Lib. 3. 
Of £ Hiftoric of Plants. 
15 Ij 
Itgrowethalfo at S. Crux and other places of Barbary, and alfoinanlfland of the Mediterra- 
nean fea, called Zante, about a day and nights failing with a meane winde from Petraffe a port in 
Morea, where my feruant William Marjhall (before remembred)did fee not only great ftore of thofe 
trees made of leaues, but alfodiuers other round bodied plants of a woody fubftance:from whence 
he brought me diuers plants thercofin tubs of earth., very frelh and greene, which flourilhed in my 
garden at the impreffion hereof. 
1 «[f Tie Time. 
Thefe plants do grow greene and frefh both Winter and Sommer, by the relation of myforc- 
iaid feruant .-notwithftanding they muft be very carefully kept in thefe countries from the extre- 
mitieof Winter. 
T he it, me s. 
This is thought to be the plant called of filmy, Opuntium ; whereof he hath written, 2 i.ca.17. * 
in this manner: About Opuns is the herbe Opuntia, to mans tafte fweet.and it is to be maruciled, 
that the root fhould be made of the leaues, and that it fhould fogrow. Opuns is a city ncere vnto 
Phocis in Greece, as Puufani4J,Striibo, and Pliny teftifie 1 but it is commonly called in Latine, Ficus 
Indict ■ of the Indians, Tune, and 7'«»<#,and alfo Antpullus, as teftifieth BcHonius : in Euglifh, Indi- 
an Fig tree. , r n 
There is a certaine other deferibed for the Indian Fig tree, by T bcophrafiusM. 4. which Pliny, 
lib. 1 1 . cuv.’y . doth eloquently exprefle almoft in the fame words, but turned into Latine, whereof 
we intend to fpeake in the next chapter. 
The Temperature tniVertuts. 
We haue no certaine inftruftion from the Antients, of the temperature or faculty of this plant, A 
or of the fruit thereof : neither haue we any thing whereof to write of our owne knowledge, more 
than that we haue heard reported of fitch as haue eaten liberally of the fruit hereof, that it changed 
their vrine to the colour of bloud ; who at the firft fight thereof flood in great doubt of their life, 
thinking it had been bloud, whereas it proued afterwardsby experience to be nothing but the tin- 
aureor colour the vrine had taken from theiuice of the fruit, and that without all hurt or griefe 
31 It is reported of fome, that the iuice of the fruit is excellent good againft vlcers of long conti- B 
4 Cochenele is giuen a!one,and mixed with other thingSjin maligne difeafes,as peflilenc fe- G 
uers and the like, but with what fucceffe I know not. t 
C h hiv. 135. Of the arched Indian Fig tree. 
The Vefcription. 
T ills rare and admirable tree is very great, ftraight,and couered with a yellowifh bark tending 
to tawny : the boughes and branches arc many, very long, tough, and flexible, growing very 
long in fhort fpace, as do the twigs of Oziars,and thofe fo long and weake, that the ends 
thereofhangdowneand touch the ground, where they take root and grow in fuch fort, that thofe 
twigs become great trees :and thefe being grownevp vnto the like gteatneffe, doe caft their bran- 
ches or twiggy tendrels vnto the earth, where they likewife take hold and root ; by meanes wherof 
it commeth to pa He, that of one tree is made a great wood or defart of trees, which the Indians do 
vfc for couerture againft rhe extreme heate ol the Sun, wherewith they are grieuoufly vexed: fome 
likewife vfe them for pleafure, cutting downe by a dire A line a long walke, or as it were a vault, 
through the thickeft part, from which alfo they cut certaine loope-holes or windowes in fome pla- 
ces, to the end to receiue thereby the frefh cooleaire thatentreth thereat, as alfo for light, that 
they may fee their cattell that feed thereby, to auoid any danger that might happen vnto them ei- 
ther by the enemie or wilde beads : from which vault or clofe walke doth rebound fuch an adrtat- 
rableecho or anfivering voice, if one of them fpeake vnto another aloud, that it dothrelbund or 
anfwer againe foure or fiue times, according to the height of the voice, to which it doth anfwer,and 
that fo plainly, that it cannot be knowne from the voice it felfe : the firft or mother of this wood or 
defart of trees is hard tobe knowne from the children,but by the greatneffeof the body, which 
three men can fcarfelv fathom about : vpon the branches whereof grow leaues hard and vvrinckled, 
in fhape like thofeof the Quince tree, greene aboue,andof dwhitifh hoary colour vnderneatb, 
whereupon the Elephants delight to feed : among wh ich leaues come forth the fruit, of the bignes 
of a mans thumbe, in fhape like a fmall Fig, but ofa fanguine or bloudy colour,and of a fweet tail, 
- 
