Page:Enquiry into plants (Volume 1).pdf/291

 that there is a certain hill which is covered with terebinths, though nothing else grows on it. It has tough wood and strong roots which run deep, and the tree as a whole is impossible to destroy. The flower is like that of the olive, but red in colour. The leaf is made up of a number of leaflets, like bay leaves, attached in pairs to a single leaf-stalk. So far it resembles the leaf of the sorb; there is also the extra leaflet at the tip: but the leaf is more angular than that of the sorb, and the edge resembles more the leaf of the bay; the leaf is glossy all over, as is the fruit. It bears also some hollow bag-like growths, like the elm, in which are found little creatures like gnats; and resinous sticky matter is found also in these bags; but the resin is gathered from the wood and not from these. The fruit does not discharge much resin, but it clings to the hands, and, if it is not washed after gathering, it all sticks together; if it is washed, the part which is white and unripe floats, but the black part sinks.

The box is not a large tree, and it has a leaf like that of the myrtle. It grows in cold rough places; for of this character is Cytora, where it is most abundant. The Macedonian Olympus is also a cold region; for there too it grows, though not to a great size. It is largest and fairest in Corsica, where the tree grows taller and stouter than anywhere else; wherefore the honey there is not sweet, as it smells of the box.