CHAP. 10. (11.)—THE QUINCE. FOUR KINDS OF CYDONIA, AND
FOUR VARIETIES OF THE STRUTHEA.
Next in size after these are the fruit called by us "cotonea,"[1] by the Greeks "Cydonia,"[2] and first introduced
from the island of Crete. These fruit bend the branches with
their weight, and so tend to impede the growth of the parent
tree. The varieties are numerous. The chrysomelum[3] is
marked with indentations down it, and has a colour inclining
to gold; the one that is known as the "Italian" quince, is of a
paler complexion, and has a most exquisite smell: the quinces
of Neapolis, too, are held in high esteem. The smaller varieties of the quince which are known as the "struthea,"[4] have
a more pungent smell, but ripen later than the others; that
called the "musteum,"[5] ripens the soonest of all. The cotoneum engrafted[6] on the strutheum, has produced a peculiar
variety, known as the "Mulvianum," the only one of them
all that is eaten raw.[7] At the present day all these varieties
are kept shut up in the antechambers of great men,[8] where they
receive the visits of their courtiers; they are hung, too, upon
the statues[9] that pass the night with us in our chambers.
There is a small wild[10] quince also, the smell of which, next
to that of the strutheum, is the most powerful; it grows in
the hedges.
1. The quince, the Pirus Cydonia of Linnæus.
2. From Cydonia, a city of Crete. The Latin name is only a corruption
of the Greek one: in England they were formerly called "melicotones."
3. Or "golden apple." The quince was sacred to Venus, and was an
emblem of love.
4. Apparently meaning the "sparrow quince." Dioscorides, Galen, and
Athenæus, however, say that it was a large variety. Qy. if in such case,
it might not mean the ostrich quince?
5. "Early ripener."
6. Quinces are not grafted on quinces at the present day, but the pear is.
7. Fée suggests that this is a kind of pear.
8. Probably on account of the fragrance of their scent.
9. We learn from other sources that the bed-chambers were frequently
ornamented with statues of the divinities.
10. The Mala cotonea silvestris of Bauhin; the Cydonia vulgaris of modern botanists.