Chap. 53.] THE TRUNKS AND ERANCHES OF TREES. 391 
it produces mistletoe, and on the south hyphear ; two pro- 
ducts of which I shall shortly have to speak more^'' at length. 
Sometimes, indeed, this tree has all four of these products 
growing upon it at the same moment. 
CHAP. 53. — DIFFERENCES IN TREES IN RESPECT OF THE TRUNKS 
AND BRANCHES. 
Some trees are of a simple form, and have but a single trunk 
rising from the root, together with numerous branches ; such 
as the olive, for instance, the fig, and the vine ; others again are 
of a shrubby nature, such as the paliurus,^^ the myrtle, and 
the filbert; which last, indeed, is all the better, and the 
more abundant its fruit, the more numerous its branches. In 
some trees, again, there is no trunk at all, as is the case with 
one species of box,^^ and the lotus^^ of the parts beyond sea. 
Some trees are bifurcated, while there are some that branch 
out into as many as five parts. Others, again, divide in the 
trunk but have no branches, as in the case of the elder ; while 
others have no division in the trunk but throw out branches, 
such as the pitch-tree, for instance. 
In some trees the branches are symmetrically arranged, the 
pitch-tree and the fir, for example ; while with others they 
are dispersed without any order or regularity, as in the robur, 
the apple, and the pear. In the fir the branches are thrown 
out from the trunk straight upw^ards, pointing to the sky, and 
not drooping downwards from the sides of the trunk. It is 
a singular thing, but this tree will die if the ends of its 
branches are cut, though, if taken off altogether, no bad effect 
is produced. If it is cut, too, below the place where the 
branches were, the part of the tree which is left will continue 
to live ; but if, on the other hand, the top only of the tree is 
removed, the whole of it v/ill die. 
See c. 93, where he enlarges on the varieties of the mistletoe. 
48 See B. xxiv. c. 71. 
He means the garden or border-box. mentioned in c. 28 of this Book. 
^0 See B. xiii. c. 17 : the African lotus, probably; the Zizyphus lotus 
of Desfontaines. 
5* This statement is entirely incorrect. If a tree loses the terminal bud, 
it will grow no higher, but it will not die if the extremities of the branches 
are cut. Such, in fact, is much more likely to happen when they are all 
cut off, from the extreme loss of juices which must naturally ensue at the 
several cicatrices united. 
