ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IV. n. 3-5 



abele, but the leaf is like that of the elm. It ripens 

 its fruit four times a year, having also 1 four periods 

 of growth ; but it ripens no fruit unless the ( fig ' is 

 split and the juice let out. The sweet taste resembles 

 that of the fig, and the inside of the fruit is like 

 that of wild h'gs : it is as large as a plum. 



2 (Like this too is the tree which the lonians call 

 carob ; for this too bears most of its fruit on the 

 stem, though it bears a little also on the branches, as 

 we said. 3 The fruit is in a pod ; some call it the 

 ' Egyptian fig '- erroneously ; for it does not occur at 

 all in Egypt, but in Syria and Ionia and also in 

 Cnidos and Rhodes. It is evergreen and has a 

 whitish flower and is somewhat acrid ; it does not 

 attain to a great height, and it sends out side-shoots 

 entirely from its lower parts, while it withers above. 

 It has on it at the same time both last year's fruit 

 and the new fruit ; for if the one is removed after the 

 rising of the dog-star, immediately the other is seen 

 swelling up; for there swells 4 up as it were another 

 similar cluster. This then increases and flowers 

 about the rising of Arcturus and the equinox ; and 

 thenceforward it 5 persists through the winter to the 

 rising of the dog-star. The likeness then consists in 

 the fact that these trees too bear fruit on their stems, 

 and the differences between them and the sycamore 

 are as has been said.) 



6 In Egypt there is another tree called the persea, 

 which in appearance is large and fair, and it most 

 resembles the pear in leaves flowers branches and 

 general form, but it is evergreen, while the other is 



4 Kverai conj. W. from G ; KVCI MSS. 

 8 i.e. the cluster, now in the fruit stage. 

 e PI in. 13. 60 and 61. 



295 



