BOOK XV. XXIV. 91-XXV. 94 



lately heard a man of consular rank declare that he 

 ovvned some wahiut trees that actually bore two 

 crops a year. We have already spoken in the putachio. 

 proper place of the pistachio, which is also a sort of ^^3^' ^^* 

 nut. This also was hkewise first brought into Italy by 

 \'itelhus at the same time, and it was simultaneously 

 introduced into Spain by Pompeius Flaccus, Knight 

 of Rome, who was serving with Vitelhus. 



XXV. We give the name of nut to the chestnut chestnut, 

 also, although it seems to fit better into the acorn J^'^^JJ^^, 

 class. The chestnut has its armed rampart in its 

 bristhng shell, which in the acorn is only partly 

 developed, and it is surprising that what nature has 

 taken such pains to conceal should be the least valu- 

 able of things. Some chestnuts produce three nuts 

 frorn one shell ; and the skin is tough, but next to the 

 body of the nut there is a membrane which both in 

 the chestnut and the walnut spoils the taste if it is 

 not peeled ofF. It is more agreeable as a food when 

 roasted, provided it is ground up, and it supphes a 

 sort of imitation bread for women when they are 

 keeping a fast. They came first from Sardis, and 

 consequently they are called nuts of Sardis among 

 the Greeks, for the name of Zeus's nut was given 

 tliem later, after they had been improved by cuitiva- 

 tion. There are now several varieties of them. The 

 Taranto chestnut is hght and digestible to eat ; it 

 has a flat shape. The chestnut called the acorn- 

 chestnut is rounder ; it is very easy to peel, and 

 jumps out of the shell quite clean of its own accord. 

 The Salarian chestnut also has a fiat shape,but that 

 of Taranto is less easy to handle. The Corellian is 

 more highly spoken of, and so is the variety produced 

 from it by the method which we shall speak of in xvii. 122. 



353 



