BOOK XII. xLvii. 103-XLV111. 106 



green in colour, with the scent of a quince, and has 

 no kernel inside it. It is gathered in autumn, a Httle 

 before it begins to ripen. If left on the tree longer, 

 it is called the palm-nut, and it turns black and has 

 the property of making people who eat it intoxicated. 

 The behen-nut is priced at two denarii a pound. 

 The retailers also give the name of behen to the 

 dregs of the unguent made from it. 



XLVIII. The scented reed^^which also grows in Scented reed. 

 Arabia is shared with the Indies and Syria, the one 

 growing in the latter country being superior to all 

 the other kinds. About 17 miles from the Mediter- 

 ranean, between Mount Lebanon and another range 

 of no importance — not Counter-Lebanon ^ as some 

 have supposed — there is a moderately wide valley near 

 a lake the shallow parts of which dry up in summer, 

 where 3J miles from the lake the scented reed and 

 scented rush grow. For clearly we may speak about 

 the rush also, although I have devoted another 

 volume to herbaceous plants, as here we are only xxi. 120. 

 deaUng with plants that supply material for ungu- 

 ents. These plants then do not differ at all in 

 appearance from the rest of their class, but the reed 

 has a specially fine scent which attracts people even 

 from a long way oif, and is softer to the touch ; the 

 better variety is the one that is less brittle and that 

 breaks in spUnters rather than Uke a radish. Inside 

 the tube there is a sort of cobweb which is caUed 

 the flower ; the plant containing most of this is the 

 best. The remaining tests of its goodness are that 

 it should be black — white varieties are thought in- 

 ferior — and that it is better the shorter and thicker 

 it is and if it is pUant in breaking. The price of 

 the reed is one denarius and that of the rush 5 



75 



