ON RURAL MATTERS. I. ON THE AUTHORS OF RURAL MATTERS. Among the Greeks, Hesiod of Boeotia first contributed the skill of writing on rural matters to human studies; then Democritus. Mago the Carthaginian too wrote on the pursuit of agriculture in twenty-eight volumes. But among the Romans, Cato first laid the foundations concerning agriculture; which Marcus Terentius afterwards polished; presently Virgil exalted it with the praise of his songs. Nor did Cornelius Celsus and Julius Atticus, Aemilianus, and Columella, that distinguished orator, have any lesser zeal afterwards; Columella embraced the whole body of that same discipline. They say that a certain private man, by name Homogyrus, first yoked oxen to the plough and was struck by lightning;
but some say that Osiris is the inventor of this art; some say Triptolemus. And here there is a question how Ceres first taught in Greece to turn the earth with iron, but with iron of any sort, not specifically with a ploughshare or a plough. The method of manuring the fields a certain man by name Stercutus first introduced in Italy, whose altar was dedicated by Picus at Rome: he discovered many instruments of agriculture, and first strengthened the fields. Some have thought this same to be Saturn, in order to make greater nobility for him by this name, so that it might sound splendidly and procure the dignity of the title. II. ON THE CULTIVATION OF FIELDS. Cultivation (cultura) is that by which grains or wines are sought with great labour, so called from tilling (incolendo).
For the riches of the ancients lay in these two things: to pasture well and to plough well. The cultivation of the field is: ash, ploughing, letting-lie-fallow, burning of stubble, manuring, harrowing, weeding. Ash (cinis) is the burning by which the field sweats out its useless moisture. Ploughing (aratio) is so called because from bronze (aere) they formerly practised the tillage of the earth, before the use of iron had been discovered. But ploughing is twofold: spring and autumn. Intermission is that by which, on alternate years, the field lying empty recovers its strength. Manuring (stercoratio) is the scattering of dung. But dung (stercus) is so called either because it is strewn (sternitur) upon the fields, or because what is filthy and overflows in the city ought to be wiped away (extergi) [or, which is truer, from Sterces who is also called Sterculus]. The same is fimus, which is cast over the fields.
And it is called fimus [because it becomes a mouse (fiat mus)], that is, the dung which by the common people is called laetamen (that which gladdens), because by its nourishment it makes the sprouts glad (laeta) and renders the fields fat and fruitful. Harrowing (occatio) is when the countrymen, when the sowing has been done and the oxen let go, break up the large clods and shatter them with mattocks: and it is called occatio as it were 'obcaecatio' (a blinding over), because it covers the seeds. To harrow (occare), then, is to cover the seeds, the vines, or the trees with earth. Weeding (runcatio) is to pluck the weeds from the earth; for 'rus' is earth. The furrow (sulcus) is named from the sun (sole) because, being cut open, it takes in the sun. Vervactum is so called as if 'vere actum,' that is, ploughed in spring (verno). Proscissio is the first ploughing, when the field is still hard. Sowing (satio) is so called as if 'the action of the seed' (seminis actio), as if 'the action of things sown' (satorum actio).
But to sow (serere) is so called because this is to be done under a clear sky (sereno caelo), not through showers. Hence too is that Virgilian saying (Georgics 1.299): 'Plough naked, sow naked.' The harvest (messis) is so called from reaping (metendo), that is, from cutting off. But the standing crop (seges) is [so called] from the seed which we cast (iacimus), or from cutting (sectione). III. ON GRAINS. Ceres first began to use crops in Greece and to have standing corn, with seeds transferred from elsewhere. Of her Ovid makes mention, saying (Metamorphoses 5.341): 'Ceres first moved the clod with the curved plough, first gave crops and gentle nourishment to the lands.' Frumenta (grains) are properly those which have ears (aristae), but fruges are the rest. But grains (frumenta) or fruges are so called from 'enjoying' (fruendo), that is, from eating; for the topmost part of the gullet is called frumen.
Primitiae (first-fruits) are properly those which are plucked first from the crops. Wheat (triticum) is named either from threshing (tritura), because when most pure it is stored in the barn, or because its grain is ground and rubbed (teritur). Far is so called because in the beginning it used to be broken (frangeretur); for among the ancients the use of mills did not yet exist, but they broke the grain thrown into a mortar; and this was a kind of grinding. Adoreum is a kind of wheat, which by the common people is also called semen (seed). It was once called ador from eating (edendo), because men first used it, or because in sacrifice bread of that very kind was offered at the altars. Whence too they are called adorea sacrifices. Siligo is a kind of wheat named from being 'selected' (selecto); for in bread its quality is outstanding. Three-month wheat (trimestre) is so named because, sown, it is gathered after three months;
for where, on account of water or some other cause, the ripe sowing has been omitted, a safeguard is sought from this. Alica is a Greek name. Alicastrum is similar to alica, outstanding in weight and goodness. Barley (hordeum) is so called because before the other kinds of grain it first becomes dry (aridum), or because its ear has rows (ordines). Of these there are three kinds. The first is called hexastichum because its ear has six rows; which some call canterinum, since it feeds animals better than wheat, and men more healthfully than bad wheat. The second is distichon, because it has two rows; this many call Galatic. The third is trimestre (three-month), because, when necessity compels, it is sown in spring and quickly gathered. Scandula is named from division (divisione);
for it is twofold and is split (scanditur), that is, divided. Centenum (rye) is so named because in most places the casting of its seed is reborn a hundredfold in the increase of the crop. Hence too millet (milium) is named from the multitude (multitudine) of its fruit. Panicium is so called because in many regions men are sustained by it in place of bread, as it were 'panivicium.' Pistum is from 'pastum' (food). Sesame (sisamum) is a Greek name. Farrago is named from far: for it is a barley-like herb still green, its grains not yet swelling to maturity. We call an ear (spica) of ripe crops by misuse; for properly the spica is when, through the husk of the stalk, that is, its outermost swelling, the awns, still thin, project in the manner of a little spike. The awn (arista) is so called because it first dries up (arescat).
The stalk (culmus) is the very reed of the ear which grows from the roots: and it is called culmus as it were calamus (reed). The husk (folliculum) is the sheath of the grain in which the kernel is kept within. This, being furnished with a rampart over the ear, holds out a defence, lest the ear be stripped of its own fruits by the bites of the smaller birds, or be trodden down by feet. The stalk-leaves (stipulae) are the leaves or sheaths by which the stalk is encircled and supported, lest it be bent by the weight of the crop, which encircle the stalk: and stipula is so called as if 'usta' (burned), and as if 'ustipula.' Stipula (stubble) is named from 'burned' (usto); for when the harvest has been gathered, it is burned for the cultivation of the field. Likewise stubble is so called either because part of it is burned, or part is sometimes cut off in place of chaff. Chaff (palea) is said by some to be so called because it is winnowed with a shovel (pala) so that the grains may be cleansed.
But the Gentiles named chaff (palea) from a certain Pales, the discoveress of crops, whom they will have to be Ceres. Of whom Virgil (Georgics 3.1): 'Thee too, great Pales, and thee, O one to be remembered, will we sing.' Likewise others say chaff (palea) is named from fodder (pabulo), because it alone was first offered in the pasturing of animals. Its nature is on the contrary so cold that it does not allow buried snow to melt, yet so warm that it compels apples to ripen. IV. ON PULSES. Legumes (legumina) are so called from 'gathering' (legendo), as it were 'chosen'; for the ancients gathered whatever was better; or because they are gathered by hand and do not require cutting. There are very many kinds of legumes, of which the bean, the lentil, the pea, the kidney-bean, the chickpea, and the lupine seem more agreeable for the use of men.
The Greek bean took its name from eating, as if 'faga'; for in Greek 'phagein' means 'to eat.' For men first used this legume as food. Of it there are two kinds, one common, the other Egyptian. The bean is called 'fresa' because men 'fredant' it, that is, they break it, and crush it small by grinding. The lentil is so named because it is moist and pliant ('lenta'), or because it clings to the ground ('humi'). Now 'faselus' (the kidney-bean) and 'cicer' (the chickpea) are Greek names. But 'faselus'... The lupine too is a Greek name, of which Virgil says: 'and the sad lupines,' because they sadden the face of the one tasting them with their bitterness; whence, on account of their bitterness, neither worm nor any animal eats them. Medick, vetch, and bitter-vetch are the best of fodder plants.
Medick ('Medica') is so called because it was brought over from the Medes into Greece at the time when Xerxes, king of the Persians, invaded it. It is sown once and lasts ten years, so that it can be cut four or six times a year. The vetch ('vicia') is so named because it scarcely ('vix') attains a threefold yield, whereas other legumes have a fertile increase; whence also Virgil says: 'as the slender crop of the vetch.' The pea ('pisum'), because with it some small amount of gold used to be weighed; for 'pis' means gold. 'Ervum' (bitter-vetch) draws its name from the Greek, for they call it 'orobos'; and although it is harmful to certain cattle, yet it makes bulls fat. V. ON VINES. Noah first established the planting of the vine, while the age was still rude. Among the Greeks, however, Liber is said to be called the inventor of the vine;
whence also the pagans wished him to be a god after his death. The vine ('vitis') is so called because it has the power ('vim') of taking root quickly. Others think that vines are so named because they interweave themselves with one another by tendrils ('vittis') and, by creeping, bind themselves to neighbouring trees. For their nature is flexible, and they grip whatever they seize as if with certain arms. The wild vine ('labrusca') grows on the borders of fields; whence it is called 'labrusca,' from the lips ('labra') and edges of the land. The tree-trunk ('codex') is so called as if 'caudex.' For thus the ancients used also to say 'clodus' for 'claudus' (lame).
The vine-shoot ('sarmentum') is named from planting ('serere'), as if 'serimentum.' The 'malleolus' is a new branch grown from the last year's shoot, so named from its resemblance to the thing, because in that part where it is cut off it projects from the old shoot on either side and presents the appearance of a hammer ('malleus'). 'Spadones' are sprigs lacking fruit, so named from that very appellation, because they are unfit for fruit and afflicted with barrenness. The countryfolk call the very tip of a sprig the 'arrow' ('sagitta'), either because it has drawn farther from the mother-plant and, as it were, leapt forth, or because by the slenderness of its point it presents the appearance of a weapon. The topmost parts of vines and shrubs are called 'flagella' (whips), because they are stirred by the wind's blast. The 'palmes' (vine-branch) is the soft substance of the vine which, sent out through the young arms, bears fruit;
for this reason the countryfolk call this part of the vine the 'palmes.' For 'palmes' is a diminutive noun, which is called a 'derived' name ('paragogum'), because it is derived from 'palma' (palm). For 'palma' has the primary noun, which is called the principal, because it produces from itself a derivative. The 'pampinus' (vine-leaf) is the foliage by whose aid the vine is defended from cold or heat and fortified against every injury. It is therefore in places cut through, so that it may both admit the sun to ripen the fruit and cast shade. And it is called 'pampinus' because it hangs down from the vine-branch ('palmes'). The tendrils ('capreoli') are so called because they seize ('capiant') the trees.
For they are the curls or little hooks by which the vines are wont to entwine themselves and hang from trees, so that, relying on this support, the vine-branches may scorn the winds and whirlwinds, and sustain their fruits without the peril of falling, and defend themselves by their rambling height. The 'corymbi' are the rings which bind and grasp whatever is nearest, lest the vine-branches, loosened too far, be scattered by the blasts of the winds. Grapes ('uvae') are so called because within they are full of moisture ('humor'), of juice and richness. For 'humidum' is what has moisture on the outside; 'uvidum' what has it within. The berry ('acina'). The cluster ('botrus'). The 'racemus' (sprig) is a part of the 'botryo' (bunch); and 'botryo' is Greek. Certain grapes are called 'suburban' because their fruit is sold for food, like an apple, in the cities;
for both their appearance and the pleasantness of their flavour commend them. Among these are the early-ripening, the hard-berried, the purple, the date-grapes, the Rhodian, the Libyan, the 'ceraunian,' the 'stephanite,' the 'tripedanean,' the 'unciarian,' the Cydonian. But durable throughout the whole winter are the 'venuculae' and the Numisian. They are called 'praecoquae' (early-ripe) because they ripen quickly and are cooked by the sun before all others. These the Greeks call 'lageos,' because they run swiftly to ripeness like a hare. The purple are named from colour; the 'unciarian' from size; the date-grapes from length; the 'stephanite' from roundness. The Rhodian and Libyan are named from regions; the 'ceraunian' because they redden like fire. Now the kinds of grapes which serve for wine are very many. Among these is the one called 'aminea,' as if 'without minium' ('sine mineo'), that is, without redness;
for it yields white wine. And although it be of one name, it does not yield one kind: there are two twin 'amineae,' so called because they put forth double grapes; the 'woolly aminea,' because it grows woolly with down more than all the rest. The 'rubelliana' is so called because its substance reddens ('rubet'). The 'faecinia' has grapes of small berries and hard skin; in nobility it follows the 'aminea,' in fruitfulness it surpasses it. It is accordingly called 'faecinia' because it brings forth more lees ('faeces') than the others. The 'apianae' make a sweet wine; unless you gather them quickly, they are infested by rains and winds and especially by bees ('apes'); from whose plundering they are named 'apianae.' The 'balanitae' took their name from their size; for in Greek acorns are called 'balanoi.'
The 'biturica' got its name from a region; it most stoutly withstands whirlwinds and rains and heat, nor does it fail in lean soil. Of like merit is the 'basilica.' The 'argitis' is a little Greek vine, of white kind, fertile, putting forth a vast and short stock and a broad leaf; whose fruit, unless you gather it at the first season, either falls to the ground or rots with moisture. The 'inerticula' is black, which the Greeks call 'amarakion,' of good and light wine; from which too it drew its name, because it is held to be 'sluggish' ('iners') in assailing the sinews, although in taste it is not dull. The 'mareoticae' are named from Mareotis, a region of Egypt, whence they first came; for they are both white and black.
The 'helvolae,' which some call 'various' ('variae'), being neither purple nor black, are so named from a tawny ('helvus') colour, though of a whitish must. For 'helvum' is a colour black-and-white. For 'helvum' is neither white nor black. The third rank of vines is that which is commended by fruitfulness alone, plentiful in abundance and flowing with much wine. The 'viticionia' has large grapes rather than many; and it takes this name from the fact that it flows with much wine. The 'syriaca,' either because it was brought from Syria or because it is black. There are, moreover, many kinds of vines which nevertheless, by change of place, lose both their quality and their name. To vines, among other things, these operations are especially suited: trenching around ('oblaqueatio'), pruning ('putatio'), layering ('propaginatio'), digging ('fossio').
'To trench around' ('oblaqueare') is to open the earth about the trunk and, as it were, to make a basin: this some call 'excodicare.' 'To prune' ('putare') is to cut back the superfluous shoot from the vine, which runs riot with its whips; for 'putare' means 'to cleanse' ('purgare'), that is, to cut away ('amputare'). 'To transplant' ('traducere'), 'to lead across' ('transducere'). 'To layer' ('propaginare') is to lay down a whip of the vine buried in the earth and, as it were, to plant it forth. Hence 'layers' ('propagines'), so named from spreading forth ('propagare') and stretching out. 'To dig' ('fodere') is to make a pit, as if to cherish ('fovere'). VI. ON TREES. The name of trees ('arbores'), or of herbs, is believed to be derived by inflection from 'fields' ('arva'), because they cling with fixed roots to the earth. And both are almost alike to each other, because from the one the other is begotten.
For when you have cast a seed into the ground, first a herb springs up, then, being nourished, it rises into a tree; and within a short time you look up at as a full-grown tree that which you had seen as a herb. The 'arbustum' (young tree) is a young and tender tree, in which grafting can be done; and it is called 'arbustum' as if 'the spear of the tree' ('arboris hasta'). Others wish 'arbustum' to be understood as a place in which there are trees, like a 'salictum' (willow-grove): so too the 'virecta,' where the shoots are young and green. Now a tree ('arbor') is both fruit-bearing and barren, but 'arbos' is only fruit-bearing. In the feminine gender we say 'arbores' (trees); but 'poma' (fruits) in the neuter. The 'frutex' (shrub) is so called as being low, because it covers the ground with foliage; its plural noun is 'frutecta.' A tree is tall. A wood ('silva') is a dense and low grove. 'Silva' is so called as if 'xylva,' because wood is cut there;
for the Greeks call wood 'xylon.' For many Latin names very often adopt a Greek etymology. The 'nemus' (grove) is named from the deities ('numina'), because the pagans there set up idols: for groves ('nemora') are larger trees, shady with foliage. The 'lucus' (sacred grove) is a density of trees withdrawing light from the ground, by the trope of antiphrasis, because it does not shine ('luceat'); or from 'light' ('lux'), because torches or wax candles used to shine there on account of the darkness of the groves. The 'saltus' is a lofty density of trees, called by this name because it leaps up ('exiliat') on high and rises into the heights. The 'aviaria' are secluded groves, so called because birds ('aves') frequent them there. 'Recidiva' of trees are those which sprout again when others have been cut. Others derive 'recidiva' from falling ('cadere'), because they are born after a fall. Others said it from cutting back ('recidere') and sprouting again.
Therefore 'recidivum' is where there is death or fall. 'Grafting' ('insitio') is said when, the trunk being cleft, a sprig of a fruitful tree is inserted into a barren one; or the 'setting of eyes' ('oculorum inpositio'), when, the bark being cut, a bud of another tree's cortex is set in. 'Plantae' (slips) are from trees; but 'plantaria' (seedlings) are those which are born from seeds with their roots and are transplanted from their own soil. 'Cespites' (sods) are shrubs, as if 'cuspides' (points), or as if 'about the feet' ('circa pedes'). Fronds ('frondes') are so called because they bear ('ferant') sprigs or shades; and they are the cause of shade. 'Eyes' ('oculi') are the nodes from which the fronds come forth. The root ('radix') is so called because, fixed as if by certain rays ('radii') in the earth, it plunges into the depths. For the natural philosophers say that the depth of the roots equals the height of the trees.
Others think the root ('radix') is named from a resemblance to rays ('radii'), or because, if it be scraped away ('eradatur'), it does not sprout again. The trunk ('truncus') is the stature of the tree standing upon the root. The ancients used to call the bark ('cortex') 'corux'; and it is called 'cortex' because with a hide ('corium') it covers the wood. The 'liber' (inner bark) is the inner part of the bark, so called from the freed ('liberato') bark, that is, the removed part: for it is something intermediate between the wood and the bark. The branches ('rami') are those which issue from the trunk, as the rest issue from the little branches ('ramusculi'). The sprigs ('surculi') are named from the cutting ('praecisio') of the saw. The 'virgultum' (thicket-shoot) is that which sprouts from the root; the branch ('ramus'), which comes from the very body of the tree; the twig ('virga'), which comes from the branches. Properly, however, 'virgultum' is called that which is born at the root of the tree and is cut off by the farmers as if useless. And hence it is called 'virgultum,' because it is taken away from the twig ('virga').
The twig ('virga') is so called either from force ('vis') or from strength ('virtus'), because it has much force in itself, or from greenness ('viriditas'), or because it is a sign of peace, in that it governs force. Whence the magicians use it to pacify serpents among themselves, and therefore hold them fast bound upon it. This too the philosophers and kings and masters and messengers and legates use. 'Flagella' (whips) are called, as we have said before, the highest parts of trees, from the fact that they endure frequent blasts of the winds. The 'cymae' (shoots) are so called as if 'comae' (locks of hair). Leaves are called 'phylla' in Greek: thence this name has been transferred to us by derivation. Flowers ('flores') are named because they quickly flow down ('defluant') from the trees, as if 'fluores,' because they are quickly loosened. In these is a twofold grace: of colour and of scent. For by the south wind flowers are loosened, by the west wind they are formed.
We call a bud ('germen') a pregnant sprig, from bearing ('gerere'); whence also germination ('germinatio'). Fruit ('fructus') took its name from the 'frumen,' that is, the prominent part of the throat with which we eat; and hence too 'fruges' (produce). Fruits ('fructus'), moreover, are properly said of fields and trees, of which indeed we make use; but in animals the term 'fruit' is used improperly and by transference. 'Poma' (tree-fruits) are so called from 'opimum' (rich), that is, from the plenty of abundance. They are called 'mature' ('matura') because they are fit for chewing ('mandere'); and so too 'immature' ('immatura'), because before they become ripe they are hard for chewing. Wood ('ligna') is so called because, when kindled, it is turned into light ('lumen'). Whence too the 'lychnium' (lamp) is named, because it gives light. The chip ('astula') is named from lifting away ('tollere'), as if 'abstula.' Tinder ('fomes') is a chip which is struck off from trees by cutting, or scorched chips, or hollowed wood;
it has taken its name from mushrooms ('fungi'), because it catches fire in the same way. Of which Virgil says: 'and snatched the flame in the tinder.' A firebrand ('torris') is scorched wood, which the common folk call a 'titio,' drawn out from the hearth, half-burnt and extinguished. 'Quisquiliae' (rubbish) are stubble mingled with sprigs and dry leaves: they are the sweepings of the lands. 'Caries' is the rottenness of wood, so named because it befalls wood that lacks vigour ('virtus'). VII. ON THE PROPER NAMES OF TREES. The palm ('palma') is so called because it is the ornament of the victorious hand ('manus'), or because it has branches spread out in the manner of a man's palm ('palma'). For it is a tree the emblem of victory, with a tall and comely stem, clothed with long-lasting fronds, and preserving its leaves without any succession.
The Greeks call it 'phoenix,' because it lasts long, from the name of that Arabian bird which is reported to live for many years. And though it grows in many places, it does not bring its fruit to ripeness in all; but frequently in Egypt and Syria. Its fruits are called 'dactyli' (dates) from their resemblance to fingers ('digiti'), of which the names too are varied: for some are called 'palmulae,' like the myrobalan; others 'Thebaici,' which are also called 'Nicolai'; others 'nucales,' which the Greeks call 'karyotai.' The laurel ('laurus') is named from the word 'laus' (praise); for with it the heads of victors used to be crowned amid praises. Among the ancients it was called 'laudea'; afterwards, the letter D being removed and R substituted, it was called 'laurus';
as in the case of 'auriculae' (little ears), which were at first called 'audiculae,' and 'medidies,' which is now called 'meridies' (midday). This tree the Greeks call 'daphne,' because it never lays aside its greenness; and for that reason victors are crowned with it rather. This tree alone, too, is popularly believed to be least struck by lightning. The apple ('malum') is so named by the Greeks because its fruit is the roundest of all fruits: whence too these are true apples which are exceedingly round. The 'Matian' apples are named from the place whence they were first brought. For many trees have received their names from the provinces or cities from which they were brought. Virgil shows what is wont to be sought by lovers from an apple. The Cydonian apple ('mala Cydonia', quince) took its name from the town which is on the island of Crete;
concerning which the Greeks are wont to call Cydonia the mother of Cretan cities; from whose fruit the 'cydonitum' (quince paste) is made. From it too a wine is made, by which the cravings of the ailing are beguiled: for in appearance and taste and smell it presents the image of any old wine. The 'malomellum' (honey-apple) is named from sweetness, because its fruit has the taste of honey, or because it is preserved in honey; whence too a certain poet says: 'If quinces steeped in Cecropian honey be set before you, you would say: These honey-apples please.' The Punic apple ('malum Punicum', pomegranate) is so called because its kind was brought over from the Punic region. The same is also 'mulogranatum,' because within the roundness of its rind it contains a multitude of grains. The tree, moreover, the 'malusgranata,' is of the feminine gender; but the fruit is of the neuter gender.
The blossoms of apple-trees are called by the Greeks 'kytinos'; the Latins call them 'caducum' (the falling one). But the blossoms of wild apples the Greeks call 'balaustion'; of which some are found white, some purple, some rosy, like the blossoms of the pomegranate. The physicians deny that our bodies are nourished by the food of the pomegranate, but they think it should be so used that it may seem to medicate rather than to nourish. The Persian apple ('malum Persicum', peach), whose life is granted very brief, is said to be of three kinds: the 'duracenum,' the Armenian, and the Persian. It is called 'duracenum' because its fruit brings a sourness ('acor') to the taste. It is called Armenian because its first kind was brought over from Armenia.
It is called Persian because Perseus first planted that tree in Egypt, from whom the Ptolemies claimed to be descended. This tree in Persia produces a deadly fruit, but among us a pleasant and sweet one. Of these one is called 'praecox' (early), the other 'aestivum' (summer). The 'medica' tree, whose name became famous even in the Mantuan poems, was first carried over from the Medes; whence too it took its name. This the Greeks call 'kedromelon,' the Latins 'citria' (citron), because its fruit and leaves have the scent of cedar. Its fruit is hostile to poisons; and this is what the same poet wished to be understood, when he relates that from it the soul is fostered. This tree is at almost every season full of fruits, which on it are partly ripe, partly unripe, partly still set in blossom;
which is rare in other trees. The 'mella,' which the Greeks call 'lotus,' is commonly called the Syrian bean ('faba Syrica') on account of its form and colour. For it is a large tree, bearing an edible fruit, larger than a pepper, sweet in taste, whence too it is called 'mella' (honey-like). The 'coccymela,' which the Latins on account of its colour call the plum ('prunum'), others call 'nixa' from the multitude of fruit it strains forth. Of which kind the Damascene is better, so called from the town of Damascus, whence it was first brought over. Its fruit alone is proved to remedy the stomach; for the rest are reported to be harmful. This tree alone distils a gluey and compacting gum, which both physicians and scribes use. The 'oleomela' grows in Palmyra, a city of Syria;
from which it is so called because from its trunk there flows an oil ('oleum') of the thickness of honey ('mel'), of a pleasant taste. The 'pomelida,' similar to the service-tree, a middling tree with a whitish blossom; so called because the sweetness of its fruit is mingled with a sharp taste. This tree endures but a short span of life. The 'melopos' tree is named in Africa in the Punic tongue, from which flows a slow-running sap, which from the place is named 'ammoniacus.' The medlar ('mespila') is a thorny tree, with fruit like apples in resemblance but a little shorter; whence too it is named, because its fruits have the shape of a little ball ('pilula'). It seems to have been formerly so called because it was shaped in the likeness of fire; for this kind of fruit begins broad and ends narrow, like fire. The pear-tree ('pirus'), moreover, is a tree; its fruit is the pear ('pira').
Of which there are many kinds, among which the 'Crustumia' are pears partly reddening, named from the town Crustumium. Pears loaded upon beasts of burden, even if few, are said to be exceedingly onerous. The cherry ('cerasus') is named from Cerasus, a city of Pontus. For Lucullus, when he had destroyed the city of Cerasus in Pontus, brought over this kind of fruit thence and named it 'cerasium' from the city. The tree, moreover, is called 'cerasus,' the fruit 'cerasium.' This existed in Italy even before Lucullus, but was hard; whence too it was called 'cornum' (cornel). It is, moreover, a tree fit for spear-shafts: whence Virgil says: 'the cornel good for war.' The fig ('ficus') is named in Latin from fecundity ('fecunditas'); for it is more prolific than the other trees.