[73] The curious word ὀλυνθάζειν, here translated to use the wild fig, is from ὄλυνθος, a kind of wild fig which seldom ripens. The special meaning here given to the word is explained in another work of Theophrastus, De causis plantarum, ii. 9, xv. After describing caprification in figs, he says τὸ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν φοινίκων συμβαῖνον οὐ ταὐτὸν μέν, ἔχει δέ τινα ὁμοιότητα τούτω δι’ ὁ καλοῦσιν ὀλυνθάζειν αὐτούς. ‘The same thing is not done with dates, but something analogous to it, whence this is called ὀλυνθάζειν’.
[74] Historia plantarum, ii. 8, iv.
[75] Herodotus i. 193.
[76] Historia plantarum, ii. 8, i.
[77] Ibid. ii. 8, ii.
[78] Historia plantarum, ii. 8, iv.
[79] Ibid. i. 1, ix.
[80] Ibid. iii. 18, x.
[81] De causis plantarum, ii. 23.
[82] Historia plantarum, i. 13, iii.