Pliny: Indian Plants

BOOK XII. 4 (8). In our account of the Seres we have mentioned their trees which bear wool, and have likewise noticed the immense size of the trees of India. One tree peculiar to that country-the ebony tree-has been extolled by Virgil, who teaches us that it grows nowhere else. Herodotus, however, leads us to believe that it was rather a product of Ethiopia, for he informs us that the people of that country paid every third year to the kings of Persia by way of tribute one hundred planks of ebony wood, together with a certain amount of gold and ivory. C. (9). There are two kinds of ebony; the better sort is scarce, and is remarkably free from knots. It is black and lustrous, and pleases the eye at once without the aid of art. The other sort is produced from a shrub like cytisus and is found in all parts of India. C. (10). There is in India, also, a kind of thorn like ebony, but distinguishable from it even by lamplight the moment the fire flashes across it. We shall now describe those trees which excited the admiration of Alexander the Great in his career of conquest when that part of the world was opened up by his arms. C. (11). The fig-tree of that country produces but a small fruit. Always propagating itself spontaneously it spreads out far and wide with its vast branches, the ends of which bend downward to the ground to such a degree that in the course of a year they take root again and young daughters grow around the mother-tree circlewise as in ornamental gardening. Within that enclosure, which is overshadowed and protected by the rampart of stems thrown out by the tree, shepherds are wont to spend the summer; the circuit of overarching boughs presenting a scene of great magnificence whether viewed from a distance or from under the leafy canopy. The higher branches of the tree shoot far up into the sky in multitudinous ramifications from the vast trunk of the parent tree, so that it very often overspreads a circuit of sixty paces, while its shade covers as much as a couple of stadia. The broad leaves have the shape of an Amazonian buckler, and hence the fruit being so much covered by the leaves is stunted in its growth, small in quantity, and never bigger than a bean. The figs, however, being ripened by the rays of the sun piercing through the leaves, are exceedingly luscious and worthy of the marvellous character of the tree which produces them. These trees are found more particularly in the neighbourhood of the river Acesines. C. 6 (12). There is a tree still larger which yields a still more luscious fruit-that on which the Indian sages subsist. The leaf, which is three cubits long and two cubits broad, resembles the wings of birds. The fruit, which grows on the bark, is remarkable for the wondrous sweetness of its juice, and is so large that one would of itself suffice for four persons. The tree is called the pala and its fruit ariena. It is found in greatest abundance in the country of the Sydraci, which formed the limit reached by Alexander's expedition. There is besides another tree which resembles this one, though the fruit which it bears is sweeter, and, when eaten, produces severe disorders of the bowels. Alexander published an order forbidding any one in his army touching this fruit. C. (13). The Macedonians have mentioned various kinds of trees (found in India) but generally without giving their names. There is one which resembles the terebinth (turpentine tree) in every respect except the fruit, which is like the almond though it is of a smaller size, and remarkable for its extreme sweetness. It was found chiefly in Bactra, and some persons took it to be a variety of terebinth rather than a tree to which it bore a striking resemblance. As to the tree again from which they make a kind of linen cloth, in leaf it resembles the mulberry tree, while the calyx of the fruit is similar to the dog-rose. It is reared in cultivated grounds, and no other kind of plantation makes such a charming landscape around a country-seat. C. 7 (14). The olive-tree in India is sterile, with the exception however of the wild olive. The pepper plant grows everywhere (in India), and resembles our junipers in appearance, though some writers assert that they only grow on the slopes of Caucasus, which lie exposed to the sun. The seeds differ from the juniper by their being enclosed in very small pods such as we see in kidney beans. These pods make what is called long pepper, if, before they burst open, they are plucked and then dried in the sun. But when they are allowed to ripen, they gradually split open, and at maturity disclose the white pepper, which then by exposure to the heat of the sun changes its colour and becomes wrinkled. These products, however, are liable to a peculiar disease, for if the weather be bad they are attacked with a smutty kind of blight, which makes the seeds nothing but rotten empty husks, called bregma, a term which in the Indian language signifies dead. Of all the kinds of pepper this is the most pungent and the lightest, while it is also distinguished by the extreme paleness of its colour. The black kind of pepper is more agreeable to the palate, while the white kind is less pungent than either. The root of this tree is not, as some have supposed, the article called by some writers, Zimpiberi while others call it Zingiberi (i.e. ginger), although its taste is very similar. For ginger is produced in Arabia and the Troglodyte country, in the cultivated parts being a small plant with a white root. It is liable to decay very quickly, notwithstanding its extreme pungency. The price it fetches is six denarii the pound. Long pepper is very easily adulterated with Alexandrian mustard. It sells at fifteen denarii the pound, the white kind at seven, and the black at four. It is surprising how it has become such a favourite article of consumption; for while other substances attract us, some by reason of their sweetness, and others because they are of an inviting appearance, pepper has nothing to recommend it either for fruit or berry, its pungency being the only quality for which it is esteemed; and yet for this it must be fetched from far away India . . . . Both pepper and ginger grow wild in their respective countries, and yet here we buy them by weight like gold and silver. Italy too now produces a kind of pepper-tree. . . but its pepper has not that mature flavour which the Indian sort acquires by its exposure to the sun. C. (15). There is, moreover, in India, a grain similar to pepper, but larger and more brittle, and this is called caryophyllon. The same country produces also on a thorny shrub a grain resembling pepper which is remarkable for its pungency. The leaves of this shrub are small and packed closely together like those of the privet. Its branches, which are three cubits long, are of a pallid colour, while its root is wide-spreading and woody, and of the colour of boxwood. From this root, when boiled along with the seed in a copper vessel, is prepared the medicament called lycion. . . . The Indians send us this preparation in vessels made from the skins of camels or rhinoceroses. Some persons in Greece call the shrub itself the Chironian pyxacanthus, the berberry shrub, or box-thorn. C. 8 (16). Macir also is brought to us from India. It is the red bark of a large root called by the same name as the tree which grows from it. What the tree is like I have not been able to learn. A decoction of this bark with honey is used in medicine as a specific for dysentery. C. (17). Arabia too produces sugar, but the Indian kind is more esteemed, It is a honey collected in reeds, white like gum, and brittle to the teeth. The largest pieces are of the size of a filbert nut; it is only used in medicine. C. (18). On the borders of India is a country called Ariane, in which is found a thorny shrub from which a precious tear distils. It resembles the myrrh-tree and must be cautiously approached because of its prickles. Here too is produced a poisonous shrub which has a root like a radish, leaves like those of the laurel, and a smell which horses find inviting.

Alexander in consequence lost nearly all his cavalry on his first entrance into the country-and the same thing happened to him also in Gedrosia. A thorny shrub has also been mentioned as a product of the same country, having leaves like those of the laurel, the juice of which if spirted into the eye causes blindness in all animals. There is besides a vegetable of a very rank odour, which is full of tiny serpents, the sting of which to a certainty causes instant death. C. 9 (19). Next to Ariane is Bactriane, which produces the most esteemed kind of bdellium. The tree is of a black colour and of the size of an olive-tree. Its leaf resembles that of the oak, and its fruit that of the wild fig-tree. Bdellium itself is of the nature of a gum. Some call it brochon, others malacha, others again maldacon, but when it is black and rolled into a little ball it is known as hadrabolon. This substance ought to be transparent like wax, odoriferous, unctuous when crumbled, and bitter to the taste but without being at all acid. When used in sacred rites it is steeped in wine to increase its fragrance. It grows in Arabia and India as well as in Media and Babylon. Some persons call the bdellium which is brought to us by way of Media, peratic. It is more brittle than the other kinds, harder in the crust, and more bitter to the taste; the Indian kind is, on the other hand, moister and gummy, and is adulterated by means of the almond nut. The various other kinds are corrupted with the bark of scordastum, the tree of this name producing a gum which resembles bdellium. The adulterations of perfumes, let it be said once for all, are detected by their smell, by their colour, weight, taste, and by the action of fire. The Bactrian bdellium is dry and shining, and has numerous white spots, like finger-nails in shape. Besides, it should be of a certain weight than which it ought to be neither heavier nor lighter. The price of bdellium when quite pure is three denarii per pound. C. 22. Their very trees afford clothing for the people of India. C. 12 (25). There is a root and also a leaf which are both very highly prized by the Indians. The root is that of the costus; it is burning hot to the taste, and has an exquisite aromatic odour; the shrub is otherwise of no use. In the island of Patale, at the very mouth of the Indus, two kinds of it are found-one black, the other white, and this is the better of the two. The price of this article is five denarii per pound. C. 26. Of the leaf, which is that of the nardus, it is but proper we should write at greater length, seeing that it holds the first place among unguents. This shrub has a root thick and heavy, but short, black, and brittle notwithstanding that it is unctuous, and has a musty smell like that of the cypirus. It has a sharp, acrid taste, and its leaves are small and thickly set together. At the top the nard spreads out into ears, and hence it is celebrated as being doubly dowered-with spikes and ears and with leaves that are both of high value. Another kind which grows in the vicinity of the Ganges is condemned as utterly bad. It is called ozaenitis and has a foetid smell. Nard is adulterated with a plant called pseudo-nard, which grows everywhere, and has a leaf unusually thick and broad and a sickly colour inclining to white. It is further adulterated by being mixed with its own root to give it additional weight-a purpose for which gum and the litharge of silver are also employed, and sometimes antimony and cypirus, or at least cypirus bark. Its purity is tested by its lightness, the redness of its colour, the sweetness of its smell, and more particularly the taste, which parches the mouth, while at the same time the flavour is most delicious. The price of spikenard is 100 denarii per pound. C. 28. The grape of the amomum is in common use. It grows on a wild vine which is found in India, or, as others think, on a shrub produced on the mountains which rises to the height of a palm-tree. It is plucked along with the root, and is gently pressed together by the hands, for it very quickly becomes brittle. That kind is most esteemed which has leaves closely resembling those of the pomegranate, being without wrinkles and of a red colour. The second quality is that which is distinguished by the paleness of its colour. An inferior kind has a grassy appearance, and the white is the worst of all. This is its colour when old. The price of the amomum grape is sixty denarii per pound, but when crumbled it sells at forty-nine only. C. (29). Similar to these (amomum and amomis), both in name and the nature of the shrub, is cardamomum, the seed of which is of an oblong shape. It is gathered in the same way both in India and Arabia. There are four sorts of it. That which is most esteemed is very green in the colour, unctuous, with sharp angles which make it hard to break; the next quality is of a reddish white tint-the third is shorter and blacker, while the worst is mottled, friable, and has but a faint smell, which ought to be similar to costum when genuine. Cardamum grows also in Media. The price of the best kind is three denarii.

C. 17 (38). In Arabia, too, the olive-tree distils a tear, with which the Indians prepare a medicament called by the Greeks enhoemon, and said to be of singular efficacy in cicatrising wounds. C. 18 (41). At the very lowest computation, India, the Seres, and the Arabian peninsula drain from our empire yearly one hundred million of sesterces; so dearly do we pay for our luxury and our women. C. 22 (48). Scented calamus, also, which grows in Arabia, is common to both India and Syria.

BOOK XIII. c. 25 (51). The officers of Alexander who navigated the Indian seas have left on record a description of a marine tree, the leaves of which are green while in the water, but which, as soon as they are taken out, are dried into salt. They have noticed also bulrushes of stone closely resembling the real, and found along the seashore. They found, besides, certain shrubs in the deep sea of the colour of an ox's horn, which send out numerous branches and are red at the tips. These were brittle, and broke like glass when touched, but in the fire they turned red-hot like iron, though on cooling they resumed their natural colour. In the same regions the tide covers the woods which grow on the islands, though the trees are of a greater height than the tallest planes and poplars. Their leaves, which never fall off, resemble those of the laurel, their flowers those of the violet both in colour and smell, and their berries those of the olive. These berries are of a pleasant fragrance, make their appearance in autumn, and fall from the trees in spring. The smaller trees are entirely covered by the sea. The tops of the tallest stand out of the water, and ships are fastened to them, but when the tide ebbs they are fastened to the roots. We learn from the same authorities that they saw out in the same sea other trees which always retained their leaves and produced a fruit like the lupine.

BOOK XIV. c. 16 (19). The fruit of the palm is employed for this purpose (making wine) by the Parthians as well as the Indians, and indeed throughout all the countries of the East.

BOOK XV. c. 7 (7). The Indians are said to extract oils from the chestnut, sesamum, and rice, and the Ichthyophagi from fish.

BOOK XVI. c. 34 (62). Ivy is now said to grow in Asia. Theophrastus has denied this, and says it grows nowhere in India, except on Mount Meros . . . and that Alexander on account of its rarity had himself crowned with it, after the example of Father Bacchus, on his victorious return from India with his army. C. 37 (65). If a person should carefully enumerate the Ethiopians, Egyptians, Arabians, Indians, Scythians, Bactrians, Sarmatians, and all the eastern nations comprehended in the vast empire of the Parthians, he would find that quite one-half of the human race throughout the whole world live in dominions which have been subjugated by the arrow . . . . The Indian reeds are preferred to all others. Some think, however, these reeds are of a different nature from those produced elsewhere, since by adding a point to them the Indians can use them as lances. The Indian reed, in point of fact, attains the thickness of a tree, if we may judge from the specimens seen everywhere in our temples. The Indians tell us that in these plants also the distinction of male and female obtains, the body of the male being more compact, and that of the female of greater amplitude. A single section, moreover, between two joints is large enough, if we take their word for it, to make a canoe. These reeds are found more particularly on the banks of the river Acesines. The Indian reed stands alone in having short leaves.

BOOK XVIII. c. 10 (22). Sesame comes from India, where they extract an oil from it. The grain is of a white colour.

C. 13. In India there is both a cultivated and a wild barley, from which they make excellent bread as well as a kind of pottage. But their favourite diet is rice, from which a ptisan is prepared like that which is elsewhere made from barley. The leaves of the rice-plant are fleshy, and similar to those of the leek but broader; the plant itself is a cubit in height, the blossom is purple, and the root is round like a pearl.

BOOK XIX. c. 1 (2). The Ethiopians and the Indians prepare a kind of thread from a fruit which resembles our apple.

BOOK XXIV. c. 14 (77). The best lycium is said to be that prepared from the thorn of the same name, called also the Chironian pyxacanthus, and already mentioned by us when speaking of the trees of India, the country which produces what is considered far the best lycium . . . . The Indian lycium differs from the other kinds in colour, the lump being black on the outside, red within, but quickly turning black when broken. It is bitter and remarkably astringent. C. 17 (102). Achaemenis, he (Democritus) says, grows in the country of Tradastili, an Indian race. It is a plant of the colour of amber and leafless. The root of it, if divided into lozenges and taken in wine in the daytime, racks the guilty during the night with such varied visions of avenging deities that they confess all their crimes. He calls it also hippophobas, because it is an object of especial dread to mares. . . . The thalassaegle, he says, is found on the banks of the river Indus, and is, on that account, also called the potomangis. If taken in drink it produces a delirium in which the wildest fantasies whirl through the brain.

From: McCrindle, J. W. Ancient India as Described in Classical Literature. Westminster: Archibald Constable, 1901, 119-128.