BOOK XVI. xLiv. 107-XLV1. iio 



which ensures that there are cones ripcning in every 

 single month of the year. Pine-cones that spUt 

 while still on the tree are called azaniae, and if they 

 are not removed they injure the rest of the crop. 



XLV. The only trees that bear no fruit — I mean not Barren 

 even seed — are the tamarisk, which is of no usc except *^^"^*- 

 for making brooms," the poplar, the aldcr, tlic Atinian 

 ehn and the alaternus, the leaves of which are between 

 those of the holm-oak and the oUvc ; but trees that 

 never grow from seed nor bear fruit are considered 

 to be unlucky and under a curse. Cremutius states 

 that the tree from which Phyllis ^ hanged herself is 

 never green. People open gum-producing trees 

 after they have budded, but the gum does not 

 thicken until after the fruit has been removed. 



XLVI. SapHng trees have no fruit as long as they Varirhi{f 

 are growing. The trees most hable to lose their fruit da^el/ 

 before it ripens are the palm, the fig, the almond, /''"»'• 

 the apple and the pear, and also the pomegranate, 

 which excessive dew and frost cause to lose its 

 flower as well. In consequence of this people bend 

 down its branches, lest if they shoot straight upright 

 they may receive and retain the moisture which is 

 injurious to them. The pear and almond lose their 

 blossom even if it does not rain but a south wind 

 sets in or the sky is cloudy, and if that sort of weather 

 has prevailed after they have shed their blossom, 

 they lose their first fruit. But it is the willow that 

 loses its seed most quickly, before it approaches 

 ripeness at all. ITiis is the reason why Homer gives 

 it the epithet ' fruit-losing ' ; '^ but succeeding ages 

 have interpreted the meaning of the word in the 

 hght of its own wicked conduct, inasmuch as it is 

 well known that willow seed taken as a drug produces 



459 



