Chap. 34.] 
VABIOTJS NATUEES OF PRUIT, 327 
sorts they are easily separated. In some fruits there is no 
I stone or shelP^ either within or without, one variety ot the 
date/^ for instance. In some kinds, again, the shell is eaten, 
iust the same as the fruit ; this we have already mentioned as 
beinj? the case with a variety of the almond found m Egypt 
Some fruits have on the outside a twofold refuse covering, the 
chesnut, the almond, and the walnut, for example borne, 
ac^ain, are composed of three separate parts— the body ot the 
fruit, then a woody shell, and inside of that a kernel, as m the 
^^Some fruits grow closely packed together, such as grapes 
and sorbs: these last, just like so many grapes ma cluster, 
cling round the branch and bend it downwards with their 
weight. On the other hand, some fruits grow separately, at a 
distance from one another; this is the case with the peach. 
Some fruits are enclosed in a sort of matrix, as with the grams 
of the pomegranate : some hang down from a stalk, such as 
the pear, for instance : others hang in clusters, grapes and 
dates, for example. Others, again, grow upon stalks ^and 
bunches united : this we find the case with the berries oi the 
ivy and the elder. Some adhere close to the branches, hke 
the laurel berry, while other varieties lie close to the branch 
or hang from it, as the case may be : thus we find m the olive 
some fruit with short stalks, and others with long. Some fruits 
grow with a little calyx at the top, the pomegranate, for ex- 
ample, the medlar, and the lotus of Egypt and the Euphrates. 
Then, too, as to the various parts of fruit, they are held m 
different degrees of esteem according to their respective re- 
commendations. In the date it is the flesh that is usually 
liked, in those of Thebais it is the crust the grape and the 
caryota date are esteemed for their juice, the pear and the 
apple for their firmness, the melimelum'^^ for its soft meat, 
15 Lignum: literally, *'wood.'* There is no wood, either within or 
without." He has one universal name for what we call shell, seed, stones, 
pips, grains, &c. 
16 The " spado," or " eunuch " date. See B. xm. c. 8. 
17 See B. xiii. c. 17, The fruit of the ben is alluded to, but, as b ee 
observes, Pliny is wrong in calling it an almond, as it is a pulpy fruit. 
18 The Nymphsea nelumbo of Linnaeus. r i • 
19 Or shell, which, as Fee remarks, participates but very little m the 
properties of the flesh. 
2'^ Or " honey" apple ; see c. 15 pf this Book. 
