History of Rare Plants

by the most famous cartographer Abraham Ortelius, an old friend, in the year 1591, which he had received shortly before from the most celebrated Benedictus Arias Montanus, having been brought from the province of Peru.

Peruvian Chestnut.

Furthermore, this Chestnut is of an almost spherical shape, except that it has somewhat flatter sides, especially where it was attached to the stalk; it is covered with a fairly thick, yet fragile and as it were spongy rind, of a color somewhat yellowish from brown: beneath this are countless thin but firm spines, tenaciously adhering to the shell which encloses the kernel: the shell itself is brown, not dense, but tough and resistant to breaking, smooth and shining on the inner part, within which is contained a kernel of the size and color of an almond (freed from its shell), but in shape similar to a hare’s kidney, white inside, and of a sweet taste almost like an almond or the common chestnut.

For the sake of students, we have taken care to have its likeness (together with the fruit of the Horse Chestnut, provided with its prickly husk) depicted on the same plate by a skilled and diligent artist.

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PLANE, MAPLE, SERVICE TREE, &c. CHAP. VI.

Plane.

A woodcut illustration of a branch of a plane tree (Platanus). It features large, deeply lobed leaves with serrated edges and three spherical, spiky seed balls hanging from long peduncles. Handwritten botanical references are visible in the top left area around the image.

Lib. ic. 2. n. 91
P. orientalis
l. H. (148)
Pliny (12)
Sp. pl. 2. 57

Plane.

ALTHOUGH the Plane tree does not grow spontaneously in those regions which I visited, yet because it grew for me at Vienna in Austria to several fathoms in height, having been brought from Constantinople along with the Horse Chestnut, I wished to make mention of it here in passing. Its history may be seen in other authors.

Maple

Also of the MAPLE, which in the similarity of its leaves comes nearest to the Plane tree. In the Viennese forest and other neighboring woods, those two kinds are observed, already described by many.

broad-leaved.

The broad-leaved kind with a longer cluster of flowers, and a whiter and looser wood, which has been gifted with the name of Plane by the unlearned: the French call it Plane, the Hungarians Iavor fa.

smaller.

The other with a smaller leaf, firmer wood, and thicker bark, called Sycamore by the unlearned in France; it is called Erable by the French, and Ihar fa by the Hungarians. Both kinds the Germans call Ahorn and Mastholtz, the Italians acero, the Spaniards el azre.

Wild Service Tree, the Crataegus of Theophrastus.

The SERVICE TREE, also called torminalis by Pliny and commonly by herbalists, which Anguillara and all the most learned judge to be the Crataegus described by Theophrastus in the 3rd book of his History of Plants, chapter 15, is familiar to the Viennese forest and many other woods of Austria and Pannonia. Its fruit is brought for sale to the market in Vienna in October, much sought after by people of slender means and by children: the French call it Alizier, the Germans Adlaßber, the Hungarians Barkocza.

Surnamed Aria.
Cratægus aria, l. Scan. hist. 2. l.

Frequent also in the same places, but especially among rocks and cliffs, is that kind of Service tree which some judge to be the Aria of Theophrastus, with a leaf almost like the hazel or alder, but entirely hoary on the underside, bearing a fruit very like the former but differing in color, for it is red, not at all edible, and sought by no living creature except birds. I know no common name for it except the Austrian, which is Melperbaum.

Fowler’s Service Tree.

The Service tree also surnamed Aucuparia from the use of its berries, because in winter fowlers are accustomed to use them to snare thrushes and blackbirds, with leaves like the true Service tree or the Ash. Why Dalechamps should judge it to be the torminalis I see no reason, since no one eats its red berries, but they are sought only by thrushes and other forest-dwelling birds, especially the woodcock: furthermore, where are the Plane-like leaves which Pliny attributes to the Sorbus torminalis? By the Germans it is called Vogelbeer, Maßbeer, and Maalbeerbaum: by the Hungarians Vörös berkinye.

True Service Tree.

BUT the true Service tree is common enough in most regions I have visited, with leaves very like the former, yet softer and somewhat pubescent, bearing a fruit sought by almost everyone, especially by women and children, and it is sometimes added to the dessert when ripe. The Hungarians call it Berkinye, the Austrians