The Quinces 



recurved sepals, five pink and white beautiful petals, 

 twenty stamens of three different lengths, and a number 

 of styles, whose height is less than that of the shortest 

 stamens. Hence their receptive tips the stigmas 

 usually get fertilised by the pollen of the adjacent 

 anthers. However, as the flower opens and exposes 

 these stigmas a trifle before the stamens shed their 

 pollen, there is a chance of cross-fertilisation being 

 effected by the many hive and humble-bees that fly 

 from flower to flower. 



The fruits, ripe in October, are pear-shaped (though 

 there is also an apple-like variety) and the size of 

 largish pears. They are coated with a waxy film and 

 are of a beautiful golden colour. (Were they the 

 Golden Apples of Hesperides ? ) They are charac- 

 terised by a strong odour which Gerard declared to be 

 " hurtful 1 to the head." When young they are coated 

 with white "cotton" or down, which down the herbal- 

 ists used to boil and apply to plague sores. Further, 

 since, as Culpepper says, "Old Saturn owns the tree/' 

 this woolly coat " laid as a plaister, made up with 

 wax brings hair to them that are bald and keeps it 

 from falling if it be ready to shed." " Marmelade," a 

 word derived from Marmello, the Spanish name of the 

 Quince, was originally the preserve, or "Cotiniate," 

 made from Quinces. To every pound of " faire " 



Quince add a pound of sugar and a pint of water, 

 D 37 



