DRY FRUITS. 231 



or exported by any one. Stranger still, no one has 

 ever bought or sold them, and probably no one ever 

 will. Just think how few things there are in this 

 world which you cannot either buy or sell. Another 

 remarkable fact about these Dry Fruits is that no one, 

 however hungry, would think of eating them. 



The first specimen which I shall take is in the 

 form of a Maltese Cross, or rather, Star : an ornamental 

 little object which a jeweller might use as the model 

 for a charm or a breloque. It grows upon a small 

 prostrate plant, the Caltrop ( Tribulus te/"/'#sm,Fig.84), 

 a resident alien, so to speak, a forlorn and friendless 

 herb, whose nearest relatives dwell within the tropics. 

 Tribulus is sometimes called Beancaper, though it 

 bears no resemblance either to a bean or a caper. I 

 found this plant some years ago upon the stony road- 

 side at the spot where the Promenade des Anglais, Nice, 

 crosses the Magnan, as close as possible to the sea. For 

 the knowledge of this locality I am indebted to Dr. E. 

 Sauvaigo, Director of the Nice Library ; an assiduous 

 botanist, who is always ready to oblige strangers 

 with information about the flora of the district. 



On the place where this plant used to grow, a sea 

 wall has been constructed, and a garden-bridge. If 

 these improvements have caused the Caltrop to dis- 

 appear, it will probably be found by the round tower 

 a little farther on. The leaf is opposite, stipulate, and 

 pinnate, without terminal leaflet ; the flower, yellow. 



I cannot believe that this inoffensive plant is 

 identical with the classical " Tribulus " or Caltrop, 

 which Virgil, in his first Georgic, enumerates among 

 the worst plagues of agriculture : the mischievous 

 Rust which discolours the blades of corn ; the 

 Thistle, sign of neglected ground ; the rough growth 



