm to a very lofty kind (and among 

 these values highest the dry variety, w^hich will 

 not grow in damp places) ; a second kind it calls the 

 GalUc elm, a third, which has thicker fohage and 

 more leaves growing from the same stalk, the Itahan 

 ehn, and a fourth, the wild elm. The Atinian elm 

 does not bear samara — that is the name for elm seed 

 — and all the elms are grown from shoots of the 

 roots,*^ but the other kinds also from seed. 



XXX. The most notable trees having now been ^^JJ^^ 

 mentioned, some general facts must be pointed out tree$, 

 concerning all trees. The cedar, the larch, the torch- 

 pine and the rest of the trees that produce resin 

 love mountains, and so also do the holly, box, hohn- 

 oak, juniper, turpentine-tree, poplar, mountain ash 



435 



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