MEDIAN APPLE. 



53 



than a yard in diameter; they were supported on ivory 

 pillars and called "monopodia". This wood was also 

 used for making costly chests in which woollen garments 

 were preserved from moth. When later the "Median 

 Apple" became known to the Romans and acquired the 

 same reputation as the "Citrum" wood for keeping off 

 moth, the name of "Citrum" was applied to it also. The 

 first accounts of the trees which bore these " Mala citria" 

 reached Greece at the time of Alexander the Great. His 

 conquests opened up the East and the tropics to Greek 

 culture and introduced to the classical lands a wider range 

 of new natural objects than was brought in at any time 

 until the discovery of Tropical America. In Media the 

 Greeks first saw the evergreen tree with dark foliage 

 that bore the golden apples. The scholars who accom- 

 panied Alexander the Great gave an accurate description 

 of the tree — a description which Theophrastus has 

 handed down to us in his "History of Plants". This 

 however did not prevent legends from soon springing up 



around this wonderful fruit; 



and Pliny, with his 



zeal for collecting such 



information, has preserved 



many of these. The leaves 



and fruit of the Citron were 



^y'l said not only to keep off 



moth, but also to be a 



to poison. Indeed the 



Naucratis in Egypt, 



Bryo^sis J>lu}nosa. 



very powerful antidote 

 learned Athenaeos, 



vho died 228 A. D., tells us th; 



It was a common 



