Page:Enquiry into plants (Volume 1).pdf/253

while the whole trunk is longer that of the 'male' is less of a uniform colour thicker^[1] and harder, has more heart-wood, and is altogether inferior in appearance. In the cone^[2] of the 'male' are a few seeds at the apex, while that of the 'female,' according to what the Macedonians said,^[3] contains none at all. The foliage^[4] is feathered and the height disproportionate so that the general appearance of the tree is dome-like,^[5] and closely resembles the Boeotian peasant's hat^[6]; 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.

^[7]There is also not a little difference in the wood: that of the silver-fir is fibrous^[8] soft and light, that of the fir is resinous heavy and more fleshy. The fir has more knots,^[9] 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^[10] texture and almost^[11] transparent: in colour they are like resin-glutted wood, and quite different from the rest of the wood; and this is especially so^[12] in the silver-fir. And just as the fir has its aigis,^[13] so the silver-fir has what is

1. παχύτερον conj. W.; πλατύτερον Ald.
2. Plin. 16. 48 and 49.
3. For the sense see Intr. p. xx.
4. 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.
5. θολοειδῆ conj. Scal.; θηλοειδῆ U (erased); θηλοειδὲς MV; ut concameratum imitetur G; ? θολιοειδῆ; in Theocr. 15. 39. θολία seems to be a sun-hat.
6. κυνέαις: cf. Heysch. s.v. κυνῆ Βοιωτία, apparently a hat worn in the fields.
7. cf. 5. 1. 7.
8. cf. 5. 1. 5.
9. cf. 5. 1. 6.
10. cf. 5. 1. 6, κερατώδεις.
11. οὐ ins. Sch.
12. μᾶλλον δὲ conj. W.; μᾶλλον ἢ Ald.
13. cf. 3. 9. 3.