# Enquiry into Plants/Volume 1/Chapter 67

Of differences in the keeping quality of timber.
Naturally proof against decay are cypress prickly cedar ebony nettle-tree box olive wild olive resinous fir aria (holm-oak) oak sweet chestnut. Of these the wood of the cypress seems to last longest; at least the cypress-wood at Ephesus, of which the doors of the modern temple were made, lay stored up for four generations. And this is the only wood which takes a fine polish, wherefore they make of it valuable articles. Of the others the least liable to decay after the wood of the cypress and thyine-wood is, they say, that of the mulberry, which is also strong and easily worked: when it becomes old, this wood turns black like that of the nettle-tree.
Again whether a given wood is not liable to decay may depend on the purpose to which it is put and the conditions to which it is subjected: thus the elm does not decay if exposed to the air, nor the oak if it is buried or soaked in water; for it appears to be entirely proof against decay: wherefore they build vessels of it for use on rivers and on lakes, but in sea-water it rots, though other woods last all the better; which is natural, as they become seasoned with the brine.
The beech also seems to be proof against decay in water and to be improved by being soaked. The sweet chestnut under like treatment is also proof against decay. They say that the wood of the fir is more liable to be eaten by the teredon than that of the silver-fir; for that the latter is dry, while the fir has a sweet taste, and that this is more so, the more the wood is soaked with resin; they go on to ​say that all woods are eaten by the teredon except the olive, wild or cultivated, and that these woods escape because of their bitter taste.Now woods which decay in sea-water are eaten by the teredon, those which decay on land by the skolex and thrips; for the teredon does not occur except in the sea. It is a creature small in size, but has a large head and teeth; the thrips resembles the skolex, and these creatures gradually bore through timber. The harm that these do is easy to remedy; for, if the wood is smeared with pitch, it does not let in water when it is dragged down into the sea; but the harm done by the teredon cannot be undone. Of the skolekes which occur in wood some come from the decay of the wood itself, some from other skolekes which engender therein. For these produce their young in timber, as the worm called the 'horned worm' does in trees, having bored and scooped out a sort of mouse-hole by turning round and round. But it avoids wood which has a strong smell or is bitter or hard, such as boxwood, since it is unable to bore through it. They say too that the wood of the silver-fir, if barked just before the time of budding, remains in water without decaying, and that this was clearly seen at Pheneos in Arcadia, when their plain was turned into a lake since the outlet was blocked up. For at that time they made their bridges of this wood, and, as the water rose, they placed more and more atop of them, and, when the water burst its way through and disappeared, all the wood was found to be undecayed. This fact then became of an accident.
​In the island of Tylos off the Arabian coast they say that there is a kind of wood of which they build their ships, and that in sea-water this is almost proof against decay; for it lasts more than 200 years if it is kept under water, while, if it is kept out of water, it decays sooner, though not for some time. They also tell of another strange thing, though it has nothing to do with the question of decay: they say that there is a certain tree, of which they cut their staves, and that these are very handsome, having a variegated appearance like the tiger's skin; and that this wood is exceedingly heavy, yet when one throws it down on hard ground it breaks in pieces like pottery.
Moreover, the wood of the tamarisk is not weak there, as it is in our country, but is as strong as kermes-oak or any other strong wood. Now this illustrates also the difference in properties caused by country and climate. Moreover when wood, such as that of oak or fir, is soaked in brine—not all being soaked at the same depth in the sea, but some of it close to shore, some rather further out, and some at a still greater depth—in all cases the parts of the tree nearest the root (whichever tree it is) sink quicker under water, and even if they float, have a greater tendency to sink.
* ↑ Plin. 16. 213.
* ↑ τεθησαυρισμένα … ἔκειτο conj. Bentley; τεθησαυρισμέναι … ἔκειντο Ald. H.; P has ἔκειτο.
* ↑ Plin. 16. 218.
* ↑ Plin. 16. 218 and 219.
* ↑ cf. 3. 9. 4.
* ↑ Plin. 16. 220 and 221.
* ↑ τιτραίνεται conj. Scal. from G; τιτρένεται U Vo.; πεπαίνεται MV Ald.
* ↑ cf. 4. 14. 5.
* ↑ ὡσπερεὶ μυοδόχον conj. W.; ὥσπερ οἱ μυόχοδοι MSS.; G omits. The word μυοδόχος does not occur elsewhere as a subst.
* ↑ cf.3. 1. 2. φραχθέντος conj. Sch.; βραχέτος Ald. H.
* ↑ ποιοῦντες⸒ ἐφιστάντες nom. pendens.
* ↑ Plin. 16. 221; cf. 4. 7. 7.
* ↑ Teak. See Index App. (22).
* ↑ Calamander-wood. See Index App. (23).
* ↑ πρὸς στερ. τόπον can hardly be sound: ? 'on something harder than itself.'
* ↑ See Index, μυρίκη (2).
* ↑ Plin. 16. 186.
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