. Bergens Museums skrifter. Science. Remarks on the most Important Plant-Societies of the Island. 235 4 trees the girth of which were , , and m. in breast-heig-ht. I have been informed by Mr. G. Vassiliou that there is a tree thiclier still near the village Psevda in the same district.—The old olive trees are almost always hollow. Of the trunk, which in spite of its being so thick, as a rule is no higher than 4 or 5 m., often only a testa of some decimeters is left. The wood is rather loose, and the trees sutfer very much from the rough treatment they must undergo during the
. Bergens Museums skrifter. Science. Remarks on the most Important Plant-Societies of the Island. 235 4 trees the girth of which were , , and m. in breast-heig-ht. I have been informed by Mr. G. Vassiliou that there is a tree thiclier still near the village Psevda in the same district.—The old olive trees are almost always hollow. Of the trunk, which in spite of its being so thick, as a rule is no higher than 4 or 5 m., often only a testa of some decimeters is left. The wood is rather loose, and the trees sutfer very much from the rough treatment they must undergo during the harvest time. Broken boughs leave big holes in the trunk, and these holes when growing will develop into deep fissui-es, cleaving the trunk in its total length. The parts of the trunk formed in this way may continue their existence through several years. Through their own weight they are little by little more removed from eachothers. Little by little a cicatrization will take place from the margins of the living bark; only iu very few instances, however, the enormous wounds will be even proximately covered; as a rule 30—50 % of the surface of the trunk will remain naked, exposed to the weather. In this way we very often see an old olive tree divided into 2 to 5 other "individuals", being able to lead an existence of their own through a long time. The schematic sections of four trunks (Fig. 79) will give an illustration of this; the wood is indicated through oblique frosting, the living bark thi'ough a double con- tour. From a theoretical point of view this division of old olive trees may be considered as a kind of primi- tive vegetative multiplication, being analogous to the duplication of several inferior organisms. This multiplication is, however, without any importance to the existence of the species, for the fact is that the new "individuals" formed in this way have not before them the future life of a normal young individual, the duplication being o
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbe, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectscience
