[2464] He alludes to the period of the rising of the sap; an entirely distinct process from germination.
[2465] This statement, as also that relative to the holm oak, and other trees previously mentioned, is quite incorrect. The blossoms of the fig-tree are very much concealed, however, from view in the involucre of the clinanthium.
[2466] This is not the fact, though the blossom of the juniper is of humble character, and not easily seen. Theophrastus, B. iii. c. 6, only says that it is a matter of doubt, what Pliny so positively affirms.
[2467] This is the fact; the male tree is sterile, but it fecundates the female.
[2468] These remarks, borrowed from Theophrastus, are generally consistent with our experience.
[2469] Fée remarks that Pliny here copies from Theophrastus, a writer of Greece, without making allowance for the difference of localities. Theophrastus, however, gives the laurel an earlier period for budding than Pliny does.
[2470] The Rhamnus paliurus of Linnæus.
[2471] This is entirely fanciful: though it is the case that in some trees, the ligneous ones, namely, there are two germinations in the year, one at the beginning of spring, which acts more particularly on the branches, and the other at the end of summer, which acts more upon the parts nearer the roots.
[2472] See B. xviii. c. 57.
[2473] There is no such thing as a third budding.