118 THE CLASSICAL PLANTS OF SICILY. 
24. Musi/oc, cap. xv. and Migros, cap. ix. In Greece it has 
now the following names, Múgomn, mgro», mégowov, and pugrià. 
The fruit is eaten by the modern, as it was by the ancient 
Athenians.— Sibth. Et erant olim usui Myrti baccee; Plato 
suos cives wras tanquam bellariis vesci voluit. lib. xi. de 
Repub. Wessel. Obs. 52. — (Walpole's Turkey, Note, xxi. p. 240.) 
The myrtle was sacred to Venus, and was a coronary 
plant: Tibullus (i. 3. 66.) says, “Et gerit insigni Myrtea 
serta comá." — Boughs of it, xwa migowys, were used in deco- 
rating tombs among the ancient Greeks. Vide Euripid. 
Electra.—This custom is still retained amongst the Turks, 
(Walpole.) Theophrastus also relates, that the inhabitants 
of the promontory of Circe were wont to show the tomb of 
Elpenor, on which myrtles grew, xaddmeg ds Xrspawwribeg.— See 
lib. v. cap. 9.—Miegros occurs in "Theocritus, Epigram, iv. v. 
1. and Lin puña, in an ode of another Doric Sicilian poet, 
Stesichorus, iv. 2. Dioscorides mentions an oil made from 
the Myrtle, and which he names wugonssdion, lib. i. cap. 49. 
The myrtle, Mirtu, is a common wild plant in Sicily. 
50. Punica Granatum.— Pomegranate.—47. Grae. vol. v. 
tab. 476.— Bot. Mag. vol. xliii. t. 1832. A. and B. 
‘Pou, Diosc. lib. i. cap. 152.—'The flowers of the culti- 
vated Pomegranate were called Kirwa, cap. 153. The shells 
of the fruit, >ra, were named ida, cap. 154, and Barada 
signifies the flower of the wild pomegranate, dyzgius 'Po&e, 
which resembles the flower of the cultivated one, fom & 
Kury "Poe, cap. 155.—‘Poa, 5 ‘Poz, "Theoph. lib. i. cap. 22. 
“Pos, et Podi, Grac. hod. Sibth. —Malum Punicum, of Pliny. 
ZElian tells an anecdote, regi usd? "Poi, of a large variety, 
lib. i. cap. 33. 
The fruit is described by Columella thus, — Mala granata, 
quae Punica vocantur.—(de Re Rust. lib. xii. c. 42.) i. e., grain- 
apples, which are called Pomegranates. They were name 
granata, from the abundance of their granulary seeds; and 
Punica, most probably with reference to their fine red colour. 
— Hence Ovid, — 
Puniea sub lento cortice Grana rubent. 
