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Enquiry into Plants/Volume 1/Chapter 31

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Enquiry into Plants
by Theophrastus, translated by Arthur Fenton Hort
Book III: III. Of mountain trees: of the differences found in wild trees.
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3677039Enquiry into Plants — Book III: III. Of mountain trees: of the differences found in wild trees.Arthur Fenton HortTheophrastus
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Of mountain trees: of the differences found in wild trees.

III. The following trees are peculiar to mountain country and do not grow in the plains; [1]let us take Macedonia as an example. Silver-fir fir 'wild pine' lime zygia Valonia oak box andrachne yew Phoenician cedar terebinth wild fig alaternus hybrid arbutus hazel chestnut kermes-oak. The following grow also in the plain: tamarisk elm abele willow black poplar cornelian cherry cornel alder oak lakare (bird-cherry) wild pear apple hop-hornbeam holly manna-ash Christ's thorn cotoneaster maple,[2] which ​when it grows in the mountains, is called zygia, when in the plain, gleinos: others however,[3] classify differently and make maple and zygia distinct trees.

[4]All those trees which are common to both hill and plain are taller and finer in appearance when they grow in the plain but the mountain forms are better as to producing serviceable timber and fruits, with the exception of wild pear pear and apple; these are in the plain better in fruit and also in timber; for in the hills they grow small with many knots and much spinous wood. But even on the mountains all trees grow fairer and are more vigorous when they have secured a suitable position; and, to speak generally, those which grow on the level parts of the mountains are specially fair and vigorous; next to these come those which grow on the lower parts and in the hollows; while those that grow on the heights are of the poorest quality, except any that are naturally cold-loving. But even these shew some variation[5] in different positions, of which we must speak later; for the present we must in our distinctions in each case take account only of the differences already mentioned.

Now among wild trees those are evergreen which were mentioned before,[6] silver-fir fir 'wild pine' box andrachne yew Phoenician cedar terebinth alaternus hybrid arbutus bay phellodrys[7] (holm-oak) holly cotoneaster kermes-oak tamarisk; but all the others shed their leaves, unless it be that in certain places they keep them exceptionally, as was said[8] of the plane and oak in Crete and in any other place which is altogether favourable to luxuriant growth.

​Most trees are fruit-bearing, but about willow black poplar and elm men hold different opinions, as was said[9]; and some, as the Arcadians, say that only the black poplar is without fruit, but that all the other mountain trees bear fruit. However in Crete there are a number of black poplars which bear fruit[10]; there is one at the mouth of the cave on mount Ida,[11] in which the dedicatory offerings are hung, and there is another small one not far off, and there are quite a number about a spring called the Lizard's Spring about twelve furlongs off. There are also some in the hill-country of Ida in the same neighbourhood, in the district called Kindria and in the mountains about Praisia.[12] Others again, as the Macedonians, say that the elm is the only tree of this class which bears fruit.

Again the character of the position makes a great difference as to fruit-bearing, as in the case of the persea[13] and the date-palm. The persea of Egypt bears fruit, and so it does wherever it grows in the neighbouring districts, but in Rhodes[14] it only gets as far as flowering. The date-palm in the neighbourhood of Babylon is marvellously fruitful; in Hellas it does not even ripen its fruit, and in some places it does not even produce any.

The same may be said of various other trees; in fact even[15] of smaller herbaceous plants and bushes some are fruitful, others not, although the latter are ​growing in the same place as the former, or[16] quite near it. Take for instance the centaury in Elea; where it grows in hill-country, it is fruitful; where it grows in the plain, it bears no fruit, but only flowers; and where it grows in deep valleys, it does not even flower, unless it be scantily. Any way it appears that, even of other plants which are of the same kind and all go by the same name, one will be without fruit, while another bears fruit; for instance, one kermes-oak will be fruitful, another not; and the same is true of the alder, though both produce flowers. And, generally speaking, all those of any given kind which are called 'male' trees are without fruit, and that though[17] some of these, they say, produce many flowers, some few, some none at all. On the other hand they say that in some cases it is only the 'males' that bear fruit, but that, in spite of this, the trees grow from the flowers,[18] (just as in the case of fruit-bearing trees they grow from the fruit). And they add that in both cases,[19] the crop of seedlings[20] which comes up is sometimes so thick that the woodmen cannot get through except by clearing a way.

There is also a doubt about the flower of some trees, as we said. Some think that the oak bears flowers, and also the filbert the chestnut and even the fir and Aleppo pine; some however think that none of these has a flower, but that,—resembling[21] and corresponding to the wild figs which drop off prematurely, we have in the nuts the catkin,[22] in the ​oak the oak-moss, in the pine the flowering tuft.'[23] The people of Macedonia say that these trees also produce no flowers—Phoenician cedar beech aria[24] (holm-oak) maple. Others distinguish two kinds of Phoenician cedar, of which one bears flowers but bears no fruit, while the other, though it has no flower, bears a fruit which shows itself at once[25]—just as wild figs produce their abortive fruit. However that may be,[26] it is a fact that this is the only tree which keeps its fruit for two years. These matters then need enquiry.

  1. ↑ περὶ τὴν Μακ.? a gloss; περὶ τε τὴν Μακ. MP2Ald.; τε om. P.
  2. ↑ σφένδαμνος add. Palm. in view of what follows; ὀξυάκαρτα ἄκανθος UPAld.Bas.; ἄκανθος P2.
  3. ↑ δ᾽ ἄλλως conj. Sch. from G; δ᾽ αὖ Ald.
  4. ↑ Plin. 16. 77.
  5. ↑ i.e. are not always of the poorest quality. ταῦτ᾽ αὖ τινα conj. W.; ταῦτα αὐτῶν Ald. H.
  6. ↑ 1. 9. 3.
  7. ↑ φελλόδρυς conj. Bod., cf. 1. 9. 3; φελλὸς δρῦς UMV (?) Ald.
  8. ↑ 1. 9. 5.
  9. ↑ 2. 2. 10.
  10. ↑ cf. 2. 2. 10. It appears that the buds of the poplar were mistaken for fruit (Sch.); cf. Diosc. 1. 81. Later writers perpetuated the error by calling them κόκκοι.
  11. ↑ τοῦ ἐν τῇ Ἴδῃ conj. Sch.; τοῦ ἐν τῷ Ἴδῃ U; τοῦ ἐν τῷ Ἴδῃς MV; ἐν τῇ Ἴδῃ Ald.H.
  12. ↑ Πραισίαν conj. Meurs. Creta; τιρασίαν UMVAld.
  13. ↑ cf. 4. 2. 5.περσέαι conj. R. Const.; περσείας U; περσίας Ald.
  14. ↑ Ῥόδῳ conj. R. Const. from G, so too Plin. 16. 111; ῥόα Ald. cf. 1. 13. 5. for a similar corruption.
  15. ↑ ἐπεὶ καὶ conj. Sch. from G; ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ Ald.
  16. ↑ χώρᾳ καὶ Ald.; ἢ καὶ conj. St.
  17. ↑ i.e. the 'males' are sterile whether they flower or not. καὶ τούτων τὰ μὲν πολλὰ I conj.; τούτων τὰ πολλὰ τὰ μὲν Ald.
  18. ↑ ? i.e. the flowers of the 'female' tree.
  19. ↑ i.e. (a) in those trees whose 'male' form is sterile, whether it bears flowers or not; (b) in those whose 'male' form alone bears fruit, but the fruit is infertile. The passage is obscure: W. gives up the text.
  20. ↑ ἔκφσιν. cf. 7. 4. 3.
  21. ↑ ὅμοιον conj. W.; ὁμοίαν UAld. cf. 3. 7. 3.
  22. ↑ cf. 3. 5. 5.
  23. ↑ i.e. the male flower, cf. Schol. on Ar. Vesp. 1111. Θείφραστος κυρίως λέγει κύτταρον τὴν προάνθησιν τῆς πίτυος: but no explanation of such a use of the word suggests itself. cf. 3.3.8; 4. 8. 7.
  24. ↑ ἀρίαν conj. Sch., cf. 3.4.2; 3.16.3; 3.17.1; ὀξύνην ἀγρλαν Ald,
  25. ↑ i.e. without antecedent flower.
  26. ↑ δ᾽ οὖν conj. W.; σχεδὸν UMVAld.

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