[2504] Daughter of Sithon, king of Thrace, who hanged herself on account of the supposed inconstancy of her lover, Demophöon. See Ovid, Heroid. 2.
[2505] This must not be taken to the letter; indeed, Fée thinks that the proper meaning is:—“Young trees do not produce fruit till they have arrived at a certain state of maturity.” Trees mostly continue on the increase till they die.
[2506] See B. xvii. c. [2]. The assertion here made has not been confirmed by experience.
[2507] “Frugiperda:” in the Greek, ὠλεσίκαρπον. See Homer. Od. x. l. 510. It has been suggested, Pliny says, that the willow seed had this epithet from its effect in causing abortion; but he does not seem to share the opinion.
[2508] This cannot be a willow, Fée remarks; indeed, Theophrastus, B. iii. c. 5, speaks of a black poplar as growing there.
[2509] See B. xv. c. [13]. It is not impossible that Pliny may have mistaken here the Persea, or Balanites Ægyptiaca, for the Persica, or peach. See p. [296].
[2510] Fée remarks, that this expression is remarkable as giving a just notion of the relative functions of the male and female in plants. He says that one might almost be tempted to believe that they suspected something of the nature and functions of the pistils and stamens.
[2511] This statement, which is drawn from Theophrastus, is rather fanciful than rigorously true.
[2513] Or “forerunner.” The Spaniards call a similar fig “brevas,” the “ready ripener.”