Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 36.

  LEAVES WHICH TURN ROUND EVERY YEAR.

  We find a most remarkable and, indeed, a marvellous peculiarity existing in the elm, the lime, the olive, the white poplar, and the willow; for immediately after the summer solstice the leaves of these trees turn completely round; indeed, we have no sign which indicates with greater certainty that that period has past.

  (24.) These trees also present in their leaves the same difference that is to be observed in those of all the rest: the underside, which looks towards the ground, is of a green, grassy colour, and has a smooth surface; while the veins, the callous skin, and the articulations, lie upon the upper face, the veins making incisions in the parts beneath, like those to be seen upon the human hand. The leaf of the olive is whiter above, and not so smooth; the same is the case, too, with that of the ivy. The leaves of all trees turn every day towards the sun, the object being that the under side may be warmed by its heat. The upper surface of them all has a down upon it, in however small quantity it may be; in some countries this down is used as a kind of wool.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 37.

  THE CARE BESTOWED ON THE LEAVES OF THE PALM, AND THE USES TO WHICH THEY ARE APPLIED.

  We have already said that in the East strong ropes are made of the leaves of the palm, and that they are improved by lying in the water. Among ourselves, too, the leaves of the palm are generally plucked immediately after harvest, the best being those that have no divisions in them. These leaves are left to dry under cover for four days, after which they are spread out in the sun, and left out in the open air all night, till they have become quite white and dry: after this they are split before they are put to any use.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 38.

  REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH LEAVES.

  The broadest leaves are those of the fig, the vine, and the plane; while those of the myrtle, the pomegranate, and the olive are narrow. The leaf of the pine and the cedar is fine and resembles hair, while that of the holly and one variety of the holm oak is prickly-indeed, in the juniper, we find a thorn in place of a leaf. The leaf of the cypress and the tamarisk is fleshy, and that of the alder is remarkable for its thickness. In the reed, the willow, and the palm, the leaf is long, and in the latter tree it is double as well: that of the pear is rounded, and it is pointed in the apple. In the ivy the leaf is angular, and in the plane divided. In the pitch-tree and the fir the leaf is indented like the teeth of a comb; while in the robur it is sinuous on the whole of the outer margin: in the bramble it has a spiny surface. In some plants the leaf has the property of stinging, the nettle for instance; while in the pine, the pitch-tree, the fir, the larch, the cedar, and the holly, it is prickly. In the olive and the holm-oak it has a short stalk, in the vine a long one: in the poplar the stalk of the leaf is always quivering, and the leaves of this tree are the only ones that make a crackling noise when coming in contact with another.

  In one variety of the apple-tree we find a small leaf protruding from the very middle of the fruit, sometimes, indeed, a couple of them. Then, again, in some trees the leaves are arranged all round the branches, and in others at the extremities of them, while in the robur they are found upon the trunk itself. They are sometimes thick and close, and at others thinly scattered, which is more particularly the case where the leaf is large and broad. In the myrtle they are symmetrically arranged, in the box, concave, and, upon the apple, scattered without any order or regularity. In the apple and the pear we find several leaves issuing from the same stalk, and in the elm and the cytisus they are covered with ramified veins. To the above particulars Cato adds that the leaves of the poplar and the quercus should not be given to cattle after they have fallen and become withered, and he recommends the leaves of the fig, the holm-oak, and the ivy for oxen: the leaves, too, of the reed and the laurel are sometimes given them to eat. The leaves of the service-tree fall all at once, but in the others only by degrees. Thus much in reference to the leaves.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 39. (25.)

  THE NATURAL ORDER OF THE PRODUCTION OF PLANTS.

  The following is the order in which the operations of Nature take place throughout the year. The first is fecundation, which takes place when the west wind begins to prevail, generally about the sixth day before the ides of February. By the agency of this wind all the productions of the earth are impregnated; to such an extent, indeed, that the mares even in Spain are impregnated by it, as we have already stated. This is the generating principle of the universe, and it receives its name of Favonius, as some think, from our word “fovere,” which means “to warm and cherish:” it blows from due west at the opening of the spring. The peasantry call this period of the year the “time of heat,” because Nature is then longing to receive the seeds of her various productions, and is imparting life to everything that is planted. The vegetables conceive on various days, each according to its respective nature: some immediately, as with animals, others, again, more slowly, carrying with them for a longer period the produce of their conception, a state which has from that circumstance obtained the name of “germination.” When the plant flowers, it may be said to bring forth, and the flower makes its appearance by bursting its little capsule, which has acted to it as an uterus. The period of training and education is the growth of the fruit. This, as well as that of germination, is a laborious process.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 40.

  TREES WHICH NEVER BLOSSOM. THE JUNIPER

  The appearance of the blossom bespeaks the arrival of the spring and the birth anew of the year; this blossom is the very pride and delight of the trees. Then it is that they show themselves quite renewed, and altogether different from what they really are; then it is that they quite revel in the contest with each other which shall excel in the various hues and tints which they display. This merit has, however, been denied to many of them; for they do not all blossom, and there are certain sombre trees which do not participate in this joyous season of the year. The holm-oak, the pitch-tree, the larch, and the pine are never bedecked with blossoms, and with them there is no particular forerunner sent forth to announce the yearly birth of their respective fruits. The same is the case, too, with the cultivated and the wild fig, which immediately present their fruit in place of any blossom. Upon the fig, too, it is remarkable that there are abortive fruit to be seen which never ripen.

  The juniper, also, is destitute of blossom; some writers, however, distinguish two varieties of it, one of which blossoms but bears no fruit, while the other has no blossom, but presents the berries immediately, which remain on the tree for so long a period as two years: this assertion, however, is utterly fallacious, and all the junipers always present the same sombre appearance. So, too, in life, the fortunes of many men are ever without their time of blossoming.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 41.

  THE FECUNDATION OF TREES. GERMINATION: THE APPEARANCE OF THE FRUIT.

  All trees germinate, however, even those which do not blossom. In this respect there is a very considerable difference in relation to the various localities; for in the same species we find that the tree, when planted in a marshy spot, will germinate earlier than elsewhere; next to that, the trees that grow on the plains, and last of all those that are found in the woods: the wild pear, too, is naturally later in budding than the other pears. At the first breath of the west wind the cornel buds, and close upon it the laurel; then, a little before the equinox, we find the lime and the maple germinating. Among the earlier trees, too, are the poplar, the elm, the willow, the alder, and the nut-trees. The plane buds, too, at an early period.

  Others, again, germinate at the beginning of spring, the holly, for instance, the terebinth, the paliurus, the chesnut, and the glandiferous trees. On the other hand, the apple is late in budding, and the cork-tree the very last of all. Some trees germinate tw
ice, whether it is that this arises from some exuberant fertility of the soil, or from the inviting temperature of the atmosphere; this takes place more particularly in the several varieties of the cereals. Excessive germination, however, has a tendency to weaken and exhaust the tree.

  Besides the spring budding, some trees have naturally another budding, which depends upon the influence of their own respective constellations, a theory which we shall find an opportunity of more conveniently discussing in the next Book but one. The winter budding takes place at the rising of the Eagle, the summer at that of the Dog-star, and a third budding again at that of Arcturus. Some persons think that these two buddings are common to all trees, but that they are to be remarked more particularly in the fig, the vine, and the pomegranate; seeing that, when this is the case, the crop of figs, in Thessaly and Macedonia more particularly, is remarkably abundant: but it is in Egypt more especially that illustrations of this vast abundance are to be met with. All the trees in general, when they have once begun to germinate, proceed continuously with it; the robur, however, the fir-tree, and the larch germinate intermittently, ceasing thrice, and as many times beginning to bud again, and hence it is that they shed the scales of their bark three several times; a thing that takes place with all trees during the period of germination, the outer coat of the tree bursting while it is budding.

  With these last trees the first budding takes places at the beginning of spring, and lasts about fifteen days; and they germinate a second time when the sun is passing through the sign of Gemini: hence it is that we see the points of the first buds pushed upwards by those beneath, a joint marking the place where they unite. The third germination of these trees takes place at the summer solstice, and lasts no more than seven days: at this period we may very distinctly detect the articulations by which the buds are joined to one another as they grow. The vine is the only tree that buds twice; the first time when it first puts forth the grape, and the second time when the grape comes to maturity. In the trees which do not blossom there is only the budding, and then the gradual ripen- ing of the fruit. Some trees blossom while they are budding, and pass rapidly through that period; but the fruit is slow in coming to maturity, as in the vine, for instance. Other trees, again, blossom and bud but late, while the fruit comes to maturity with great rapidity, the mulberry, for example, which is the very last to bud of all the cultivated trees, and then only when the cold weather is gone: for this reason it has been pronounced the wisest among the trees. But in this, the germination, when it has once begun, bursts forth all over the tree at the very same moment; so much so, indeed, that it is accomplished in a single night, and even with a noise that may be audibly heard.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 42.

  IN WHAT ORDER THE TREES BLOSSOM.

  Of the trees which, as we have already stated, bud in winter at the rising of the Eagle, the almond blossoms the first of all, in the month of January namely, while by March the fruit is well developed. Next to it in blossoming is the plum of Armenia, and then the tuber and the early peach, the first two being exotics, and the latter forced by the agency of cultivation. Among the forest trees, the first that blossoms in the course of nature is the elder, which has the most pith of any, and the male cornel, which has none at all. Among the cultivated trees we next have the apple, and immediately after — so much so, indeed, that it would almost appear that they blossom simultaneously — the pear, the cherry, and the plum. Next to these is the laurel, and then the cypress, and after that the pomegranate and the fig: the vine, too, and the olive are budding when these last trees are in flower, the period of their conception being the rising of the Vergiliæ, that being their constellation. As for the vine, it blossoms at the summer solstice, and the olive begins to do so a little later. All blossoms remain on the trees seven days, and never fall sooner; some, indeed, fall later, but none remain on more than twice seven days. The blossoms are always off before the eighth day of the ides of July, the period of the prevalence of the Etesian winds.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 43. (26.)

  AT WHAT PERIOD EACH TREE BEARS FRUIT. THE CORNEL.

  Upon some trees the fruit does not follow immediately upon the fall of the blossom. The cornel about the summer solstice puts forth a fruit that is white at first, and after that the colour of blood. The female of this tree, after autumn, bears a sour berry, which no animal will touch; its wood, too, is spongy and quite useless, while, on the other hand, that of the male tree is one of the very strongest and hardest woods known: so great a difference do we find in trees belonging to the same species. The terebinth, the maple, and the ash produce their seed at harvest-time, while the nut-trees, the apple, and the pear, with the exception of the winter or the more early kinds, bear fruit in autumn. The glandiferous trees bear at a still later period, the setting of the Vergiliæ, with the exception of the æsculus, which bears in the autumn only; while some kinds of the apple and the pear, and the cork-tree, bear fruit at the beginning of winter.

  The fir puts forth blossoms of a saffron colour about the summer solstice, and the seed is ripe just after the setting of the Vergiliæ. The pine and the pitch-tree germinate about fifteen days before the fir, but their seed is not ripe till after the setting of the Vergiliæ.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 44.

  TREES WHICH BEAR THE WHOLE YEAR. TREES WHICH HAVE ON THEM THE FRUIT OF THREE YEARS.

  The citron-tree, the juniper, and the holm-oak are looked upon as having fruit on them the whole year through, and upon these trees we see the new fruit hanging along with that of the preceding year. The pine, however, is the most remarkable of them all; for it has upon it at the same moment the fruit that is hastening to maturity, the fruit that is to come to maturity in the ensuing year, and the fruit that is to ripen the next year but one. Indeed, there is no tree that is more eager to develope its resources; for in the same month in which a nut is plucked from it, another will ripen in the same place; the arrangement being such, that there is no month in which the nuts of this tree are not ripening. Those nuts which split while still upon the tree, are known by the name of azaniæ; they are productive of injury to the others, if not removed.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 45.

  TREES WHICH BEAR NO FRUIT: TREES LOOKED UPON AS ILL-OMENED.

  The only ones among all the trees that bear nothing whatever, not so much as any seed even, are the tamarisk, which is used only for making brooms, the poplar, the alder, the Atinian elm, and the alaternus, which has a leaf between that of the holm-oak and the olive. Those trees are regarded as sinister, and are considered inauspicious, which are never propagated from seed, and bear no fruit. Cremutius informs us, that this tree, being the one upon which Phyllis hanged herself, is never green. Those trees which produce a gum open of themselves after germination: the gum never thickens until after the fruit has been removed.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 46.

  TREES WHICH LOSE THEIR FRUIT OR FLOWERS MOST READILY.

  Young trees are unproductive so long as they are growing. The fruits which fall most readily before they come to maturity are the date, the fig, the almond, the apple, the pear, and the pomegranate, which last tree is also very apt to lose its blossom through excessive dews and hoar frosts. For this reason it is, too, that the growers bend the branches of the pomegranate, lest, from being straight, they may receive and retain the moisture that is so injurious to them. The pear and the almond, even if it should not rain, but a south wind happen to blow or the weather become cloudy, are apt to lose their blossoms, and their first fruit as well, if, after the blossom has fallen, there is a continuance of such weather. But it is the willow that loses its seed the most speedily of all, long, indeed, before it is ripe; hence it is that Homer has given it the epithet of “fruit- losing.” Succeeding ages, however, have given to this term an interpretation conformable to their own wicked practices, it being a
well-known fact that the seed of the willow has the effect of producing barrenness in females. In this respect, however, Nature has employed her usual foresight, bestowing but little care upon the seed of a tree which is produced so easily, and propagated by slips. There is, however, it is said, one variety of willow, the seed of which arrives at maturity: it is found in the Isle of Crete, at the descent from the grotto of Jupiter: the seed is unsightly and ligneous, and in size about as large as a chick-pea.

  Detailed table of contents

  CHAP. 47.

  TREES WHICH ARE UNPRODUCTIVE IN CERTAIN PLACES.

  Certain trees also become unproductive, owing to some fault in the locality, such, for instance, as a coppice-wood in the island of Paros, which produces nothing at all: in the Isle of Rhodes, too, the peach-trees never do anything more than blossom. This distinction may arise also from the sex; and when such is the case, it is the male tree that never produces. Some authors, however, making a transposition, assert that it is the male trees only that are prolific. Barrenness may also arise from a tree being too thickly covered with leaves.

  Detailed table of contents