178 PLINY'S NATUKAL HISTOEY. [Book XIII, 
eating them, were it not for fear of the dangerous consequences 
that would be sure to ensue. 
CHAP. 10. (5.) THE TKEES OF STKIA : THE PISTACIA, THE COT- 
TANA, THE DAMASCENA, AND THE MYXA. 
In addition to the palm, Syria has several trees that are pe- 
culiar to itself. Among the nut-trees there is the pistacia/* 
well known among us. It is said that, taken either in food or 
drink, the kernel of this nut is a specific against the bite of 
serpents. Among figs, too, there are those known as ^*ca- 
ric8D,"^^ together with some smaller ones of a similar kind, 
the name of which is cottana." There is a plum, too, which 
grows upon Mount Damascus, as also that known as the 
*'myxa;"^^ these last two are, however, now naturalized in 
Italy. In Egypt, too, they make a kind of wine from the myxa. 
CHAP. 1 1 . THE CEDAE. TEEES WHICH HAVE ON THEM THE PEUIT 
or THEEE YEAES AT ONCE. 
Phoenicia, too, produces a small cedar, which bears a strong 
resemblance to the juniper.^"^ Of this tree there are two 
varieties ; the one found in Lycia, the other in Phoenicia. The 
difi'erence is in the leaf : the one in which it is hard, sharp, 
and prickly, being known as the oxycedros,^^ a branchy tree 
and rugged with knots. The other kind is more esteemed for 
its powerful odour. The small cedar produces a fruit the size 
of a grain of myrrh, and of a sweetish taste. There are two 
kinds of the larger cedar also ; the one that blossoms bears 
^0 The Pistacia vera of Linnaeus. It was introduced into Rome in the 
reign of Tiberius. The kernel is of no use whatever in a medical point of 
view, and what Pliny says about its curing the bite of serpents is per- 
fectly fabulous. 
51 See B. XV. c. 19. The "carica" was properly the '^Carian" fig. 
Ficus carica" is, however, the name given to the common fig by the. 
modern botanists. 
52 The parent of our Damascenes, or damsons. See E. xv. c. 13. 
53 Supposed to be the Corda myxa of Linnaeus. See B. xv. c. 15. 
5* The Juniperus communis of Linnaeus. 
55 The Juniperus Lycia, and the Juniperus Phoenicia, probably, of Lin- 
nseus. It has been supposed by some, that it is these trees that produce 
the frankincense of Africa; but, as Fee observes, the subject is enveloped 
in considerable obscurity. 
56 The " sharp-leaved " cedar. The Juniperus oxycedrus of Linnaeus. 
57 The "Pinus cedrus " ofLinnjeus. The name "cedrus" was given by 
the ancients not only to the cedar of Lebanon, but to many others of the 
Coniferce as well, and more particularly to several varieties of the juniper.. 
