Dr. Smith on the Abelicea cretica of Pona. 127 



though in some degree an object of commerce, seems, as far as 

 we know, peculiar to that island, and which no systematic au- 

 thor, that I can find, has noticed. Those great compilers and 

 observers, Adanson and Lamarck, have passed it over in silence. 



I shall first collect the slight memorials of this tree which al- 

 ready exist, and then add what 1 have been able to ascertain 

 concerning it. 



The earliest and most original account of the Abelicea is found 

 in Clusius's Ilistoria Plantarum, part 2, p. 302, in a letter to 

 that great botanist from Honorio Belli, dated Crete, October 1st, 

 1594, and this it is worth wiiile to translate. 



" Abelicea, seeds of which I now send, is a large upright tree, 

 " with abundance of branches, and of a handsome appearance. 

 " Its leaves are like those of the Alaternus, but rounder and 

 " deeply serrated. With the flowers I am unacquainted. The 

 *' fruit is the size of pepper, almost round, its colour between 

 " green and black. The wood is hard, with a slight degree of 

 " fragrance, insomuch that its saw-dust resembles that of san- 

 " dal wood, and it might properly be denominated Bastard San- 

 " dal-wood of Crete. This tree grows only on the highest sum- 

 " mits of the white mountains, and is used for making beams. 

 " I believe it to have been unknown to the antients, unless it 

 " may be the Mountain Elm of Theophrastus, described in his 

 " 3d book, chap. 14, but the leaves are neither slightly serrated, 

 " nor so large as those of a pear; on the contrary they are much 

 " smaller. It is called d^eKiMot" 



Pona, in the Italian edition of his Description of Mount Bal- 

 dus, published in 1617 at Venice, p. 112, gives a wooden cut of 

 the branches and leaves of the tree in question, which figure he 

 received from Honorio Belli. A description is annexed, very 

 nearly agreeing word for word with the above, but certainly not 



copied 



