ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IV. ii. 3-5 



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

 its fruit four times a year, having also ^ 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 figs : 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.^ 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 * up as it were another 

 similar cluster. This then increases and flowers 

 about the rising of Arcturus and the equinox ; and 

 thenceforward it ^ persists through the winter to the 

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

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

 and the differences between them and the sycamore 

 are as has been said.) 



^ 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 



* Kvirai conj. W. from G ; Kvei MSS. 



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

 « Plin. 13. 60 and 61. 



295 



