ii.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 51 



Pliny g confounds the fruit of the Arbutus with 

 that of the Strawberry, remarking that it is the only 

 known instance of a similar fruit growing upon 

 a tree, and upon the ground. 



In other respects he follows Theophrastus, but 

 admits that the fruit is not " worth eating." It 

 was known to the Latins both by the name of Unedo 

 and of Arlutus. Dioscorides likens the tree to the 

 Quince. 



Virgil alludes to it in Eclog. in., and in his Geor- 

 gics more than once, in the 2nd book applying to 

 it the epithet horrida, which may either refer to the 

 rough character belonging to its bark, or to the as- 

 tringent nature of the tree in general. 



The other species of Arbutus, viz. Andrachne, 

 a tree peculiarly of Greece, is, however, regarded by 

 Sibthorp as the Kopapos of Dioscorides. 



Yet Theophrastus speaks of a tree he calls av- 

 Spdxvrj, or dv$pd\\r}, like the Ko^apos in its leaves 

 and fruit, not of any great size, and with a bark 

 smooth and peeling off, the latter a good charac- 

 teristic of this species. 



Pliny h says, that the Portulaca (our Purslane) , 

 an herbaceous plant, is called generally by the 

 Greeks Adrachne, but that his Adrachne, or as in 

 another place l he calls it, Andrachne, is a tree similar 

 to the Arlutus in appearance, but with smaller leaves, 

 and evergreen. He describes the bark as peeling 

 off, as Theophrastus had done. 



Lib. xv. c. 28. h Lib. xiii. c. 46. 



1 Lib. xxiii. c. 103. 



E 2 



