T R 1 B E 2. 
The Theater of 'Plants, 
Chap. 36. 2,3^ 
Mux Ben five Gians unguentaua cum fiiiqua Integra, & nux exempt a [e or(tm. 
T.ie oyly out Ben with die whole cod,and che nuts taken out and let by themfclves. 
w 
he received it from the faid Belliw) was but a young plant, 
of not above a yeare or two’s growth. Theophraftm in de¬ 
scribing the tree growen great, faith it groweth crooked,, 
and not ftraight upright Spreading rather in breadth than in^ 
height, whole leafe is like thofe of Mirtles, blit longer as^ 
by thisfigure that you here iee you may well perceive/' 
and nothing like unto thofe of Tamar Ike, and that the\ 
comparifon of Tliny in the leaves like Turn foie, is not x 
much amilSe, for if they be both compared they will note 
be found much to ciffer»in the forme, 1 meane Tarnefole 
leaves, from the larger ^irtle leaves, but the differencef 
bztwvxiT) iofeorides ,and Theophraflw rileth as it is thought \ 
from the errour in the Writers out of the coppie of 
Dtofcorides ; the Greeke word in Diofcorides and Theo. 
fhraftus, being So neare and like the one unto the other, 1 
that it might ealily be miftaken, which arc pvexx*i in Dio- 
(corides Myrica,fivc Tamarifcus & uitfwn Afyrtm in Theo- 
fhrajlttt, yet it is more probable that there is no errour in 
the Text 0$‘Diofcorides, in that his companion of this tree 
unto Tamar is kp is not unto the forme of the leaves, as 
Theophraflw his is, but unto the Forme of the whole body* 
and growing thereof: the true description therefore here- 
of,as A Minus hath mod acurately let it downe is thus. The 
firft two or three yeares faith he, it Sprang up and withe¬ 
red or perifhed downe every W inter to the roote,and 
rofe againe a frelh every Spring, but after it became three 
or foure yeare old,it grew more woddy and more likely to 
abide without decaying: it rofe up yearely after the firft, 
with one ftemme fhooting forth branches of winged 
leaves, or rather winged branches of leaves, the barke be¬ 
ing whitifh as the leaves are alfo, but they are compofed 
after Such an order as no other tree doth the like; for the 
branches rife up with the ftemme or body, divided into 
Sundry other Smaller twigges no bigger than rufties, fee 
with two leaves atfeverall Spaces diftant farreinlund r, 
ending in Small long points like haires, hut have no eyes or buddes at the feeteofthe leaves, as the Small branches 
of all other trees have, which fheweth that the whole branched ftalkeor divided branch, isbutas one winged 
leafe.- the leaves firft falling away, leaving the branches bare, which then (hew like untoordinary orS panijb 
Broome when it hath loft the leaves; and after the leaves the ftalkes likewife perifh that held the leaves wholly 
unto the very ftemme,and therefore (heweth to be but as one winged leafe of a tree, as in the Afh, Wallnut &c. 
the loweft of thefe leaves a.e fomwhat round pointed like the herbe HellotropiUm Sunturher, thofe on the middle 
of the branch more (harpe pointed like unto Myrtle leaves,and the uppermoft fmalleft Somewhat like unto Knot- 
graffe : it hath not borne either flowers or fruit in our Chriltian countries as yet fo far as I can heare : the roote is 
thicke,long, white and tuberous as it were,yet ending in Some fprayes being not much wooddy but rather flefhie 
and tender--but the nuts or fruits,fuch as have been brought over to in enclofed in their husks, as alfo out of their 
husksareexprefledherc by themfelves:thatis,that many, of them grow Angle in the husks & Some two together, 
and that the nuts enclofed in every huske each by it felfe have their place bunched' forth where each of them lie" 
and ftraightned betweene them both, thelowerand upper end of the huske being Small and (harpe pointed^ 
and about an handbreadth long, round and ofadarkealhcolour on the outfide^nd fomewhat reddifti on the in- 
fide, of the fubftance of leather, lither or ea r eto how, rugged ontheourfide with many long ftreakes in it, but 
Smooth on the infide : the nuts themfelves are three Square, for the mod part, covered with a whitiih Soft and 
fomewhat tough wooddy ftaell, wherein the white kernell lieth, which is not altogether infipid, but Somewhat 
fharpe in tafte and oylie withall., caufing a kind of loathing upon the rafting almoft ready to provoke vomiting * 
out of which is prefled an oyle,as f Diofcorides and Cjalcna ffirme, like as is prefled out of Almonds; and not from 
the (hells or husks as fame formerly fuppofed,for it is commonly knowne to many here in our o wr.e land,and to 
my felfe alfo, who have prefled as good ovle out of the kernells of the nutts, as any hath beene brought from be¬ 
yond Seas: and therefore Theophraftus was herein much miftaken, or at leaft mifinformed, that Said the oyle that 
Served for fwecteoyles and ointment , was drawne from the huskes and (hells and not from the Nutts them- 
felves, and Pliny alfo who faith rhe fame doth erre in that, although he faith that an oyle isdravvenout of the 
nuts, which the Phyfitions doe ufe : for the oyle to both ufes is one and the fame. 
The P lac ex 
Thefe trees grow in Syria, Arabia, *s£t hi opia,and India,and although Some fay in Egypt alfo, yet I thinke Prop, 
per Alpimss, who was curious to Set downe all the rare trees, and plants unknowne in ‘f 'taly that grew there. 
Would have given us Some knowledge thereof, among other Egyptian plants, if they had been? therein his 
time. 
The Time, 
We have as I fayd before, no knowledge of the time of flowring hereof. 
The Names. 
It is called in Greeke by T> iofeoridss^ Q alert and others ptvprftxfi r B<iUm<JM]repflca i that is Giant?*- 
guentaria d 
