Notes

peony

paeonia foemina

pæone

Plante ainsi nommée en souvenir de Pœon, lequel s’en servit pour guérir Pluton blessé par Hercule (Homère, Il., ch. 5). On reléve les formes pœonia (Pline) peone (XIIIe siècle), peon (P. Belon, XVIe siècle) — Dioscoride (III, 157), reconnait deux sortes de pivoine, l’une mâle et l’autre femelle : c’est à la seconde que l’on rapporte la pivoine de Pline (XXV, 10), qui est notre Pæonia officinalis L. La première, [greek], serait notre P. corallina L. (Fée). Saint-Lager dit que le P. mas se rapporte à nos P. peregrina et P. officinalis, et la P. fœmina à P. corallina. (Paul Delaunay)

pivoine

Vetustissima inventu paeonia est, nomenque auctoris retinet, quam quidam pentorobon appellant, alii glycysidem. nam haec quoque difficultas est quod eadem aliter alibi nuncupatur. nascitur opacis montibus caule inter folia digitorum quattuor ferente in cacumine veluti Graecas nuces quattuor aut quinque. inest his semen copiosum, rubrum nigrumque. haec medetur et Faunorum in quiete ludibriis. praecipiunt eruere noctu, quoniam si picus Martius videat tuendo1 in oculos impetum faciat.

The first plant to be discovered was the peony, which still retains the name of the discoverer; it is called by some pentorobon, by others glycyside, for an added difficulty in botany is the variety of names given to the same plant in different districts. It grows on shaded mountains, having a stem among the leaves about four fingers high, which bears on its top four or five growths like almonds, in them being a large amount of seed, red and black. This plant also prevents the mocking delusions that the Fauns bring on us in our sleep. They recommend us to uproot it at night-time, because the woodpecker of Mars, should he see the act, will attack the eyes in its defence.

peony

peony. Forms: peonie, pyone, (pioine), piane, pione, pyon, -oun, -an, (pyione). pyonie, -ony, -onye, pionye, pyany, -ye, pionee, pionie, peionie, peonie, piony, peiony, pæonie, pioney, peony, pæony. [In OE., peonie, adaptation of late Latin peonia, Latin pæonia (Pliny); in Middle English, pione, adopted from northern French (Norman and Picard) pione =Old French peone, peoine, pioine, modern French pivoine; in 15th century, pyonie, piony, peony, pæony, conformed to Latin pæonia, adopted from Greek paiwnia the peony, formed on Paiwn, Pæon, the name of the physician of the gods, a physician; compare paiwnioj healing, medicinal.]

A plant (or flower) of the genus Pæonia (N.O. Ranunculaceæ), comprising stout herbs, or rarely shrubs, with large handsome globular flowers of various shades of red and white, often becoming double under cultivation; esp. the commonly cultivated P. officinalis, a native of central Asia and southern Europe, with flowers usually dark red. The root, flowers, and seeds were formerly used in medicine, and the seeds also as a spice (quots. 1299, 1362, etc.).

Notes

pouliot

Pulegium Poley

pouliot

Pline, XX, 54, distingue le pouliot mâle du pouliot remelle : «Femina pulegii… est autem haec flore purpureo, mas candidum habet. » Les mots mâle et femelle ne traduisent ici que des variations de coloris; et in n;y a qu’un pouliot, hermaphrodite comme les autres Labiées : Mentha pulegium L. (Paul Delaunay)

pouliot

Magna societas cum hac ad recreandos defectos animo puleio cum surculis suis in ampullas vitreas aceti utrisque deiectis. qua de causa dignior e puleio corona Varroni quam e rosa cubiculis nostris pronuntiata est, nam et capitis dolores inposita dicitur levare, quin et olfactu capita tueri contra frigorum aestusque iniuriam et ab siti traditur, neque aestuare eos qui duos e puleio surculos inpositos auribus in sole habeant. inlinitur etiam in doloribus cum polenta et aceto. femina efficacior. est autem haec flore purpureo. mas candidum habet. nausia cum sale et polenta in frigida aqua pota inhibet, sic et pectoris dolorem, stomachi autem ex aqua. item rosiones sistit et vomitiones cum aceto et polenta, alvum solvit ex sale et aceto et polenta. intestinorum vitia melle decocta et nitro sanat, urinam pellit ex vino et, si Amineum sit, et calculos et interiores omnes dolores. ex melle et aceto sedat menstrua et secundas, vulvas conversas corrigit defunctos partus eicit. semen obmutescentibus olfactu admovetur, comitialibus in aceto cyathi mensura datur. si aquae insalubres bibendae sint, tritum aspergitur. lassitudines corporis, si cum vino datur, minuit, nervorum causa et in contractione cum sale et aceto, et melle infricatur in opisthotono. bibitur ad serpentium ictus decoctum, ad scorpionum in vino tritum, maxime quod in siccis nascitur. ad oris exulcerationes, ad tussim efficax habetur. flos recentis incensus pulices necat odore. Xenocrates pulei ramum lana involutum in tertianis ante accessionem olfactandum dari aut stragulis subici et ita collocari aegrum inter remedia tradit.

Pennyroyal and mint are strong allies in reviving people who have fainted, both being put, in whole sprays, into glass bottles full of vinegar. For this reason Varro declared that a garland of pennyroyal was more suited to our bedrooms than one of roses, for an application is said to relieve headache; moreover, its very smell protects the head, so it is reported, against injury from cold or heat, and from thirst, nor do they suffer from the heat who carry when they are in the sun two sprays of pennyroyal behind their ears. It is also applied with pearl barley and vinegar for pains. The female plant is the more efficacious. This has a mauve flower, but the male a white one. Taken in cold water with salt and pearl barley it checks nausea; in this form pains in the chest also, and in water by itself pains in the stomach. Likewise it checks gnawings and vomiting if taken with vinegar and pearl barley; in salt, vinegar and pearl barley it loosens the bowels. Boiled with honey and soda it cures complaints of the intestines; in wine it is diuretic, and if the wine be Aminean it disperses both stone and all internal pains. In honey and vinegar it relieves menstruation and the after-birth, replaces displaced uterus and expels the dead foetus. Its seed is given to smell in cases of aphasia; to epileptics it is administered with vinegar in doses of one cyathus. If unwholesome water has to be drunk, pounded pennyroyal is sprinkled on it. It relieves physical tiredness if taken in wine; it is rubbed with salt and vinegar on the sinews, and when these are contracted, and with honey for opisthotonic tetanus. A decoction is drunk for serpent bites; pounded it is taken in wine for stings of scorpions, especially if the pennyroyal be grown on dry soil. It is supposed to be good for ulcerations of the mouth, and for cough. The flower of the freshly gathered plant, when burnt, kills fleas by its smell. Xenocrates includes in his prescriptions the administering of a sprig of pennyroyal wrapped in wool to be smelt by sufferers from tertian ague before an attack of fever, or its being placed under the bedclothes for the patient to lie on.

pouliot

Pouiot. m. Penniroyall, Pulial’royall, pudding-grasse, Lurkydish.

Notes

Cyperus

Cyperus

Cyperus (text)

Cyprus

Cyprus (text)

cypres

Pline, XVI, 60, décrit deux espèces de Cyprès : « Meta in fastigium convoluta, quæ et femina appellatur ; mas spargit extra se ramos. » Le C. femina est notre Cupressus fastigiata D. C.; le C. mas, notre C. horizontalis Mill., mais ces espèces sont toutes deux monïques. (Paul Delaunay)

cypres

Cupressus advena et difficillime nascentium fuit, ut de qua verbosius saepiusque quam de omnibus aliis prodiderit Cato, satu morosa, fructu supervacua, bacis torva, folio amara, odore violenta ac ne umbra quidem gratiosa, materie rara, ut paene fruticosi generis, Diti sacra et ideo funebri signo ad domos posita. femina sterilis. diu metae demum aspectu non repudiata distinguendis tantum vinearum ordinibus, nunc vero tonsilis facta in densitatem parietum coercitaque gracilitate perpetuo teres trahitur etiam in picturas operis topiarii, venatus classesve et imagines rerum
duo genera earum: meta in fastigium convoluta, quae et femina appellatur; mas spargit extra se ramos deputaturque et accipit vitem. utraque autem immittitur in perticas asseresve amputatione ramorum, qui xiii anno denariis singulis veneunt, quaestuosissima in satus ratione silva; vulgoque dotem filiae antiqui plantaria ea appellabant. huic patria insula Creta, quamquam Cato Tarentinam eam appellat, credo, quod primum eo venerit. et in Aenaria succisa regerminat; sed in Creta quocumque in loco terram moverit quispiam, nisu1 naturali haec gignitur protinusque emicat, illa vero etiam non appellato solo ac sponte, maximeque in Idaeis montibus et quos Albos vocant summisque in iis unde numquam nives absunt plurima, quod miremur, alibi non nisi in tepore proveniens et nivem magno opere fastidiens.

The cypress is an exotic, and has been one of the most difficult trees to rear, seeing that Catoa has written about it at greater length and more often than about all the other trees, as stubborn to grow, of no use for fruit, with berries that cause a wry face, a bitter leaf, and a pungent smell: not even its shade agreeable and its timber scanty, so that it almost belongs to the class of shrubs; consecrated to Dis, and consequently placed at the doors of houses as a sign of mourning. The female bears seed but the male is sterile [‘The female is sterile’; Mayhoff, comparing XVII. 73, marks a lacuna, and from § 247 conjectures the above insertion] . For a long time past merely owing to its pyramidal appearance it was not rejected just for the purpose of marking the rows in vineyards, but nowadays it is clipped and made into thick walls or evenly rounded off with trim slenderness, and it is even made to provide the representations of the landscape gardener’s work, arraying hunting scenes or fleets of ships and imitations of real objects with its narrow, short, evergreen leaf. There are two kinds of cypress: the pyramid, tapering upward in a spiral, which is also called the female cypress, and the male cypress which spreads its branches outward from itself, and is pruned and used as a prop for a vine. Both the male and the female are allowed to grow up so as by having their branches lopped off to form poles or props, which after twelve years’ growth sell for a denarius apiece, a grove of cypresses being a most profitable item in one’s plantation account; and people in old days used commonly to call cypress nurseries a dowry for a daughter. The native country of this tree is the island of Crete, although Cato calls it Taranto cypress, no doubt because that place was where it was first imported. In the island of Ischia also, if cut down, it will shoot up again; but in Crete this tree is produced by spontaneous generation wherever anybody stirs the earth, and shoots out at once, in this case in fact even without any demand being made of the soil and of its own accord, and especially in the mountains of Ida and those called the White Mountains, and in the greatest number on the very summits of the peaks that are never free from snow, which may well surprise us, as the tree does not occur elsewhere except in a warm climate and has a great dislike for snow.

cypress

cypress. Forms: ciprese, cypris, sypres,cipris, cipres, cypres, cipriss, -ys, cyprys, syprees, -ese, cupresse, cipresse, cypresse, cipreis, cyparesse, syprys, cypers, cipress, cypress. [Middle English cipres, cypres, etc., adopted from Old French ciprès (12th century), cypres, adaptation of late Latin cypressus (Vulgate, Isidore, etc.), adaptation of Greek kuparissoj cypress. The earlier Latin adaptation of the word was cupressus; the later cypressus and rare cyparissus were refashioned after Greek.]

A well-known coniferous tree, Cupressus sempervirens, a native of Persia and the Levant, extensively cultivated in Western Asia and Southern Europe, with hard durable wood and dense dark foliage; often regarded as symbolic of mourning (see c). Hence, the English name of the genus.

The wood of this tree.

The branches or sprigs of the tree, used at funerals, or as a symbol of mourning. Also figurative.

Of cypress or cypress-wood. Resembling the foliage or shade of a cypress; cypress-like; dark, gloomy, funereal.

Notes

Mandragora

Mandragora

Mandragora femine

Mandragore

Mandragores mâle et femelle (Greek ΜΑΝΔΡΑΓΟΡΑ). Folio 90 from the Naples Dioscurides, a 7th century manuscript of Dioscurides’ De Materia Medica (Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale, Cod. Gr. 1).

mandragore

Aliqui et mandragora utebantur; postea abdicatus est in hac curatione. epiphoris, quod certum est, medetur et oculorum dolori radix tusa cum rosaceo et vino. nam sucus multis oculorum medicamentis miscetur. mandragoran alii circaeon vocant. duo eius genera; candidus qui et mas, niger qui femina existimatur, angustioribus quam lactucae foliis, hirsutis et caulibus, radicibus binis ternisve rufulis, intus albis, carnosis tenerisque, paene cubitalibus. ferunt mala abellanarum nucum magnitudine et in his semen ceu pirorum. hoc albo alii arsena, alii morion, alii hippophlomon vocant. huius folia alba, alterius latiora ut lapathi sativae. effossuri cavent contrarium ventum et tribus circulis ante gladio circumscribunt, postea fodiunt ad occasum spectantes. sucus fit et e malis et caule deciso cacumine et e radice punctis aperta aut decocta. utilis haec vel surculo. concisa quoque in orbiculos servatur in vino. sucus non ubique invenitur sed, ubi potest, circa vindemias quaeritur. odor gravis ei, set radicis et mali gravior ex albo. mala matura in umbra siccantur. sucus ex his sole densatur, item radicis tusae vel in vino nigro ad tertias decoctae. folia servantur in muria, efficacius albi. rore tactorum sucus pestis est. sic quoque noxiae vires. gravedinem adferunt etiam olfactu, quamquam mala in aliquis terris manduntur, nimio tamen odore obmutescunt ignari, potu quidem largiore etiam moriuntur. vis somnifica pro viribus bibentium. media potio cyathi unius. bibitur et contra serpentes et ante sectiones punctionesque, ne sentiantur. ob haec satis est aliquis somnum odore quaesisse. bibitur et pro helleboro duobus obolis in mulso—efficacius helleborum—ad vomitiones et ad bilem nigram extrahendam.

Some physicians used to employ theMandrake for the eyes, etc. mandrake also; afterwards it was discarded as a medicine for the eyes. What is certain is that the pounded root, with rose oil and wine, cures fluxes and pain in the eyes. But the juice is used as an ingredient in many eye remedies. Some give the name circaeon to the mandrake. There are two kinds of it: the white, which is also considered male, and the black, considered female. The leaves are narrower than those of lettuce, the stems hairy, and the roots, two or three in number, reddish [he nigris foris, “black outside,” of Hermolaus Barbarus, was suggested by Dioscorides IV. 75, μέλαιναι κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, ἔνδοθεν δὲ λευκαί. But even if foris can represent τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, nigris foris was most unlikely to be corrupted to rufulis. The word μέλας often means “of the colour of port wine,” and rufulus is not very far away from that], white inside, fleshy and tender, and almost a cubit in length. They bear fruit of the size of filberts, and in these are seeds like the pips of pears. When the seed is white the plant is called by some arsen [“Male,” Greek ἄρσην. Fée thinks that the morion was not the mandrake but Atropa belladonna], by others morion, and by others hippophlomos. The leaves of this mandrake are whitish, broader than those of the other, and like those of cultivated lapathum. The diggers avoid facing the wind, first trace round the plant three circles with a sword, and then do their digging while facing the west. The juice can also be obtained from the fruit, from the stem, after cutting off the top, and from the root, which is opened by pricks or boiled down to a decoction. Even the shoot of its root can be used, and the root is also cut into round slices and kept in wine. The juice is not found everywhere, but where it can be found it is looked [Dioscorides, IV. 75 (Wellmann) has: ἔστι δὲ ἐνεργέστερος τοῦ ὀποῦ ὁ χυλός. οὐκ ἐν παντὶ δὲ τόπῳ φέρουσιν ὀπὸν αἱ ῥίζαι ὑποδείκνυσι δὲ τὸ τοιοῦτον ἡ πεῖρα. Our two authorities differ here; there seems nothing in Pliny to correspond to ἡ πεῖρα] for about vintage time. It has a strong smell, but stronger when the juice comes from the root or fruit of the white mandrake. The ripe fruit is dried in the shade. The fruit juice is thickened in the sun, and so is that of the root, which is crushed or boiled down to one third in dark wine. The leaves are kept in brine, more effectively those of the white kind. The juice of leaves that have been touched by dew are deadly. Even when kept in brine they retain harmful properties. The mere smell brings heaviness of the head and—although in certain countries the fruit is eaten—those who in ignorance smell too much are struck dumb, while too copious a draught even brings death. When the mandrake is used as a sleeping draught the quantity administered should be proportioned to the strength of the patient a moderate dose being one cyathus. It is also taken in drink for snake bite, and before surgical operations and punctures to produce anaesthesia. For this purpose some find it enough to put themselves to sleep by the smell. A dose of two oboli of mandrake is also taken in honey wine instead of hellebore—but hellebore is more efficacious—as an emetic and to purge away black bile.

mandragore

Hermaphrodite, comme les autres Solanées. Les vieux auteurs prétendaient retrouver dans la bizzare conformation de la racine ne sorte d’ébauche humaine, tantôt mâle, tantôt femelle. (Cf. H. Leclerc, La mandragore, Presse médicale, no. 102, 23 décembre 1922, p. 2138-2140, et J. Avalon, La mandragore, son histoire, sa légend, Æsculape, 13e année, nos. 10 et 12, octobre et décember 1923, p. 223-337, 271-275). Pline décrit 2 esp. de Mandragore : « Candidus qui est mas, niger qui femina existimatur. » (XXV, 94). La mandragore femelle de Pline est pour Fée Mandragora autumnalis Bert., la mâle, M. vernalis Bert. Linnée n’en fait qu’une espèce, M. officinarum L. (Paul Delaunay)

mandrake

mandrake. Forms: mandragge, mandrage, mandrag, mendrage, mandrake, mondrake, mandrak [Middle English mandrag(g)e, a shortening of mandragora; the form mandrake (mondrake), though recorded earlier than -drage, is prob. due to association with drake.]

Any plant of the genus Mandragora, native to Southern Europe and the East, and characterized by very short stems, thick, fleshy, often forked, roots, and fetid lance-shaped leaves. The mandrake is poisonous, having emetic and narcotic properties, and was formerly used medicinally. The forked root is thought to resemble the human form, and was fabled to utter a deadly shriek when plucked up from the ground. The notion indicated in the narrative of Genesis xxx, that the fruit when eaten by women promotes conception, is said still to survive in Palestine.

In allusive and fig. uses: (a) as a term of abuse; (b) a narcotic; (c) a noisome growth.

Notes

Affodillus

Affodillus (text)

asphodele

Asphodelus, genus de Liliacées. Celui que décrit Pline (XXI, 68) est Asphodelus ramosus L. (Paul Delaunay)

asphodele

Ceterae eiusdem generis folio differunt: asphodelus oblongum et angustum habet, scilla latum et tractabile, gladiolus simile nomini. asphodelus manditur et semine tosto et bulbo, set hoc in cinere tosto, dein sale et oleo addito, praeterea tuso cum ficis, praecipua voluptate, ut videtur Hesiodo. tradunt et ante portas villarum satum remedio esse contra veneficiorum noxiam. asphodeli mentionem et Homerus fecit. radix eius napis modicis similis est, neque alia numerosior lxxx simul acervatis saepe bulbis. Theophrastus et fere Graeci princepsque Pythagoras caulem eius cubitalem et saepe duum cubitorum, foliis porri silvestris, anthericum vocavere, radicem vero, id est bulbos, asphodelum. nostri illud albucum vocant et anthericum hastulam regiam, caulis acinosi, ac duo genera faciunt. albuco scapus cubitalis, amplus, purus, levis, de quo Mago praecipit exitu mensis Marti et initio Aprilis, cum floruerit, nondum semine eius intumescente, demetendum findendosque scapos et quarto die in solem proferendos, ita siccati manipulos faciendos. idem oiston adicit a Graecis vocari quam inter ulvas sagittam appellamus. hanc ab idibus Maiis usque in finem Octobris mensis decorticari atque leni sole siccari iubet, idem et gladiolum alterum quem cypiron vocant et ipsum palustrem, Iulio mense toto secari iubet ad radicem tertioque die in sole siccari, donec candidus fiat, cotidie autem ante solem occidentem in tectum referri, quoniam palustribus desectis nocturni rores noceant.

The other plants of the same kind differ in the leaf: asphodel has an oblong, narrow leaf; the squill one broad and flexible; the gladiolus one that its name suggests. Asphodel is used as food. Both the seed and the bulb are roasted, but the second in hot ashes; salt and oil are added. It is also pounded with figs, which Hesiod [Works and Days, 41; here however Hesiod mentions asphodel as a common but wholesome food. Theophrastus, whom Pliny copies, has πλείστην ὄνησιν ἔχει, which is much nearer Hesiod’s ἀσφοδέλῳ μέγ᾿ ὄνειαρ.] thinks is a special delicacy. There is a tradition that if asphodel be planted before the gate of a country house it keeps away the evil influences of sorcery. Homer also mentioned asphodel. Its root is like a navew of moderate size, and no plant has more bulbs, eighty being often grouped together. Theophrastus and the Greeks generally, beginning with Pythagoras, have given the name of anthericus to its stem, a cubit and often two cubits long, with leaves like those of wild leek; it is the root, that is to say the bulbs, that they call asphodel. We of Italy call this plant albucus, and anthericus “royal spear”, the stem of which bears berries, and we distinguish two kinds. Albucus has a stalk a cubit long, large, without leaves and smooth, which Mago recommends should be cut at the end of March or the beginning of April, when the blossoming has ceased but before its seed has begun to swell; he adds that the stalks should be split, and brought out into the sun on the fourth day, and that of the material so dried bundles should be made. The same authority adds that the Greeks call oistos, the plant which we include among sedge and call arrow. He recommends that from the fifteenth of May to the end of October it should be stripped of its skin and dried in mild sunshine, and also that the second kind of gladiolus, called cypiros, which too is a marsh plant, should be cut down to the root through-out July, and on the third day dried in the sun until it turns white. Every day however before sunset it should be put back under cover, since night dews are harmful to marsh plants after they have been cut down.

Asphodile

The Daffadill, Affodill, of Asphidoll flower

Asphodel

Asphodel, adopted from Greek asfodel-oj, of unknown origin. The earlier form (adaptation of medieval Latin affodillus) was affodil, q.v., whence daffodil.]

A genus of liliaceous plants with very handsome flowers, mostly natives of the south of Europe. The White Asphodel or King’s Spear covers large tracts of land in Apulia, where its leaves afford good nourishment to sheep. From the genus the order has sometimes been called Asphodeleæ.

By the poets made an immortal flower, and said to cover the Elysian meads. (Cf. Homer Odyssey. XI. 539)

Notes

Quercus ilex

Ilex major

Ilex Major

Heouse

Heouse. Holly, or the Holme tree

heouses

Yeuses ou chênes verds: du latin ilices. De Marsy remplace heouses par houx; mais tout nous prouve qu’il s’est trompé.

heouses

Yeuse, Quercus ilex L. Chêne vert, eousé. — Heouse, mot provençal, pour yeuse. Belon (Rem., 1559, p. 39), dit eouse. Arbre monoïque, à fleurs unisexuées ; « Masculas ilices negant ferre [glandes] », dit Pline, XVI, 8. (Paul Delaunay)

yeuse

Ilicis duo genera. ex his in Italia folio non ita multum ab oleis distant milaces a quibusdam Graecis dictae; in provinciis aquifoliae sunt ilices. glans utriusque brevior et gracilior, quam Homerus aculon appellat eoque nomine a glande distinguit. ilices negant ferre.

There are two classes of holm-oak. The Italian variety, called by some Greeks milax, has a leaf not very different from that of the olive, but the holmoak in the provinces is the one with pointed leaves. The acorn of both kinds is shorter and more slender than that of other varieties; [Homer Od. xi. 242] calls it akylon and distinguishes it by that name from the common acorn. It is said that the male holm-oak bears no acorns.

yeuse

Chesnes verds, ou Eouses, nommez en Latin Ilices.

Holm

Quercus ilex, the Holm Oak or Holly Oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It takes its name from holm, an ancient name for holly. It is known by the names azinheira in Portuguese, encina in Spanish, carrasca or alzina in Catalan, is-siġra tal-ballut in Maltese and chêne vert or yeuse in French. It is a member of the white oak section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer.

Notes

Palma

Dactilus

Dactilus (text)

palmes

VI. Cetero terrarum omnium Aegyptus accommodatissima unguentis, ab ea Campania est copia rosae. Iudaea vero incluta est vel magis palmis, quarum natura nunc dicetur. sunt quidem et in Europa volgoque Italia, sed steriles. ferunt in maritimis Africa sed statim evanescentem. contra in oriente ex iis vina gentiumque aliquis panis, plurimis vero etiam quadrupedum cibus. quamobrem iure dicentur externae; nulla est in Italia sponte genita, nec in alia parte terrarum nisi in calida, frugifera vero nusquam nisi in fervida.
VII. Gignitur levi sabulosaque terra, maiore in parte et nitrosa. gaudet riguis totoque anno bibere, cum amet sitientia. fimo1 quidam etiam laedi putant, Assyriorum pars aliqua si non rivis misceat. genera earum plura, et prima fruticem non excedentia, sterilem hunc, aliubi et ipsum fertilem, brevisque rami. orbe foliorum tectorii vicem hic parietibus plerisque in locis praestat contra aspergines. est et procerioribus silva, arbore ex ipsa foliorum aculeo fruticante circa totas pectinatim; quas silvestres intellegi necesse est, incerta tamen libidine etiam mitioribus se miscent. reliquae teretes atque procerae, densis gradatisque corticum pollicibus aut orbibus faciles ad scandendum orientis se populis praebent vitilem sibi arborique indutis circulum mira pernicitate cum homine subeuntem. coma omnis in cacumine et pomum est, non inter folia hoc ut in ceteris sed suis inter ramos palmitibus racemosum, utraque natura uvae atque pomi. folia cultrato mucrone lateribus in sese bifida tabellas primum demonstravere geminas, nunc ad funes vitiliumque nexus et capitum levia umbracula finduntur. Arboribus, immo potius omnibus quae terra gignat herbisque etiam utrumque esse sexum diligentissimi naturae tradunt, quod in plenum satis sit dixisse hoc in loco, nullis tamen arboribus manifestius. mas in palmite floret, femina citra florem germinat tantum spicae modo. utrisque autem prima nascitur pomi caro, postea lignum intus; hoc est semen eius: argumentum quod parvae sine hoc reperiuntur in eodem palmite. est autem oblongum, non ut olivis orbiculatum, praeterea caesum a dorso pulvinata fissura, et in alvo media plerisque umbilicatum: inde primum spargitur radix. seritur autem pronum et bina iuxta composita semina superque totidem, quoniam infirmae1 singulis plantae, quaternae coalescunt. multis candidisque lignum hoc a carnibus discernitur tunicis, aliis corpori adhaerentibus, laxeque distans tantura cacuminis filo adhaeret. caro maturescit anno; quibusdam tamen in locis, ut in Cypro, quamquam ad maturitatem non perveniat, grato sapore dulcis est. folium ibi latius, fructus quam reliquis rotundior, nec ut devoretur corpus, verum ut expuatur suco modo expresso. et in Arabia languide dulces traduntur esse palmae, quamquam Iuba apud Scenitas Arabas praefert omnibus saporibus quam vocant dablan. cetero sine maribus non gignere feminas sponte edito nemore confirmant, circaque singulos plures nutare in eum pronas blandioribus comis; illum erectis hispidum adflatu visuque ipso et pulvere etiam reliquas maritare; huius arbore excisa viduvio post sterilescere feminas. adeoque est veneris intellectus ut coitus etiam excogitatus sit ab homine e maribus flore ac lanugine, interim vero tantum pulvere insperso feminis.

VI. In other respects Egypt is of all the countries in the world the best adapted for the production of unguents, but Campania with its abundance of roses runs it close. But Judaea is even more famous for its palm-trees, the nature of which will now be described. It is true that there are also palms in Europe, and they are common in Italy, but these are barren. In the coastal regions of Spain they do bear fruit, but it does not ripen, and in Africa the fruit is sweet but will not keep for any time. On the other hand in the east the palm supplies the native races with wine, and some of them with bread, while a very large number rely on it also for cattle fodder. For this reason, therefore, we shall be justified in describing the palms of foreign countries; there are none in Italy not grown under cultivation, nor are there in any other part of the earth except where there is a warm climate, while only in really hot countries does the palm bear fruit.
VII. It grows in a light sandy soil and for the most part in one containing nitrates. It likes running water, and to drink all the year round, though it loves dry places. Some people think that dung actually does it harm, while a section of the Assyrians think that this happens if they do not mix the dung with water from a stream. There are several kinds of palm, beginning with kinds not larger than a shrub—a shrub that in some cases is barren, though in other districts it too bears fruit—and having a short branch. In a number of places this shrub-palm with its dome of leaves serves instead of plaster for the walls of a house, to prevent their sweating. Also the taller palms make a regular forest, their pointed foliage shooting out from the actual tree all round them like a comb—these it must be understood are wild palms, though they also have a wayward fancy for mingling among the cultivated varieties. The other kinds are rounded and tall, and have compact rows of knobs or circles in their bark which render them easy for the eastern races to climb; they put a plaited noose round themselves and round the tree, and the noose goes up with the man at an astonishingly rapid speed. All the foliage is at the top of the tree, and so is the fruit, which is not among the leaves as in all other trees, but hanging in bunches from shoots of its own between the branches, and which has the nature of both a cluster and a single fruit. The leaves have a knife-like edge at the sides and are divided into two flanges that fold together; they first suggested folding tablets for writing, but at the present day they are split up to make ropes and plaited wicker-work and parasols.
The most devoted students of nature report that trees, or rather indeed all the products of the earth and even grasses, are of both sexes, a fact which it may at this place be sufficient to state in general terms, although in no trees is it more manifest than in the palm. A male palm forms a blossom on the shoot, whereas a female merely forms a bud like an ear of corn, without going on to blossom. In both male and female, however, the flesh of the fruit forms first and the woody core afterwards; this is the seed of the tree—which is proved by the fact that small fruits without any core are found on the same shoot. The seed is oblong in shape and not rounded like an olive-stone, and also it is split at the back by a bulging cleft, and in most cases shaped like a navel at the middle of the bulge: it is from here that the root first spreads out. In planting the seed is laid front-side downward, and a pair of seeds are placed close together with two more above them, since a single seed produces a weak plant, but the four shoots unite in one strong growth. This woody core is divided from the fleshy parts by a number of white coats, others clinging closely to its body; and it is loose and separate, only attached by a thread at its top end. The flesh takes a year to ripen, though in some places, for instance, Cyprus, it has a pleasant sweet flavour even though it does not reach maturity. In Cyprus the leaf is broader and the fruit rounder than it is elsewhere, though people there do not eat the body of the fruit, but spit it out after merely squeezing out the juice. Also in Arabia the palm is said to have a sickly sweet taste, although Juba states that he prefers the palm that grows in the territory of the Tent-dweller Arabs, which they call the dablas, to all other kinds for flavour. For the rest, it is stated that in a palm-grove of natural growth the female trees do not produce if there are no males, and that each male tree is surrounded by several females with more attractive foliage that bend and bow towards him; while the male bristling with leaves erected impregnates the rest of them by his exhalation and by the mere sight of him, and also by his pollen; and that when the male tree is felled the females afterwards in their widowhood become barren. And so fully is their sexual union understood that mankind has actually devised a method of impregnating them by means of the flower and down collected from the males, and indeed sometimes by merely sprinkling their pollen on the females.

palmes

Palmiers. Les fleurs sont unisexuées dans la majorité des genres. En fait de palmiers, Pline a sourtout décrit le dattier (Phœnix dactylifera L.), et distingue avec raison le mas et le fœmina (H.N., XIII, 7), le dattier étant, en effect, dioïque. (Paul Delaunay)

palm

palm. Also palme, paum. [OE. palm, palma, and palme, adopted from Latin palma; ME. palme agreeing also with French palme (12th century in Littré), adaptation of Latin palma (instead of the inherited Old French form paume). Latin palma was a transferred sense sense of palma palm of the hand, expanded hand.]

Any tree or shrub of the order Palmæ or Palmaceæ, a large family of monocotyledons, widely distributed in warm climates, chiefly within the tropics, remarkable for their ornamental forms and various usefulness to man. They have the stem usually upright and unbranched, a head or crown of very large pinnate or fan-shaped leaves, and fruit of various forms (nut, drupe, or berry). The palm of Scripture is the date-palm.

Notes

Regarding items served as snacks after dinner

[Regarding items that are served as snacks after dinner]
And in Cydon (fr. 13):

And after dinner a pomegranate-seed,
a chickpea, a bean,
wheat-pudding, cheese, honey, sesame-cakes,
[corrupt], wheat-and-honey-cakes,
an apple, a nut, milk, hemp-seeds,
shellfish, barley-water, Zeus-brain [An unidentified dainty].

Friand

Friand: Saucie, lickorous, dantie-mouthed, sweet-toothed; also, delicate, of a pleasing smacke, tast-inticing, delicious in tast.

fricassées

Fricassée: Any meat fried in a panne.

beignetz

Beignet; Corruptly, for Bignet. Rab.

Bignets: m. Little round loaves, or lumps made of fine meale, oyle, or butter, and reasons; bunnes, Lenten loaves; also, flat fritters made like small pancakes.

fricassees

Jean de La Bruyère a fait le même remarque, livre VII, chapitre xiii de son De Re cibariâ (Le Duchat).

Notes

Le Grec

Le Grec il a un vestement semblable
A ce pourtraict, cela est tout notoire,
Quoy que te semble c’est habit admirable,
La verité te constrainct de le croire.

La Grecque

La Grecque sussi a son accoutrement
Et son maintient d’une assez bonne grace,
Et sa coiffure entretient joliement:
Mais taxee est de trop polir sa face.

Entre les Grecs &c.

Entre les Grecs &c.] Jen de la Bruiére Champiere a fait la même remarque, l. 7 chap. 13. de son de re cibaria

Greek fritters

Ozell notes that John de la Bruyère-Champier [Jean-Baptiste Bruyerin, fl. 1560)] has the same remark l. 7. c. 13 of his de re Cibaria.