160 HISTORICAL NOTES ON 



The Quince (Pyrus cydonia), also a European plaut and 

 indigenous in Italy, has given rise to much fewer varieties, although 

 equally in cultivation since the days of the ancient Greeks and 

 Romans. Pliny enumerates five only, including probably the 

 three principal ones of moi'e modern days, described by Matthioli 

 in the sixteenth century, viz. : 1. the common large apple-shaped 

 quince, melo cotogna of the Italians, the best and highest flavoured 

 variety, which is the 7nala aurea and the mala cana lanugine of 

 Virgil, and mala cotonea of Pliny, said by him to have been 

 introduced from Crete in the days of Galen ; 2. the pear- 

 shaped quince orpera cotogna, called by Dioscorides, Galen, and 

 Pliny StrutJiium, which attains a larger size than any of the others ; 

 and 3. the Milviana of Pliny, called in Matthioli's days bastard 

 quince, probably our wild indigenous variety. The two former, 

 especially the first, may have been originally raised in Palestine, 

 where quinces are common, and were appreciated for their odour in 

 very ancient days, as appears by their mention in the Bible. The 

 golden apples of the garden of the Hesperides have by some been 

 supposed to be quinces, whilst others have with more plausibility 

 referred them to the orange. On the other hand, the nuptial 

 apple prescribed by Solon was evidently the quince and not the 

 lemon. Quinces are at the present day much prized by the 

 peasantry in some parts of the south of Europe for perfuming 

 their stores of linen, independently of their consumption for 

 culinary and confectionery purposes. 



The Medlar (Mespilus germanica) is common in the woods of 

 Italy and Sicily, and the assertion of Pliny that it did not exist 

 in Italy at the time of Cato must be erroneous. Theophrastus 

 calls it setaneios, as does Dioscorides, who also gives it the names 

 of mcsjnlon and epimelida, and says that it is a native of Italy. It 

 extends over a great part of Europe, and is cultivated in Italy, 

 though more sparingly and less appreciated than in Germany and 

 England. Besides the common one the Italians have a larger 

 variety, and a small one without stones. 



We fully concur with Prof. Targioni in his conviction that the 

 wild Cherry (Prunus cerasus), common in the woods of Italy and 

 other parts of Europe and Asia, is the mother plant of all the 

 kinds of that fruit now in cultivation, in opposition to many 

 modern botanists, who follow De CandoUe in distinguishing four 

 species, Cerasus avium, C. duracina, C.Juliana, and C. caproniana, 

 or even go far beyond him in their multiplication. The species 

 is also evidently indigenous, notwithstanding Pliny's statement 



