182 
pliny's natubal history. 
[Book XIIL 
the lower part, and is consequently quite yellow on the sur- 
face, as the young suckers deprive the trunk of the requisite 
moisture. "When the fruit of the preceding year is gathered, 
about the rising of the Dog-star, fresh fruit immediately makes 
its appearance ; after which the tree blossoms while the con- 
stellation of Arc turns'^ is above the horizon, and the winter 
imparts nourishment to the fruit. 
CHAP. (9.) THE PEESIAIT TREE. IIT WHAT TREES THE ERUITS 
GERMINATE THE ONE BELOW THE OTHER. 
Egypt, too, produces another tree of a peculiar description, 
the Persian^"^ tree, similar in appearance to the pear-tree, but 
retaining its leaves during the winter. This tree produces 
without intermission, for if the fruit is pulled to-day, fresh 
fruit will make its appearance to-morrow : the time for ripen- 
ing is while the Etesian winds prevail. The fruit of this 
tree is more oblong than a pear, but is enclosed in a shell and 
a rind of a grassy colour, like the almond ; but what is found 
within, instead of being a nut as in the almond, is a plum, 
differing from the almond^^ in being shorter and quite soft. This 
fruit, although particularly inviting for its luscious sweetness, 
is productive of no injurious effects. The wood, for its good- 
ness, solidity, and blackness, is in no respect inferior to that 
of the lotus : people have been in the habit of making statues 
of it. The wood of the tree which we have mentioned as 
the balanus,"^^ although very durable, is not so highly es- 
teemed as this, as it is knotted and twisted in the gruator 
part : hence it is only employed for the purposes of ship- 
building. 
^6 See B. xviii. c. 74. 
Fee identifies it with the Egyptian almond, mentioned by Pliny in 
B. XV. c. 28; the Myrobalanus chebulus of Wesling, the Balanites 
^gyptiaca of Delille, and the Xymenia ^gyptiaca of Linnaeus. Schreber 
and Sprengel take it to be the Cordia Sebestana of Linnaeus ; but that is a 
tree peculiar to the Antilles. The fruit is in shape like a date, enclosing a 
large stone with five sides, and covered with a little viscous flesh, of some- 
what bitter, though not disagreeable flavour. It is found in the vicinity 
of Sennaar, and near the Red Sea. The Arabs call it the " date of the 
Desert," 
'8 See B. xviii. c. 68. See B. xv. c. 34. 
^ Or ben. See B. xii. cc. 46, 47. 
