BOOK XVI. XXXIII. 80-xxxiv. 83 



tuqjentine, box, holrn-oak, holly, cork, yew, tamarisk. 

 Between the evergreen and the deciduous classes 

 are the andrachle growing in Greece and the arbutus 

 in all countries, for they shed all their leaves except 

 those on the top of the tree. In the class of shrubs Exceptionai 

 also a kind of cedar, the bramble and the reed do not norJ"'^ 

 shed their leaves. In the territory of Thurii, where <ieciduoua 

 Sybaris once stood, there was a single oak that was 

 visible from the actual city which never shed its 

 leaves and which did not bud before midsummer ; 

 and it is surprising that this fact having been pub- 

 Hshed by Greek authors has never subsequently 

 been mentioned among ourselves. The fact is that 

 the influence of some locahties is so great that in the 

 neighbourhood of Memphis in Egypt and at Elephan- 

 tine in the Thebaid none of the trees shed their 

 leaves, not even the vines. 



XXXI\^ All the rest of the trees except those Dedduous 

 ah*eady mentioned — for it would be a lengthy business 

 to enumerate them — shed their leaves ; and it has 

 becn noticed that the leaves do not wither unless they 

 are thin, broad and soft, whereas the leaves which 

 do not fall off are thick and fleshy and narrow in 

 shape. It is an erroneous classification to say that 

 the trees which do not shed their leaves are those with 

 a more unctuous juice ; for who can detect that 

 property in the case of the holm-oak ? The mathe- 

 matician Timaeus thinks that they fall when the sun 

 is passing through Scorpio owing to the strength of 

 that constellation and a certain poison in the air ; 

 but then we may justly wonder why the same in- 

 fluence is not operative against all these trees. 

 Most trees shed their leaves in autumn, but some lose 

 them later, and prolong the deLiy into the winter ; 



VOL. IV. p 441 



