Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

Of Palma. chap. 116.

PAlma is a Trée of victorye, and hath that name, as Isidore saith, libro. 17. for therwith the victore hand is ornated, or els for boughes thereof be shaped as the palme of the hand, and is a tree no∣ble and famous alwayes faire & gréene, & long time beautified with branches & leaues both in Winter and Summer. And for it indureth and is gréene many a day, & long time, therefore by likenesse of the Birde Phoenix that lineth long time, the Palme is called Phoenix a∣mong the Gréekes. And is a Trée that beareth fruite, that is farre and lyke∣ing, but the frute thereof ripeth not in euery place, where that it groweth: But in Syria and in Aegypt, often the fruite thereof is called Dactylus, and hath that name for lykenesse of fin∣gers, and the names thereof bée di∣uerse.

For some is called Palmule, & be like to

Mirabolanes in shape and disposition, and all diuers in sauour. For these haue sa∣uour most swéete and pleasant, & M••••s∣solim haue horrible and bitter sauour. And some bée called The bace & Nichola∣us, and some Mutales, that the Gréekes call Canathos. Hue vsque Isid. And the Glose super Psalmum toucheth, y^e palme is a full high trée, but not to high as the Ceber. The roote thereof is rough and round, and full fast & déepe in y^e ground; the stocke therof is sad and hard, and vn∣reth without rotting. The ••ind therof a∣bout the stocke is hard and rough, & som∣what pricking, and namely towarde the ground. Therefore it is harde to climbe therevpon, and to come to the fruit ther∣of. The leaues thereof so long, shapen as a swoord. And though the Palme be hard and sharpe about the stocke, yet in the crop it is pleasing and liking for mans fight in fairenesse and liking of boughs. And Palme beareth the fruit on high in the crop of the boughes, and not in the middle of the leaues, as Plinius sayeth libro. 13. And the neerer the fruit thereof is to the Sunne be arises, the more fruc∣tuous it is, and also the more swéet and sauourie. The Palme groweth in many Countryes and lands. And beareth fruit no where else so well, as it doth in hotte countries and landes, that are alway in heate of the Sunne, and in grounde that is milde and sandie, and not full of great stones. And therefore Iudea, Iurie, is rich of Palmes, as Plinius sayth, lib. 13. cap. ••. And hée setteth double kinde of Palmes, male and female: and the male bloometh first, and after the female buddeth and bloometh. And the female beareth not fruit, but if she be so nigh the male, that the smell of the male may come with the winde to the female.

In libro Vegitabilium Aristo. saith, when the séede thereof is sowen or se•• it néedeth that the séede of the male and female be sowen or set together, the seede shall be set twaine and twaine together, and then of each springeth a plant, and thereof springeth foure planes, and clearie together as it were a net and be ioyned each to other by a wounderfull craft of kinde.

And the female groweth not wel, nor beareth fruit with the male. And if the male be feld, then is the female barren after two dayes out. If leaues and flo∣wers of the male be put aboue the rootes of the female, then by comfort of the male, as it were by comfort of the worke of generation, y^e female taketh oft vertue and strength. And such trées loueth not moistye places, nor fat and smoakie, but they loue Salt places and sandie. There∣fore it néedeth too sowe and spring. Salt there as no Salt place is, and not fast by the roote, but somewhat nigh thereto is wast the superfluitie of the humour of the grounde, as Plinius sayth. In the South Countrie is a manner Palme, that is alone in that kinde, & none other springeth nor commeth thereof: but when this Palme is so olde, that is sayieth all for age: then oft it quickneth and spring∣eth again of it selfe. Therefore men sup∣pose, that Phoenix, that is a bird of Ara∣bia, hath the name of this Palme in Ara∣bia. For he dieth and quickneth, and li∣ueth oft, as the foresayd Palme doth as Plinius sayth there. And he sayth there, that in Aethiopia be man••e manner Palmes and diuerse, and be not more wonderfull, for they be not wide know∣en, then they bée for lyking and swéete∣nesse. Among the which the best be cal∣led Cariace, and be best of iuyce and of meat. For the fruit thereof is most plen∣tie of iuyce, and so out thereof is noble Wine wrong. Hue vsque Plinius, li. 18. cap. 5.

Then the Palme is a singular trée, with a small stocke, & rough in comparison to the ground that it groweth in, and sayre and liking in boughes and toppe. The leaues thereof be long and plaine, thicke & according to diuers vses, as to make whéeles and cups, as Hierom saith. But yet the side corners be some deale sharpe. Boughs of palme be called Elate, & reare themselues vpward, & be alway greene, & neuer bend downward: And y^e middle st∣iable of this worde Elate is long as in Cant. 5. Come we elate palmarū. Elate or Elates in Greek, is called Ablea in la∣tine; & after that maketh the middle stia∣ble short.

And it séemeth that another letter mea∣neth the same wise. Cant. 5. Crines eiurs sicut Abietis. And so the middle stiable is made short, and not long. The fruite of Palme is diuerse both in shape and ver∣tue, and that by diuersitie of the trée that it groweth on, and also of the grounde, in the which the trée groweth, and by di∣uerse receiuing of the heate of heauen, that smiteth diuerslye on the toppes of Palmes, as Plinius meaneth, lib. 13. The first is, for such Palmes beare fruit seld or neuer: and this is for euill dispositi∣on or vnsufficient heate, as it sareth in Palmes of Italy, that beareth fruit seld or neuer, and if they beare fruit, the fruit is neuer perfectly ripe, as Plinius sayth. And the second is proued by the foresaid things. For in ground that is cold or too moist, too fatte, or too famous, Palmes thriue not, but sayle of perfect thrifte without remedye, as he sayth.

And the thirde is true, for in sha∣dowy places that bée not shined with the Sunne beames, Palme may not grow. And if it happeneth that it groweth some where in such a place, yet it maye not beare fruit, and come to worthinesse of Palmes. This is it that Isaac touch∣eth in Dietis, and sayth, that Dactila the fruit of Palme is hot and moyst in the second degrée, and hath diuerse workings by qualities of Countries and lands that it groweth in. For it groweth in colde Countries that is not soone hot, and some in hot countries soone, and some in mene countryes and temperate betwéene these twaine. And Dactilus the fruit of Palme that groweth in some hot country, where the Sunne is alway, is most swéet and sauourye, and somewhat vnctuous for a manner gleaminesse, and though it be full swéete and sauourie, and some deale vnctuous, yet it may somtime grieue bo∣dies that eate thereof too oft & too much, for it bréedeth boming and swelling, and sore ach of the mouth of the stomacke, and of the head, and stoppeth the wayes of the liuer and of the splene, and so it is not good to vse continuallye all swéete things, for they grieue oft both body and soule. And fruit of Palme that groweth in colde countries, that is not full hotte, is not perfectly ripe. And is therefore so∣wer and drye, and as it were rawe, and nourisheth not soone the bodys, but grie∣ueth it full sore, for such fruit is harde to defie, though it comforteth somewhat the stomacke, and bréedeth oft fretting and gnawing, as hée sayth. And though fruit that groweth in meane hot Coun∣tryes be ripe, yet in them is much super∣fluitye of watrye moysture, that it maye not bée kept ripe, and so it filleth bodyes with rawe humour. That is matter of long during seauers, as Isaac saith in Dietis.

Fruit of Palme is compowned of soft substaunce, as it were fleshie, and of an hard kernell, as it were stony: In y^e mid∣dest therof seed is conteined. But in Siria and in Aegypt is some Dactilus, fruite of Palme sound all without kernel: and such fruit of Palme is called Spado, for in the substaunce thereof is no reason se∣minall, as Plinius sayth. The more noble and olde the Palme is, y^e better the fruit thereof is. And the Palme beareth no fruit before an hundred yeres, and then it hath the first perfect and compleate ver∣tue.

And Dioscorid. affirmeth and sayth, that the fruit of the Palme Tree is good and necessarye in medicine, and maketh smooth the roughnesse of Arteries, and it clarifieth and maketh cléere the voyce, & most namely when they bée right ripe. For the fruit of palme is ful sowre while it is gréene. And Plinius sayth, some of Alexanders knightes were choked with gréene fruit of Palme. And so this fruite accordeth not to meate while it is all greene, but onely to medicine, & helpeth against the flixe also if it be ordeined in due manner.

(Palma, a Palme or date trée, of the braunches were garlonds made for con∣querours, or those that ouercame. The Date trée groweth in Affrica, Arabia, India, & Siria, Iudea, & all the countries of the East or orient, the fruit is hot & dry, almost in the second degrée, eaten rawe, they stop the belly, but sodden, they com∣fort & restrore y^e liuer and melt, the fruit in shops is called Dactylus.)

Notes

• Additiō.