Natural History of Gaius Plinius Secundus, Vol. 2

...pith is in the top, which they call the brain; and when it is removed, they survive, which others do not. They are called chamaeropes, with a broader and softer leaf, most useful for wickerwork. They are plentiful in Crete, but more so in Sicily. From palms come long-lasting coals and a slow fire. In the fruit-bearing ones, the wood inside the fruit is shorter in some, longer in others: in the former, it is softer; in the latter, harder; in some, it is bony and crescent-shaped, polished with religious care against those who practice witchcraft. One is covered with more or fewer skins; another with thicker or thinner ones. Thus, there are forty-nine kinds, if one wishes to pursue the names of all of them, even the foreign ones, and the differences in the wines made from them. The most famous of all are those they called "royal" out of honor, because they were reserved only for the kings of Persia, born in Babylon in the one garden of Bagou—for that is the name they give to the eunuchs who also reigned among them. That garden was never except in the palace of the ruler. But in the southern world, the syagri hold the chief nobility, and the margarides the next. These are short, white, and round, more similar to berries than to the date. For this reason, they also received their name from pearls (margaritae). It is reported that there is one such tree in Chora, and one of the syagri. We have heard a wonder about it: that with the phoenix bird, which is thought to have received its name from the testimony of this palm, it dies again and is reborn from itself; and it was fertile when I was reporting this. The fruit itself is large, hard, rough, and differs from the other kinds by a wild flavor, which we generally recognize in boars; and this is most evidently the cause of the name. The fourth authority is the sandalida, named from its likeness. Now, in the borders of Ethiopia, they report there are five of them, and no more trees, wonderful not so much for their rarity as for their sweetness. Among these, the caryotae are the most...