in different soils the methods of cultivation should differ, like the trees themselves.
[1]There are several kinds of palm. To begin with, to take first the most important difference;—some are fruitful and some not; and it is from this latter kind that the people of Babylon make their beds and other furniture. Again of the fruitful trees some are 'male,' others 'female'; and these differ from one another in that the 'male' first[2] bears a flower on the spathe, while the 'female' at once bears a small fruit. Again there are various differences in the fruits themselves; some have no stones, others soft stones; as to colour, some are white, some black, some yellow and in general they say that there is not less variety of colour and even of kind than in figs; also that they differ in size and shape, some being round like apples and of such a size that four of them make up a cubit[3] in length, …[4] while others are small,[5] no bigger than chick-peas; and that there is also much difference in flavour.
The best kind alike in size and in quality, whether of the white or black variety, is that which in either form is called 'the royal palm'; but this, they say, is rare; it grows hardly anywhere except in the park of the ancient Bagoas,[6] near Babylon. In Cyprus[7] there is a peculiar kind of palm which does not ripen its fruit, though, when it is unripe, it is very sweet and luscious, and this lusciousness is of a peculiar kind. Some palms again[8] differ not merely
- ↑ Plin. 13. 39.
- ↑ πρῶτον conj. Sch,; πρῶτος UMVAld.
- ↑ πῆχυν conj. R. Const. from Plin. 13. 45. and G, cf. Diod. 2. 53; στάχυν UMVAld.
- ↑ ἕπτα καὶ εὐπόδους UMV: the words perhaps conceal a gloss on πῆχυν, e.g. εἷς πῆχυς δύο πόδες (Salm.); om. G; ἐνίοτε καὶ ἐπὶ πόδα conj. W.
- ↑ Plin. 13. 42.
- ↑ Βαγῴου: Βάττου MSS. corr. by R. Const. from Plin. 13. 41. τοῦ παλαίου apparently distinguishes this Bagoas from some more recent wearer of the name.
- ↑ Plin. 13. 33.
- ↑ Plin. 13. 28.
