[3088] “Ipsa corpuscula.” The exact meaning of this expression is somewhat doubtful: Hardouin takes it to be the lower part of the cytinus.
[3089] In B. xiii. c. 34.
[3090] The corolla of the flower. Dioscorides, B. i. c. 152, makes the “balaustium” to be the blossom of the wild pomegranate, and the “cytinus” to be that of the cultivated fruit. Theophrastus, however, and Galen, give the same account of the cytinus as Pliny. Holland has this quaint marginal Note on the passage: “Here is Pliny out of the way;” not improbably in reference to the statement of Dioscorides.
[3091] Or Quinarius. See Introduction to Vol. III.
[3092] These statements, Fée says, are quite unfounded.
[3093] See B. xii. c. 15, and B. xxiv. c. 77.
[3094] Fée thinks that there is no doubt that this was really the pomegranate, left to grow wild. Dalechamps and Fée suggest that, misled by the resemblance of the Greek names, Pliny has here attributed to the wild pomegranate the properties attributed to the red poppy, or corn poppy. Hardouin, however, is not of that opinion, and thinks that the mention of the roots of the plant proves that Pliny has not committed any error here; as in B. xx. c. 77, he has attributed the narcotic effects of the poppy to the head only.
[3095] This depends considerably, as Fée says, upon the kind of pear.
[3096] See B. xv. c. 16.
[3097] There is no truth whatever in this statement.