same kind. And in general mountain trees have more knots than those of the plain, and those that grow in dry spots than those that grow in marshes.
Again the way in which they are planted makes a difference in this respect; those trees that grow close together are knotless and erect, those that grow far apart have more knots and a more crooked growth; for it happens that the one class are in shade, the others in full sun. Again the 'male' trees have more knots than the 'female' in those trees in which both forms are found, as cypress silver-fir hop-hornbeam cornelian cherry—for there is a kind called 'female cornelian cherry' (cornel)—and wild trees have more knots than trees in cultivation: this is true both in general and when we compare those of the same kind, as the wild and cultivated forms of olive fig and pear. All these have more knots in the wild state; and in general those of closer growth have this character more than those of open growth; for in fact the 'male' plants are of closer growth, and so are the wild ones; except that in some cases, as in box and nettle-tree, owing to the closer growth there are no knots at all, or only a few.
[1]Again the knots of some trees are irregular and set at haphazard, while those of others are regular, alike in their distance apart and in their number, as has been said[2]; wherefore also they are called 'trees with regular knots.'[3] [4]For of some the knots are, as it were, at even distances, while in others the distance between them is greater at the thick end of the stem. And this proportion holds throughout. This is especially evident in the wild olive and in reeds—in which the joint corresponds to the knot in trees. Again some knots are opposite one another,
