CHAP. Xr. PLANTS FROM PLINY. 69 



Remarks. 



'' Called also Myrice, or wild biya, very abundant in Egypt and Syria." 

 " IJrya, or bryonia, commonly called Arbor infelix." Plin. 



" Knotted and hollow stem, very light, good for matches. Some call 

 the seed Tha])sia" Plin. Two kinds, like the anethum. A large 

 umbelliferous plant, supposed to be a sort of wild fennel. 



The Caper. The fruit of the Egyptian caper, or Lussuf, is very large, 

 like a small cucumbei-, about ^ inches long, which is eaten by the 

 Arabs. 



Vide Theopltr. iv. 9. " It grows on the banks of the Nile, with a head 

 (^coma) like the papyrus, and is eaten in the same manner." Plin. 



Vide supra, Vol.11. 143. Pliny says that no trees, not even vines, lose 

 their leaves about Memphis and Elephantine. Lib. xvi. 21. 



Castorberry tree, or Palnia Christi. " Oil extracted from it, abounds in 

 Egypt." Plin. 



" Oil made from its seeds in Egypt. Plin. It is probably the Seemga 

 or Raphanus oleifer, and not the sativus^ that he alludes to. He 

 may perhaps have had in view th.e Selgcon (Brassica oleifer,) or cole- 

 seed, so common throughout Egypt. The seemga is now confined 

 to Nubia and the southern extremity of the Thebaid. 



" Oil extracted from it." Pliii. 



" Cultivated for its oil." Vide sujrrd, p. 54. 



"Giving an oil." " The Alexandrian the best quality." "Used also 



medicinally." Plin. Supposed to be a nettle. 

 Perhaps of Greek introduction. 



It is a singular fact, that the small fruit of the wild fig of the Egyptian 

 desert, and of Syria, is called by the Arabs Kottayn, since Pliny says, 

 "the small Syrian figs are called Cottana.'' Lib. xiii. c. 5. The tree 

 is called Hamdt. 



" The myrtle of Egypt is the most odoriferoi.s." Plin. and Athen. 15. 

 It is only now grown in gardens. Pliny in another place says, " the 

 fiowers of Egypt have very little odor," xxi. T.f, probably on the au- 

 tliority of Theophrastus. Hist. Plant, vi. 6. ; J)e Cans. Plant, vi. 27- 



for the deficiency of scent, in Egyptian flowers, would rather tend to increase than 

 diminish it. Herodotus (ii. 19.) and Diodorus (i. 38.) say the same of the 

 Nile. The words of the former arc, " the Nile is the only river wiiich docs 

 not produce cold winds;" of the latter, " tlie Nile is the only river about wiiich 

 clouds never collect, cold winds never blow, and where the air is not tiiickencd 

 (by fogs):" but these statements are not borne out by fact. Some flowers in 



F 3 



