BOOK XV. XXIX. loi-xxx. 104 



that of the lentisk ; indced the berries of the holly and 

 the may contain no juice ; and moreover the cherry 

 forms a class intermediate between the baca kind of 

 bcrries and the acinus kind : its fruit is at first whitc, 

 as is that of almost all the bacae. At a later stage 

 with some the berry turns green, e.g. the olive and 

 the laurel ; but in the case of the mulberry, the 

 cherry and the cornel it changes to red, and then 

 with the mulberry, cherry and oHve it turns black. 



XXX. Before the victory of Lucius Lucullus in the cherry. 

 war against Mithridates, that is down to 74 b.c, 

 there were no cherry-trees in Italy. Lucullus first 

 imported them from Pontus, and in 120 years they 

 have crossed the ocean and got as far as Britain ; but 

 all the same no attention has succeeded in getting 

 them to grow in Egypt. Of cherries the Apronian 

 are the reddest, and the Lutatian the blackest, 

 while the CaeciHan kind are perfectly round. The 

 Junian cherry has an agreeable flavour but practically 

 only if eaten under the tree on which it grows, as it 

 is so dehcate that it does not stand carriage. The 

 highest rank, however, belongs to the bigaroon <* 

 cherry called by the Campanians the Phnian cherry, 

 but in Belgium to the Lusitanian, and so also on the 

 banks of the Rhine. This cherry has a third kind of 

 colour, a blend of black, bright red and green, which 

 looks as if the fruit were always not quite ripe. It is 

 less than five years ago that what is called the hiurel- 

 cherry was introduced, which has a not disagreeable 

 bitter flavour, and is produced by grafting a cherry on 

 a bay-tree. There are also Macedonian cherries, 

 grown on a tree of small size and rarely exceeding 

 four and half feet in height, and ground-cherries, with 

 a still smaller bush. The cherry is one of the earHest 



359 



