118 
pliot's natueal history. 
[Book XII. 
were it not that they are of smaller size. They bear a kind of 
gourd, about the size of a quince ; '^^ which, when arrived at 
maturity, bursts asunder and discloses a ball of down, from 
which a costly kind of linen cloth is made. 
(11.) This tree is known by the name of gossypinus : 
the smaller island of Tylos, which is ten miles distant from the 
larger one, produces it in even greater abundance. 
CHAP. 22. THE TREE CALLED CYNA. TEEES FEOM WHICH 
FABEICS FOE CLOTHING AEE MADE IN THE EAST. 
Juba states, that about a certain shrub there grows a woolly 
down, from which a fabric is manufactured, preferable even to 
those of India. He adds, too, that certain trees of Arabia, 
from which vestments are made, are called cynaB, and that they 
have a leaf similar to that of the palm. Thus do their very 
trees afford clothing for the people of India. In the islands of 
Tylos, there is also another tree, with a blossom like the white 
violet in appearance, though four times as large, but it is 
destitute of smell, a very remarkable fact in these climates. 
CHAP. 23. A COTOTEY WHEEE THE TEEES NEVEE LOSE THEIE 
LEAVES. 
There is also another tree similar to the preceding one, but 
with a thicker foliage, and a blossom like the rose. This flower i 
shuts '^^ at night, and, beginning to open towards sun-rise, | 
appears in full blow by mid-day ; the natives are in the habit 
of saying that in this way it goes to sleep. The same island ; 
bears also the palm, the olive, the vine, and the fig, with 
various other kinds of fruit. IN'one of the trees in this island 
lose their leaves ; it is abundantly watered by cool streams, | 
and receives the benefit of rain. f 
'^'^ " Cotonei." To this resemblance of its fruit to the quince, the cotton- 
tree, which is here alluded to, not improbably owes its modern name. 
The cotton-tree, or Gossypium arboreum of Linnseus. It is worthy 
of remark, that Pliny copies here almost literally from Theophrastus. Ac- 
cording to Philostratus, the byssus, or fine tissues worn by the Egyptian 
priests, were made of cotton. 
The Malthiola incana. 
'^^ Fee suggests that this may be a Magnolia ; but, as he remarks, most 
plants open and shut at certain hours ; consequently, this cannot be re- 
garded as any peculiar characteristic, sufficient to lead with certainty to 
its identification. 
'^^ Theophrastus, from whom our author is copying, says that this is the 
case only with the fig-tree there. 
