OCR Text |
Show Of the Hiftorie of Plants, Ling butnor fo ple afancas the Figs of Spaine ; notwithftanding they ate good tobe ea ten, and witha! very wholfome, Arbor ex Goa, fine Indica, This wondrous tree growethin 1515 witha thin rinde like that ofthe Fig, ofa yellow colourwhenthey be ripe: the pulpe or fubftance ofthe meateis like that of the Pompion, without either feeds, ftones, or kernels, in taft not great- ly perceiuedat the firft,but prefentlyafter x pleafeth,and entifeth a man to eat liberally thereof, @] The Place, The arched IndianFig tree. Ofthe Hiftory ofPlants, byacertaine entifing fwectnesit yeelds ; in which fruit,if it becut according to the length (faith myne Author)oblique,tranfuerfe, or any othet way whatfocuer,may be feenthe thape and forme diners pla: ces of the Eaft Indies, efpecially Neere ypto Goa, andalfo in Malaca:it is a ftrang erin mott parts of theworld, q The Time, This tree keepethhis leaues Steen winter and Sommer, ofacroffe, with a manfaftned thereto. My felfe haucfeenethefruit, and cut it in preces, which was brought me from Aleppoin pickle ; the crofle I might perceiue,as the forme of a {pred-E gle inthe root ofFerne ; but the manLleaue to be fought for by thofe that hauc bettcr eyes andi ment than my felfe. Mufa Serapions. Adams Appletree. Mufe Fructus. Adams Apple. The Names, This tree is called of thofe that have tra: uelled, Ficus Indica, the Indian Fig ; and 4r. bor Goa,of the place whereit growethin gtea- teit plenty :we maycall it in Englifh,thear- ched Fig tree, + Suchas defire to fee more ofthis Fig tree, may haue recourfe to Clufius his Exo. ticks, hb. t.cap. t.where he fhewes itwasmen- tionedby diuers antient Writers, as 9.Cur. tins, libeg. Plin, lib, 12. ca. Straboslib.s.and Theophr, Hift, Platt « lib. 4. 6ap.5. by thename of Ficus Indica, + G) The TempergiuveandPertues, We haue nothing to write ofthe tempe- Brot et may be reckoned for a tree properly, or for an herby Plant, itis difpu: rid confid ering the foftand herbyfubfance whereof it is ¢. Aprill'10, 1633. my much honored friend Dt. Argent (now Prefident of the Colledge of Phyfitions of London) gaue mea plant he feceiued from the Bermuda’s : the lengthofthe ftalke @ The Defcription, made , tharisto fay,whenit h attained : the Peieit of fix or feuen cubits, and of the bignefle of amans thigh, 5 May be cut downe with one ftroke ofa fword.or tw or three cuts witha itha knife knule, 1,0r two : euen with as mucheafeas : or Carrot of the like bigneffe: from athicke fat the root ofa Radifh safe tsSteat leans, of the length ofthree cubits - and halfe, re ne eing t ere it groweth, and of a cubit and more broad, ofbignes {u ficient to wrapa childe in oftwo yeares old,in fhape like thofe of Mandrake. ofan ouerworngr een colour, hauing abroad rib running thorow the middle thereof: which ther by realon ofthe extreme horfcorching Sun,or of their owne nature. in Septemberaleaues,whe re fo dry and withered, thar thereis nothing thereofleft or tobe feene but onely the middle rib. From “ne middet OF =e leaues threddy root rife immediatel y dine tine habe: recording toeda rifeth vp a thicke trurtke, whereon doth growthe like leaues, which the people do cut off, as alfothofenext the ground, by meanes whereof it rifeth vp to the hei ht of a tree, which O therwife wouldremaine alow and bafe plant. This manner ofeutting eck from time totime, vntillit come toa certaine height,aboue the reach of the Elephant which greedily feckethafter thefruit. ‘In the middeft of the topamong the leaues commeth fortha foftand fungous ftumpe whercon do grow divers apples in forme likea finall Cucumber, and ofthe fame bignefle,co wasfometwo foot ; the thickneffe thereof fome feuen inches about, being erefted, and full of ia fof pith, fo that one might eafily witha knifecuritafunder. Irwas crooked a little, or indented, forhat each two or three inches fpace it put forth a knot of fomehalfe inch thicknefle, and fome inch in length,which incompaffedit more than halfe about;and vpoa each ofthefe ioints or knots, ‘ntworankes one aboue another, grew the fruit, fome twenty, nineteene, eighteene, &c. more or leffe, at each knor: for the branch I had, contained. nine knots or diuifions, and vpon the lowett knoe grew-twehty, and vpon the vppermott fifteene. The fruitwhich I receiued wasnot ripe, bur Steene,each of them was about rhe bigneffe of a large Beane ;the length of themfome fie snches, and the bredth fome inch and halfe: they all/hang their heads downewards, haue rough a yheuen cds, andare fue cornered 4 and if you turne the vpper fide downward, they fomewhatte pps oat,as you may fee by one ofthemexpreft by it felfe : the huskeis as thicke asa roan we rot ae not s verie “ily thell offit : the pulpe is white and foft:the ftalke whereby it is faftned hanged vpin thort,and almoftas thicke as ones little finger., This ftalke with the fruit thereon I hy thop, were it became ripeabout the beginning ofMay,andlafted vntil Tune: the pulp wore "as very fofrand tender, andit did eate fomewhatlikea Muske-Melon. Ihaue giuen you tie iSure ofthewhole branch, with the fruitthereon, whichI drewas (ooae as I receiucd it, and itis Marked with this figure r. The figuic 2+ théweth the fhape ofone particular fruitjwith the apd § ‘de ores Cuar, 136. Of Adams Apple tree, or the Wioft-hhdian Plantaine. Lis? ee fature or vertues of this tree, of our owne knowledge: neither haue weeteceiued from others more, than thatthefruit hereof is generally eaten, and that without any hurtat all,but rather good,and alfo nourifhing. |