Enquiry into Plants/Volume 1/Chapter 41

by Theophrastus

Of cornelian cherry, cornel, 'cedars,' medlar, thorns, sorb.

XII. Of the cornelian cherry there is a 'male' and a 'female' kind (cornel), and the latter bears a corresponding name. Both have a leaf like that of the almond, but oilier and thicker; the bark is fibrous and thin, the stem is not very thick, but it puts out side-branches like the chaste-tree, those of the 'female' tree, which is more shrubby, being fewer. Both kinds have branches like those of the chaste-tree, arranged in pairs opposite one another. The wood of the 'male' tree has no heart, but is hard throughout, like horn in closeness and strength; whereas that of the 'female' tree has heart-wood and is softer and goes into holes; wherefore it is useless for javelins. The height of the 'male' tree is at most twelve cubits, the length of the longest Macedonian spear, the stem up to the point where it divides not being very tall. The people of Mount Ida in the Troad say that the 'male' tree is barren, but that the 'female' bears fruit. The fruit has a stone like an olive and is sweet to the taste and fragrant^[1]; the flower is like that of the olive, and the tree produces its flowers and fruit in the same manner, inasmuch as it has several growing from one stalk,^[2] and they are produced at almost the same time in both forms. However the people of Macedonia say that both trees bear fruit, though that of the 'female' is uneatable, and the roots are like those of the chaste-tree, strong and indestructible. This tree grows in wet ground and not only ^[3] in dry places; and it comes from seed, and also can be propagated from a piece torn off.

^[4]The 'cedar,' some say, has two forms, the Lycian and the Phoenician^[5]; but some, as the people of Mount Ida, say that there is only one form. It resembles the arkeuthos (Phoenician cedar), differing chiefly in the leaf, that of 'cedar' being hard sharp and spinous, while that of arkeuthos is softer: the latter tree also seems to be of taller growth. However some do not give them distinct names, but call them both 'cedar,' distinguishing them however as 'the cedar'^[6] and 'prickly cedar.' Both are branching trees with many joints and twisted wood. On the other hand arkeuthos has only a small amount of close core,^[7] which, when the tree is cut, soon rots, while the trunk of 'cedar' consists mainly of heart and does not rot. The colour of the heart in each case is red: that of the 'cedar' is fragrant, but not that of the other. The fruit of 'cedar' is yellow, as large as the myrtle-berry, fragrant, and sweet to the taste. That of arkeuthos is like it in other respects, but black, of astringent taste and practically uneatable; it remains on the tree for a year, and then, when another grows, last year's fruit falls off. According to the Arcadians it has three fruits on the tree at once, last year's, which is not yet ripe, that of the year before last which is now ripe and eatable, and it also shews the new fruit. Satyrus^[8] said that the wood-cutters gathered him specimens of both kinds which were flowerless. The bark is^[9] like that of the cypress but rougher. Both^[10] kinds have spreading shallow roots. These trees grow in rocky cold parts and seek out such districts.

^[11]There are three kinds of mespile, anthedon (oriental thorn), sataneios (medlar) and anthedonoeides (hawthorn), as the people of mount Ida distinguish them. ^[12]The fruit of the medlar is larger paler more spongy and contains softer stones; in the other kinds it is somewhat smaller,^[13] more fragrant and of more astringent taste, so that it can be stored for a longer time. The wood also of these kinds is closer and yellower, though in other respects it does not differ. The flower in all the kinds is like the almond flower, except that it is not pink, as that is, but greenish ……^[14] In stature the tree is large and it has thick foliage. The leaf in the young tree is round^[15] but much divided and like celery at the tip; but the leaf of older trees is very much divided and forms angles with larger divisions; it is smooth^[16] fibrous thinner and more oblong than the celery leaf, both as a whole and in its divisions, and it has a jagged edge all round.^[17] It has a long thin stalk, and the leaves turn bright red before they are shed. The tree has many roots, which run deep; wherefore it lives a long time and is hard to kill. The wood is close and hard and does not rot. The tree grows from seed and also from a piece torn off. It is subject to a disease which causes it to become worm-eaten^[18] in its old age, and the worms are large and different^[19] to those engendered by other trees.

^[20]Of the sorb they make two kinds, the 'female' which bears fruit and the 'male' which is barren. There are moreover differences in the fruit of the 'female' kind in some forms it is round, in others oblong and egg-shaped. There are also differences in taste; the round fruits are generally more fragrant and sweeter, the oval ones are often sour and less fragrant. The leaves in both grow attached to a long fibrous stalk, and project on each side in a row^[21] like the feathers of a bird's wing, the whole forming a single leaf but being divided into lobes with divisions which extend to the rib but each pair are some distance apart,^[22] and, when the leaves fall,^[23] these divisions do not drop separately, but the whole wing-like structure drops at once. When the leaves are older and longer, the pairs are more numerous; in the younger and shorter leaves they are fewer; but in all at the end of the leaf-stalk there is an extra leaflet, so that the total number of leaflets is an odd number. In form the leaflets resemble^[24] the leaves of the 'fine-leaved' bay, except that they are jagged and shorter and do not narrow to a sharp point but to a more rounded end. The flower^[25] is clustering and made up of a number of small white blossoms from a single knob. The fruit too is clustering, when the tree fruits well; for a number of fruits are formed from the same knob, giving an appearance like a honeycomb. The fruit gets eaten by worms on the tree before it is ripe to a greater extent than that of medlar pear or wild pear, and yet it is much more astringent than any of these. The tree itself also gets worm-eaten, and so withers away as it ages; and the worm^[26] which infests it is a peculiar one, red and hairy. This tree bears fruit when it is quite young, that is as soon as it is three years old. In autumn, when it has shed its leaves, it immediately produces its winter-bud-like knob,^[27] which is glistening and swollen as though the tree were just about to burst into leaf, and this persists through the winter. The sorb, like the medlar, is thornless; it has smooth rather shiny bark, (except when^[28] the tree is old), which in colour is a whitish yellow; but in old trees it is rough and black. The tree is of a good size, of erect growth and with well balanced foliage; for in general it assumes a cone-like shape as to its foliage,^[29] unless something interferes. The wood is hard close strong and of a good colour; the roots are not numerous and do not run deep, but they are strong and thick and indestructible. The tree grows from a root, from a piece torn off, or from seed, and seeks a cold moist position; in such a position it is tenacious of life and hard to kill: however it also grows on mountains.

 

Of bird-cherry, elder, willow.

XIII. ^[30]The kerasos (bird-cherry) is peculiar in character; it is of great stature, growing as much as twenty-four cubits high; and it is of very erect growth; as to thickness, it is as much as two cubits in circumference at the base. The leaves are like those of the medlar, but very tough and thicker,^[31] so that the tree is conspicuous by its colour from a distance. The bark^[32] in smoothness colour and thickness is like that of the lime; wherefore men make their writing-cases^[33] from it, as from the bark of that tree. ^[34]This bark does not grow straight nor evenly all round the tree, but runs round it^[35] in a spiral (which becomes closer as it gets higher up the tree) like the outline of the leaves.^[36] And this part of it can be stripped off by peeling, whereas with the other part^[37] this is not possible and it has to be cut in short lengths.^[38] In the same manner part is removed by being split off in flakes as thin as a leaf, while the rest can be left and protects the tree, growing about it as described. If the bark is stripped off when the tree is peeling, there is also at the time a discharge of the sap; further, when only the outside coat is stripped off, what remains tarns black with a kind^[39] of mucus-like moisture and in the second year another coat grows to replace what is lost, but this is thinner. The wood in its fibres is like the bark, twisting spirally,^[40] and the branches grow in the same manner from the first; and, as the tree grows, it comes to pass that the lower branches keep on perishing, while the upper ones increase. However the whole tree is not much branched, but has far fewer branches than the black poplar. Its roots are numerous and shallow and not very thick; and there is a similar twisting of the root and of the bark which surrounds it. ^[41]The flower is white, like that of the pear and medlar, composed of a number of small blossoms arranged like a honeycomb. The fruit is red, like that of diospyros in shape, and in size is is as large as a bean. However the stone of the diospyros fruit is hard, while that of the bird-cherry is soft. The tree grows where the lime grows, and in general where there are rivers and damp places.

^[42]The elder also grows chiefly by water and in shady places, but likewise in places which are not of this character. It is shrubby, with annual branches which go on growing in length till the fall of the leaf, after which they increase in thickness. The branches do not grow to a very great height, about six cubits at most. The thickness of the stem of old trees is about that of the 'helmet'^[43] of a ship; the bark is smooth thin and brittle^[44]; the wood is porous and light when dried, and has a soft heart-wood,^[45] so that the boughs are hollow right through, and men make of them their light walking-sticks. When dried it is strong and durable if it is soaked, even if it is stripped of the bark; and it strips itself of its own accord as it dries. The roots are shallow and neither numerous nor large. The single leaflet is soft and oblong, like the leaf of the 'broad-leaved' bay, but larger broader and rounder at the middle and base, though the tip narrows more to a point and is jagged^[46] all round. The whole leaf is composed of leaflets growing about a single thick fibrous stalk, as it were, to which they are attached at either side in pairs at each joint; and they are separate from one another, while one is attached to the tip of the stalk. The leaves are somewhat reddish porous and fleshy: the whole is shed in one piece; wherefore one may consider the whole structure as a 'leaf.'^[47] The young twigs too have certain crooks^[48] in them. The flower^[49] is white, made up of a number of small white blossoms attached to the point where the stalk divides, in form like a honeycomb, and it has the heavy fragrance of lilies. The fruit is in like manner attached to a single thick stalk, but in a cluster: as it becomes quite ripe,^[50] it turns black, but when unripe it is like unripe grapes; in size the berry is a little larger than the seed of a vetch; the juice is like wine in appearance, and in it men bathe^[51] their hands and heads when they are being initiated into the mysteries. The seeds inside the berry are like sesame.

^[52]The willow also grows by the water, and there are many kinds. There is that which is called the black willow^[53] because its bark is black and red, and that which is called the white^[53] from the colour of its bark. The black kind has boughs which are fairer and more serviceable for basket-work, while those of the white are more brittle.^[54] There is a form both of the black and of the white which is small and does not grow to a height,—just as there are dwarf forms of other trees, such as prickly cedar and palm. The people of Arcadia call the tree^[55] not 'willow' but helike they believe, as was said,^[56] that it bears fruitful seed.

 

Of elm, poplars, alder, [semyda, bladder-senna].

XIV. ^[57]Of the elm there are two kinds, of which one is called the 'mountain elm,' the other simply the 'elm': the difference is that the latter is shrubbier, while the mountain elm grows more vigoursly. The leaf is undivided and slightly jagged, longer than that of the pear, but rough rather than smooth. The tree is large, being both tall and wide-spreading. It is not common about Ida, but rare, and likes wet ground. The wood is yellow strong fibrous and tough^[58]; for it is all heart. Men use it for expensive doors^[59]: it is easy to cut when it is green, but difficult when it is dry. The tree is thought to bear no fruit, but in the 'wallets'^[60] it produces its gum and certain creatures like gnats; and it has in autumn its peculiar 'winter-buds'^[61] which are numerous small and black, but these have not been observed at other seasons.

The abele and the black poplar have each but a single kind: both are of erect growth, but the black poplar is much taller and of more open growth, and is smoother, while the shape of its leaves is similar to those of the other. The wood also of both, when cut, is much the same in whiteness. Neither of these trees appears to have fruit or flower.^[62]

The aspen is a tree resembling the abele both in size and in having whitish branches, but the leaf is ivy-like: while however it is otherwise without angles, its one angular^[63] projection is long and narrows to a sharp point: in colour the upper and under sides are much alike. The leaf is attached to a long thin stalk: wherefore the leaf is not set straight, but has a droop.^[64] The bark of the abele is rougher and more scaly, like that of the wild pear, and it bears no fruit.

The alder also has but one form: in growth it is also erect, and it has soft wood and a soft heart-wood, so that the slender boughs are hollow throughout. The leaf is like that of the pear, but larger and more fibrous. It has rough bark, which on the inner side is red: wherefore it is used for dyeing hides. It has shallow roots …^[65] the flower is as large as that of the bay. It grows in wet places^[66] and nowhere else.

The semyda^[67] has a leaf like that of the tree called the 'Persian nut' (walnut), but it is rather narrower: the bark is variegated and the wood light: it is only of use for making walking-sticks and for no other purpose.

The bladder-senna^[68] has a leaf near that of the willow, but is many-branched and has much foliage; and the tree altogether is a large one. The fruit is in a pod, as in leguminous plants: the pods in fact are broad rather than narrow, and the seed in them is comparatively small, and is moderately hard, but not so very hard. For its size the tree does not bear much fruit. It is uncommon to have the fruit in a pod in fact there are few such trees.

 

Of filbert, terebinth, box, krataigos.

XV. The filbert is also naturally a wild tree, in that its fruit is little, if at all, inferior to that of the tree in cultivation, that it can stand winter, that it grows commonly on the mountains, and that it bears abundance of fruit in mountain regions^[69] also because it does not make a trunk, but is shrubby with

1. The Idaeans are evidently responsible for this statement. T. himself (3. 4. 3) says the fruit is inedible.
2. But (1. 11. 4) only certain varieties of the olive are said to have this character: the next statement seems also inconsistent with 3. 4. 3. Perhaps T. is still reproducing his Idaean authority.
3. μόνον ins. R. Const. from G.
4. Plin. 13. 52. See Index κέδρος and ἄρκευθος.
5. Φοινικῆν: Φοινικικὴν conj. W. cf. 9, 2. 3; Plin. l.c.
6. παρασήμως τὴν κέδρον U; π. τὸν κέδρον M; Ald. omits the article; παρασημασίᾳ κέδρου conj. W.
7. μήτραν conj. Sch.; μᾶλλον UMVAld. Plin., 16. 198, supports μήτραν: he apparently read μήτραν δ᾽ ἡ μὲν ἀ. ἔχει μᾶλλον πυκνήν; but the words καὶ ὅταν … σηπομένην (which P. does not render) seem inconsistent. ? ins. οὐ before ταχὺ Sch.
8. ? An enquirer sent out by the Lyceum: see Intr. p. xxi.
9. ἔχει conj. W.; ἐδόκει Ald.
10. ἀμφότεραι conj. W.; ἀμφοτέρας U; ἀμφοτέρους Ald.H.
11. Plin. 15. 84.
12. cf. C.P. 2. 8. 2; 6. 14. 4; 6. 16. 1.
13. ἐλάττω τέ τι conj. W.; ἐλάττω εἰσὶ U Ald.
14. W. suggests that some words are missing here, as it does not appear to which kind of μεσπίλη the following description belongs; hence various difficulties. See Sch.
15. Probably a lacuna in the text. W. thus supplies the sense: he suggests σικυοειδές for σελινοειδές.
16. τετανὸν: cf. 3. 1.. 1; 3. 15. 6.
17. περικεχαραγμένον conj. Scal,; περικεθαρμένον U; περικεκαρμένον MVAld. cf. allusions to the leaf of μεσπίλη, 3. 13. 1; 3. 15. 6.
18. cf. 4. 14. 10; Plin. 17. 221; Pall. 4. 10.
19. ἴδιοι Ald. (for construction cf. Plat. Gorg. 481 c); ἰδίους UMV (the first ι corrected in U). W. adopts Sch.'s conj., ἡδίους, in allusion to the edible cossus: cf. Plin. l.c.
20. Plin. 15. 85.
21. φύλλα … στοιχηδὸν conj. W.; φύλλον δ᾽ ἀμφοῖν τὸ μὲν μίσχον μακρὸν ἰνοειδῆ· πεφ. [δὲ] στοιχηδὸν UMVAld.
22. ἀφ᾽ ἐαυτῶν (=ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων) conj. Scal.; ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν U: so W., who however renders inter se.
23. Plin. 16. 92.
24. For construction cf. 3. 11. 3.
25. i.e. inflorescence.
26. Plin. 17. 221.
27. cf. 3. 5. 5.
28. ὅσαπερ μὴ conj. Bod.; ὥσπερ τὰ Ald.; ὥστε τὰ M.
29. κόμην Ald.H.; κορυφὴν conj. Sch.; vertice G.
30. Plin. 16. 125; cf. 16. 74; 17. 234.
31. παχύτερον: so quoted by Athen. 2. 34; πλατύτερον MSS.
32. cf. 4. 15. 1; Hesych. s.v. κέρασος.
33. cf. 3. 10. 4; Ar. Vesp. 529.
34. περιπέφυκε … περιπεφυός: text as restored by Sch. and others, following U as closely as possible.
35. περιείληφε conj. R. Const.
36. Which is an ellipse, the segment of a cylinder: so Sch. explains.
37. ἐκεῖνος: i.e. lower down the trunk, where the spiral is less open.
38. ἐπίτομος: cf. 5. 1. 12.
39. ὥσπερ conj. Sch.; περ MV; πως Ald.H.
40. στρεπτῶς ἑλιττόμενον conj. Sch.; στρεπτῷ ἑλιττομένωι U; στρεπτῷ ἑλιττομένῳ Ald.
41. cf. 3. 12. 7.
42. Plin. 17. 151.
43. περικεφαλαίας, some part of a ship's prow: so Pollux.
44. καπυρός conj. Sch.; καὶ πυρσός U (?); καὶ πυρρός V; καὶ πουρός M.
45. Sc. pith.
46. χαραγμόν conj. R. Const. from G; παραγμόν UMV; σπαραγμόν Ald.
47. cf. 3. 11. 3 n.
48. γωνοειδῆ U; ?γωνιοειδῆ; G seems to have read γονατοειδῆ; Sch. considers the text defective or mutilated.
49. cf. 3. 12. 7 n.
50. καταπεπαινόμενος conj. W.; καὶ πεπ. VAld.
51. καὶ … βάπτονται I conj., following Scal., W., etc., but keeping closer to U: certain restoration perhaps impossible; καὶ τὰς χεῖρας τελείους ἀναβλάστει δὲ καὶ τὰς κεΦαλάς U; χεῖρας δὲ τελείους• ἀναβλασεῖ MV; om. G.
52. Plin. 16. 174 and 175.
53. See Index.
54. καπυρωτέρας conj. Sch. καὶ πυρωτέρας U; καὶ πυροτέρας MVAld. cf. 3. 13. 4.
55. Sc. ἰτέα generally.
56. 3. 1. 2.
57. Plin. 16. 72.
58. γλίσχρον conj. St.; αἰσχρόν Ald.H.cf. 5. 3. 4.
59. cf. 5. 5. 2.
60. cf. τὸ θυλακῶδες τοῦτο, 3. 7. 3; 2. 8. 3 n.; 9. 1. 2.
61. κάχρυς, here probably a gall, mistaken for winter-bud.
62. cf., however, 3. 3. 4; 4. 10. 2, where T. seems to follow a different authority.
63. Supply γωνίαν from ἀγώνιον.
64. ἐγκεκλιμένον: sc. is not in line with the stalk.
65. Part of the description of the flower, and perhaps of the fruit, seems to be missing. Sch.
66. cf. 4. 8. 1; but in 1. 4. 3 the alder is classed with 'amphibious' trees, and in 3. 3. 1 with 'trees of the plain.'
67. Betulam, G from Plin. 16. 74.
68. Sch. remarks that the description of κολυτέα is out of place: cf. 3. 17. 2. W. tinks the whole section spurious. The anitheses in the latter part suggest a different context, in which κολυτέα was described by comparision with some other tree.
69. ὀρείοις conj. W.; φοραῖς Ald.

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