Enquiry into Plants/Volume 1/Chapter 38

by Theophrastus

Of the differences in firs.

IX. ^[1]The differences between other trees are fewer; for the most part men distinguish them merely according as they are 'male' or 'female,' as has been said, except in a few cases including the fir; for in this tree they distinguish the wild and the cultivated^[2] kinds, and make two wild kinds, calling one the 'fir of Ida' (Corsican pine^[3]) the other the 'fir of the sea-shore' (Aleppo pine); of these the former is straighter and taller and has thicker leaves,^[4] while in the latter the leaves are slenderer and weaker, and the bark is smoother and useful for tanning hides, which the other is not. Moreover the cone of the seaside kind is round and soon splits open, while that of the Idaean kind is longer and green and does not open so much, as being of wilder character. The timber of the seaside kind is stronger,—for one must note such differences also between trees of the αἰγίδα: cf. 5. 1. 9; Plin. 16. 187.same kind,^[5] since it is by their use that the different characters are recognised.^[6]

The Idaean kind is, as we have said, of straighter^[7] and stouter growth, and moreover the tree is altogether more full of pitch, and its pitch is blacker sweeter thinner and more fragrant^[8] when it is fresh; though, when it is boiled, it turns out inferior,^[9] because it contains so much watery matter. However it appears that the kinds which these people distinguish by special names are distinguished by others merely as 'male' and 'female.' The people of Macedonia say that there is also a kind of fir which bears no fruit whatever, in which the 'male'^[10] (Aleppo pine) is shorter and has harder leaves, while the 'female' (Corsican pine) is taller and has glistening delicate leaves which are more pendent. Moreover the timber of the 'male' kind has much heart-wood,^[11] is tough, and warps in joinery work, while that of the 'female' is easy to work, does not warp,^[12] and is softer.

This distinction between 'male' and 'female' may, according to the woodmen, be said to be common to all trees. Any wood of a 'male' tree, when one comes to cut it with the axe, gives, shorter lengths, is more twisted, harder to work, and darker in colour; while the 'female' gives better lengths. For it is the 'female' fir which contains what is called the aigis^[13]; this is the heart of the tree; the reason being that it is less resinous, less soaked with pitch, smoother, and of straighter grain.^[14] This aigis is found in the larger trees, when, as they have fallen down, the white outside part^[15] has decayed; when this has been stripped off and the core left, it is cut out of this with the axe; and it is of a good colour with fine fibre. However the substance which the torch-cutters of Mount Ida call the 'fig,'^[16] which forms in the fir and is redder in colour than the resin, is found more in the 'male' trees; it has an evil smell, not like the smell of resin, nor will it burn, but it leaps away from the fire.

^[17]Such are the kinds of fir which they make out, the cultivated and the wild, the latter including the 'male' and the 'female' and also the kind which bears no fruit. However the Arcadians say that neither the sterile kind nor the cultivated is a fir, but a pine; for, they say, the trunk closely resembles the pine and has its slenderness, its stature, and the same kind^[18] of wood for purposes of joinery, the trunk of the fir being thicker smoother and taller; moreover that the fir has many leaves, which are glossy massed together^[19] and pendent, while in the pine and in the above-mentioned cone-bearing tree^[20] the leaves are few and drier and stiffer; though in both the leaves are hair-like.^[21] Also, they say, the pitch of this tree is more like that of the pine for in the pine too it is scanty and bitter,^[22] as in this other cone-bearing tree, but in the fir it is fragrant and abundant. Now the pine is rare in Arcadia, but common in Elis. The Arcadians then dispute altogether the nomenclature.

The pine appears to differ also from the fir in being glossier and having finer leaves, while it is smaller in stature and does not grow so straight; also in bearing a smaller cone, which is stiffer and has a more pitchy kernel, while its wood is whiter, more like that of the silver-fir, and wholly free from pitch. And there is another great difference^[23] between it and the fir; the fir, if it is burnt down to the roots, does not shoot up again, while the pine, according to some, will do so; for instance this happened in Lesbos,^[24] when the pine-forest of Pyrrha^[25] was burnt. The people of Ida say that the fir is liable to a kind of disease;—when not only the heart but the outer part of the trunk becomes glutted^[26] with pitch, the tree then is as it were choked. This happens of its own accord through the excessive luxuriance of the tree, as one may conjecture for it all turns into pitch-glutted wood. This then is an affection peculiar to the fir.

^[27]The silver-fir is either 'male' or 'female,' and has differences in its leaves^[28]; those of the 'male' are sharper more needle-like and more bent; wherefore the whole tree has a more compact appearance. There are also differences in the wood, that of the 'female' being whiter softer and easier to work, while the whole trunk is longer that of the 'male' is less of a uniform colour thicker^[29] and harder, has more heart-wood, and is altogether inferior in appearance. In the cone^[30] of the 'male' are a few seeds at the apex, while that of the 'female,' according to what the Macedonians said,^[31] contains none at all. The foliage^[32] is feathered and the height disproportionate so that the general appearance of the tree is dome-like,^[33] and closely resembles the Boeotian peasant's hat^[34]; and it is so dense that neither snow nor rain penetrates it. And in general the tree has a handsome appearance; for its growth is somewhat peculiar, as has been said, compared with the others, it being the only one which is regular, and in stature it is large, much taller than the fir.

^[35]There is also not a little difference in the wood: that of the silver-fir is fibrous^[36] soft and light, that of the fir is resinous heavy and more fleshy. The fir has more knots,^[37] but the silver-fir harder ones; indeed they may be said to be harder than those of any tree, though the wood otherwise is softer. And in general the knots of silver-fir and fir are of the closest and most solid^[38] texture and almost^[39] transparent: in colour they are like resin-glutted wood, and quite different from the rest of the wood; and this is especially so^[40] in the silver-fir. And just as the fir has its aigis,^[41] so the silver-fir has what is called its white 'centre,' which answers, as it were, to the aigis of the fir, except that it is white, while the other is bright-coloured because it is glutted with pitch. It becomes close white and good in trees which are of some age, but it is seldom found in good condition, while the ordinary form of it is abundant and is used to make painters' boards and ordinary writing tablets,^[42] superior ones being^[43] made of the better form.

However the Arcadians call both substances aigis, alike that of the fir^[44] and the corresponding part of the silver-fir,^[45] and say that, though the silver-fir produces more, that of the fir is better; for that, though that of the silver-fir is abundant^[46] smooth and close, that of the fir, though scanty, is compacter stronger and fairer in general. The Arcadians then appear to differ as to the names which they give. Such are the differences in the silver-fir as compared with the fir, and there is also that of having the amphauxis,^[47] which we mentioned before.

1. Plin. 16. 43.
2. Stone pine. See Index.
3. Plin. 16. 48.
4. φύλλον W. conj.; ξύλον UMVP.
5. συγγενῶν conj. R. Const.; ἀγγείων UAld.; ἐγγείων MV mBas.
6. γνώριμοι conj. R. Const.; γνώριμος UAld.H.; γνώριμα conj. W.
7. ὀρθότερον conj. R. Const.; ὀξύτερον UMVAld.
8. μελαντέρᾳ … εὐωδεστέρᾳ conj. W.; μελάντεραι δὲ πίττη καὶ γλυκύτεραι καὶ λεπτότεραι καὶ εὐωδέστεραι UMV; μελαντέρα δὲ καὶ γλυκυτέρα καὶ λεπτοτέρα καὶ εὐωδεστέρα Ald. λεπτοτέρᾳ, ? less viscous.
9. cf. 9. 2. 5; Plin. 16. 60.
10. Plin. 16. 47.
11. περίμητρα conj. R. Const.: so Mold. explains; περιμήτρια UMV.cf. 3. 9. 6.
12. ἀστραβῆ conj. R. Const.; εὐστραβῆ Ald.
13. αἰγίδα: cf. 5. 1. 9; Plin. 16. 187.
14. εὐκτεανωτέρα: εὐκτηδονωτέρα conj. R. Const.cf. 5. 1. 9; but text is supported by Hesych. s.v. ἰθυκτέανον.
15. I omit καὶ before τὰ κύκλῷ.
16. Plin. 16. 44.
17. ταῦτα γένη conj. R. Const. from G; ταῦτά γε UMVAld.; Plin. 16. 45–49.
18. ταὐτὸ conj. W.; αὐτὸ Ald.
19. βαθέα: δασέα conj. R. Const.cf. 3. 16. 2.
20. i.e. the cultivated πεύκη (so called). T. uses this periphrasis to avoid begging the question of the name.
21. ἄμφω δὲ τριχ. ins. here by Sch.; in MSS. and Ald. the words occur in § 5 after πιττωδέστερον.
22. πικρὰν conj. R. Const. from G; μικρὰν VAld.
23. καὶ ταύτην μεγάλην πρὸς conj. Sch.; καὶ τὴν μεγ. πρὸς UMV; μεγάλην πρὸς Ald.
24. ἐν Λέσβῳ conj. W. from G, and Plin. 16. 46; εἰς Λέσβον MSS.
25. On the W. of Lesbos, modern Caloni. cf. 2. 2. 6; Plin. l.c.
26. cf. 1. 6. 1; Plin. 16. 44.
27. Plin. 16. 48.
28. cf. 1. 8. 2.
29. παχύτερον conj. W.; πλατύτερον Ald.
30. Plin. 16. 48 and 49.
31. For the sense see Intr. p. xx.
32. φύλλον, i.e. the leafy shoot. Sch. considers φύλλον to be corrupt, and refers the following description to the cone; W. marks a lacuna after φύλλον, but does not render καὶ ἐπ᾽ ἔλαττον … κυνέαις. The words καὶ ἐπ᾽ ἔλαττον can hardly be sound as they stand. For the description of the foliage cf. 1. 10.. 5.
33. θολοειδῆ conj. Scal.; θηλοειδῆ U (erased); θηλοειδὲς MV; ut concameratum imitetur G; ? θολιοειδῆ; in Theocr. 15. 39. θολία seems to be a sun-hat.
34. κυνέαις: cf. Heysch. s.v. κυνῆ Βοιωτία, apparently a hat worn in the fields.
35. cf. 5. 1. 7.
36. cf. 5. 1. 5.
37. cf. 5. 1. 6.
38. cf. 5. 1. 6, κερατώδεις.
39. οὐ ins. Sch.
40. μᾶλλον δὲ conj. W.; μᾶλλον ἢ Ald.
41. cf. 3. 9. 3.
42. cf. Eur. I. A. 99; Hipp. 1254.
43. τὰ δ᾽ conj. Scal.; καὶ Ald.
44. πεύκης῾ conj. Scal. from G; ἐλάτης Ald.
45. ἐλάτης conj. Scal. from G; πεύκης Ald.
46. πολλὴν conj. Gesner; οὔλην UmBas.; ὅλην MVAld.
47. cf. 3. 7. 1.

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