in.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 89 



summits of Ida, Crete, Parnassus, &c. with its fo- 

 liage, soon after the snow has disappeared. 



The Sloe is identified by Fraas with the 

 of Theophrastus e , and with the 

 of Dioscorides f ; the P. prostrata with the Chamce- 

 cerasus of Pliny ; but Sibthorp is more cautious in 

 both instances. The other two shrubby species do 

 not appear to have been noticed. Pyrus domestica 

 (Sib.), Sorlus domestica (Dec.), our Service-tree, may 

 have been alluded to by Theophrastus g under the 

 name of 'Ovrj, of which ovov was the fruit. 



Virgil h speaks of a kind of cider being made 

 from it : 



" Fermento atque acidis imitantur vitea sorbis." 



By Pliny, Mains, Pomum, and Prunus are often 

 used indiscriminately. See farther, under "Laurus." 



AMYGDALUS. 



Two dwarf Almonds, A. nana and incana, occur 

 in Greece, but are not pointed out by ancient 

 writers. 



POTERIUM. 



A shrubby species, P. spinosum, occurs on the dry 

 hills of Greece and the Archipelago, near the sea, 

 and is supposed by Sibthorp to be the Sroi/S?; of 

 Dioscorides, a name which its present vernacular 

 appellation, 'Ao-ror/S??, confirms. The word *2Toi(3rj 

 also occurs in Theophrastus, and the corresponding 

 one, Stobe, in Pliny. 



e Theoph. iii. 7. ' Lib. i. c. 174. 



* Lib. iii. c. 12. h Georg. iii. 380. 



