374 
PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOET. 
[Book XVI. 
iiig a strong resemblance to the rose-tree, and throwing out 
numerous branches from the stem ; to beasts of burden, goats, 
and sheep it is poisonous, but for man it is an antidote against 
the venom of serpents. 
(21.) The following among the forest-trees do not lose their 
leaves : the fir, the larch, the pinaster, the juniper, the cedar, 
the terebinth, the box, the holm-oak, the aquifolia, the cork, 
the yew, and the tamarisk.^^ A middle place between the 
evergreens and those which are not so, is occupied by the an- 
drachle*^ in Greece, and by the arbutus in all parts of the 
world ; as they lose all their leaves with the exception of those 
on the top of the tree. Among certain of the shrubs, too, the 
bramble and the calamus, the leaves do not fall. In the territory 
of Thurii, where Sybaris formerly stood, from the city there 
was a single oak"*"* to be seen that never lost its leaves, and 
never used to bud before midsummer : it is a singular thing 
that this fact, which has been so often alluded to by the Greek 
writers, should have been passed over in silence by our own.^* 
Indeed, so remarkable are the virtues that we find belonging 
to some localities, that about Memphis in Egypt, and at Ele- 
phantina, in Thebais, the leaves fall from none of the trees, 
not the vine even. 
CHAr. 34. (22.) — the nattjre of the leaves which wither 
AND FALL. 
All the trees, with the exception of those already men- 
It has certain dangerous properties, which cause the herbivorous ani- 
mals to avoid touching it. It acts strongly on the muscular system, and, 
as Fee remarks, used as an antidote to the stings of serpents, it is not im- 
probable that its effect would be the worst of the two. 
See B. xiii. c. 37. The tamarisk of the moderns is not an evergreen, 
whicli has caused writers to doubt if it is identical with tlie tamariscus of 
the ancients, and to be disposed to look for it among the larger ericae or 
heaths. The leaves of the larch fall every year ; those of the other ever- 
greens mostly every two or three years. g^e B. xiii. c. 40. 
See B. xiii. c. 40. This assertion of Pliny is erroneous, as these trees 
are in reality evergreens, though all trees of that class are liable to lose their 
leaves through certain maladies. 
^■^ Quercus." The ilex or holm-oak is an evergreen. 
*5 Pliny is in error here. Varro, De He Rust. B. i. c. 7, has made men- 
tion of this tree. 
The hot climates possess a greater number of evergreens than the tem- i| 
perate regions, but not of the same species or genus. The vine invariably 
loses its leaves each year. 
