CHAP. 28.—THREE VARIETIES OF THE BOX-TREE.
One of the most highly esteemed of all the woods is the box,2384 but it is seldom veined, and then only the wood of the root. In other respects, it is a wood, so to say, of quiet and unpretending appearance, but highly esteemed for a certain degree of hardness and its pallid hue: the tree, too, is very extensively employed in ornamental gardening.2385 There are three2386 varieties of it: the Gallic2387 box, which is trained to shoot upwards in a pyramidal form, and attains a very considerable height; the oleaster,2388 which is condemned as being utterly worthless, and emits a disagreeable odour; and a third, known as the “Italian” box,2389 a wild variety, in my opinion, which has been improved by cultivation. This last spreads more than the others, and forms a thick hedge: it is an evergreen, and is easily clipped.
The box-tree abounds on the Pyrenean2390 range, the mountains of Cytorus, and the country about Berecynthus.2391 The trunk grows to the largest size in the island of Corsica,2392 and its blossom is by no means despicable; it is this that causes the honey there to be bitter.2393 The seed of the box is held in aversion by all animals. That which grows upon Mount Olympus in Macedonia is not more slender than the other kinds, but the tree is of a more stunted growth. It loves spots exposed to the cold winds and the sun: in fire, too, it manifests all the hardness of iron; it gives out no flame, and is of no use whatever for the manufacture of charcoal.2394