CHAP. 14. (14.)—THIRTY DIFFERENT KINDS OF POMES. AT WHAT PERIOD FOREIGN FRUITS WERE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO ITALY, AND WHENCE.
There are numerous varieties of pomes. Of the citron1790 we have already made mention when describing its tree; the Greeks gave it the name of “Medica,”1791 from its native country. The jujube1792-tree and the tuber1793 are equally exotics; indeed, they have, both of them, been introduced only of late years into Italy; the latter from Africa, the former from Syria. Sextus Papinius, whom we have seen consul,1794 introduced them both in the latter years of the reign of Augustus, produced from slips which he had grown within his camp. The fruit of the jujube more nearly resembles a berry than an apple: the tree sets off a terrace1795 remarkably well, and it is not uncommon to see whole woods of it climbing up to the very roofs of the houses.
Of the tuber there are two varieties; the white, and the one called “syricum,”1796 from its colour. Those fruits, too, may be almost pronounced exotic which grow nowhere in Italy but in the territory of Verona, and are known as the wool-fruit.1797 They are covered with a woolly down; this is found, it is true, to a very considerable extent, on both the strutheum variety of quince and the peach, but still it has given its name to this particular fruit, which is recommended to us by no other remarkable quality.