Li 
E, 3. 
Of theHiftory of Plants. 
1493 
A looch or licking medicine made thereof or the fyrrup, is excellent good again ft fpircing of G 
bloud proceeding ofthediftillations of fharpe or fait humors. 
■f T'iC ' gurs that formerly was in die fecund pUco.tras of the narrow leaued kinde 9 f Gut]scum P attvixum, which you Oiall findc Is 1 rbc fecond pla«c of the next 
chapter fa ac one. 
Chap. 125. Of the Lote, or Jfettle tree. 
Lotus arbor. 
The Nettle tree. 
The Dcfcription. 
T He Lote whereof we write is a tree as 
big as a Peare tree, or bigger and higher: 
the body and armes are very thickejthebarke 
whereof is fmooth,of a gallant green colour 
tending to blewnefTe : the boughes are long, 
and fpread themfelues all about : the leaues 
be like thofe of the Nettle, fharpe pointed, 
and nicked in the edges like a faw, and dafhs 
here and there with ftripes of a yellowifh 
white colour : the berries be round, and hang 
vpot long ftalkes like Cherrie% of a yel- 
lowifh white colour at the firft,and after- 
wards red, but when they be ripe they be 
fomewhat blacke. 
The Place. 
This is a rare and ftratige tree in both the 
Germanies : it was brought out of Italy, 
where there is found ftore thereof, as M atthi. 
olta teftifieth : I haue a fmall tree thereof in 
my garden. Thereis likewifeatree thereof 
in the garden vnder London wall, fomeCime 
belonging to M r . Gray, an Apothecary of 
London ; and another great tree in a garden 
neere Coleman ftreet in London, being the 
garden of the Queenes Aporhecarie at the 
imprelfion hereof, called W .Hugh Morgan, 
a curious conferuer of rare fimples. The 
Lote tree doth alfo grow in Africke, but it 
fomewhat differeth from the Italian Lote in fruit, as Pliny in plaine words doth fhew in his thir- 
teenth booke,feuenteenth chapter. That part of Africke, faitjihe, that lieth towards vs,bringeth 
forth the famous Lote tree, which they call Celt is, and the fame well knowne in Italy, but altered 
by the foile : it is as big as the Peare tree, although T{epos Cornelius reporteth it to be fhorter : the 
leaues are full of fine cuts,otherwi(e they be thought to be like thofe of the Holme tree. There 
be many differences, but the fame are made efpecially by the fruit: the fruit is as (Tig as a Beane, 
and of the colour of Saffron, but before it is thorow ripe, it changeth his color as doth the Grape. 
It errowes thicke among the boughes, after the manner of the Myrtle, not as in Italy, after the man- 
ner of the Cherry ; the fruit of it is there fo fweet, as it hath alfo giuen a name to that countrie and 
land. too hofpitable to ftrangers.and forgetfullof their owne countrey. 
It is reported that they are troubled with no difeafes of the belly that eate it. The better is that 
which hath no kernell, which in the other kinde is ftony : there is alfoprefled out of it a wine, like 
to a fweet wine • which the fame Nepts denieth to endure aboue ten daies, and the berries damped 
with e>///caarereferued in veffels for food. Moreouerwe haue heard fay, that armies haue been 
fed therewith, as they haue palled too and fro thorow Africke. The colour of the wood is blacke: 
they vfe to make flutes and pipes ofit : the root feruech for kniues hafts, and other fhort workes : 
this is there the nature of the tree : thus farre Pliny . In the fame place he faith, that this renow- 
med tree doth ^row about Syrtes and Nifamons: and in his 5. booke, 7. chapter he fheweth 
that thereis notfar from the IelTer Syrtis,the Ifland Menynx, furnamed Lotoph.igil.is, of the plenty 
of Lote trees. , 
Kkkkkk Str -'-ba 
