A sixth variety is the torch-tree,[2308] properly so called, which gives out more resin than any of the others, with the exception of the pitch-tree; but its resin is more liquid than that of this last. The wood, too, of this tree is more particularly employed for kindling fires and giving torch-light in religious ceremonials. Of this tree it is the male only that bears what is known to the Greeks by the name of “syce,”[2309] remarkable for its extremely powerful odour. When the larch[2310] is changed into the torch-tree, it is a proof that it is in a diseased state. The wood of all these trees, when set fire to, gives out immoderate volumes of sooty smoke,[2311] and sputters every now and then with a sudden crackling noise, while it sends out red-hot charcoal to a considerable distance—with the sole exception of that of the larch, which will neither burn[2312] nor char, nor, in fact, suffer any more from the action of fire than a stone. All these trees are evergreens, and are not easily[2313] distinguished by the foliage, even by those who are best acquainted with them, so nearly related are they to one another. The pitch-tree, however, is not so high as the larch; which, again, is stouter, and has a smoother bark, with a more velvety leaf, more unctuous to the touch, thicker, and more soft and flexible.[2314] The pitch-tree, again, has a leaf more sparsely scattered and drier; it is thinner also, and of a colder nature, rougher all over in appearance, and covered with a resinous deposit: the wood of this tree is most like that of the fir. The larch, when the roots are once burnt, will not throw out fresh shoots, which the pitch-tree will do, as was found to be the case in the island of Lesbos, after the Pyrrhæan grove had been burnt there.