The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3 (of 6)

Chapter 134: CHAP. 13.—INDIAN TREES, THE NAMES OF WHICH ARE UNKNOWN. INDIAN TREES WHICH BEAR FLAX.

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The work assembles systematic observations on animals, insects, and trees, combining natural history with practical notes. It surveys insect forms and habits, including bees, silk‑producing worms, spiders, and parasitic species, and discusses reproduction, classification, diseases, and useful products like honey and silk. It then examines animal anatomy in detail, limb by limb and organ by organ, comparing organs, vital functions, and bodily peculiarities across species. Later sections catalogue trees and exotic plants, describing aromatic gums, spices, frankincense, myrrh, and methods for producing and testing unguents and perfumes, and noting their uses and regions of origin.

CHAP. 13.—INDIAN TREES, THE NAMES OF WHICH ARE UNKNOWN. INDIAN TREES WHICH BEAR FLAX.

The Macedonians 460 have made mention of various other kinds of trees, the greater part of which, however, are without names. There is one which resembles the terebinth 461 in every respect, except the fruit, which is very similar to the almond, though less in size, and remarkable for its extreme sweetness. This tree was met with in Bactria, and some persons looked upon it as a variety of the terebinth, rather than as bearing a strong resemblance to it. As to the tree from which they manufacture a kind of linen 462 cloth, in leaf it resembles the mulberry-tree, while the calix of the fruit is similar to the dog-rose.463 This tree is reared in the plains, and there is no sight throughout the cultivated parts of the country that is more enchanting than the plantations of it.