[2424] The Nerion oleander of Linnæus; the laurel-rose, or rose of St. Anthony of the French; it has some distant resemblance to the olive-tree, but its leaf is that of the laurel, and its flower very similar to that of the rose.
[2425] See B. xxiv. c. 61.
[2426] “Nerion” is the Greek name.
[2427] It has certain dangerous properties, which cause the herbivorous animals to avoid touching it. It acts strongly on the muscular system, and, as Fée remarks, used as an antidote to the stings of serpents, it is not improbable that its effect would be the worst of the two.
[2428] See B. xiii. c. [37]. The tamarisk of the moderns is not an evergreen, which has caused writers to doubt if it is identical with the tamariscus of the ancients, and to be disposed to look for it among the larger ericæ or heaths. The leaves of the larch fall every year; those of the other evergreens mostly every two or three years.
[2430] See B. xiii. c. [40]. This assertion of Pliny is erroneous, as these trees are in reality evergreens, though all trees of that class are liable to lose their leaves through certain maladies.
[2431] “Quercus.” The ilex or holm-oak is an evergreen.
[2432] Pliny is in error here. Varro, De Re Rust. B. i. c. 7, has made mention of this tree.
[2433] The hot climates possess a greater number of evergreens than the temperate regions, but not of the same species or genus. The vine invariably loses its leaves each year.