Natural History of Gaius Plinius Secundus, Vol. 2

...its appearance is similar to the cypress. Some call it cedrelate. The resin from this is most esteemed. The timber itself is, indeed, eternal; therefore, even the statues of the gods have been fashioned from it. The Apollo Sosianus at Rome is of cedar, brought from Seleucia. There is a tree in Arcadia similar to cedar; in Phrygia it is called a shrub.

Of the turpentine tree. Chapter VI.

Syria has the turpentine tree (terebinthus). Of these, the male is without fruit. The females are of two kinds: the fruit of one is red and the size of a lentil; in the other, it is pale. It matures with the grape, is no larger than a bean, is more pleasant in odor, and resinous to the touch around Ida in the Troad. But in Macedonia, this tree is short and shrubby, while in Damascus of Syria it is large. Its timber is very tough and faithful to antiquity, of an exquisite and deep black luster; the flower is clustered like that of the olive, but reddish, and the leaves are thick. It also bears follicles which emit certain animals, like gnats, and a resinous stickiness which bursts forth from the bark. The Syrian rhus (sumac) also bears fruit—the male is sterile—with a leaf slightly longer than an elm's and hairy, the leaf-stalks always being opposite each other, and the branch slender and short. White leathers are prepared with these. The seed is similar to a lentil, and when one turns red, it is called rhus, which is necessary for medicines.

Of the Egyptian and Cyprian fig. Chapter VII.

In Egypt, there are also many kinds which are found nowhere else. Above all, the fig, on account of which it is named the "Egyptian" fig. The tree is similar to the mulberry in leaf, size, and appearance. It bears fruit not on the branches, but on the trunk itself. And this fruit is a very sweet fig, without interior seeds, and of a very fertile yield, provided it is scratched with iron claws; otherwise...