CHAP. 28.—THE FRUIT OF THE ARBUTUS.
The flesh of the ground-strawberry[1] is very different to
that of the arbute-tree,[2] which is of a kindred kind: indeed,
this is the only instance in which we find a similar fruit growing upon a tree and on the ground. The tree is tufted and
bushy; the fruit takes a year to ripen, the blossoms of the
young fruit flowering while that of the preceding year is
arriving at maturity. Whether it is the male tree or the
female that is unproductive, authors are not generally agreed.
This is a fruit held in no esteem, in proof of which it has
gained its name of "unedo,"[3] people being generally content with eating but one. The Greeks, however, have found
for it two names—"comaron" and "memecylon," from which
it would appear[4] that there are two varieties. It has also
with us another name besides that of "unedo," being known
also as the "arbutus." Juba states that in Arabia this tree
attains the height of fifty cubits.
1. The common strawberry, the Fragaria vesca of Linnæus. See B. xxi.
c. 50. A native of the Alps and the forests of Gaul, it was unknown to
the Greeks.
2. The Arbutus unedo of Linnæus. It is one of the ericaceous trees,
and its fruit bears a considerable resemblance to the strawberry—otherwise
there is not the slightest affinity between them. The taste of the arbute
is poor indeed, compared to that of the strawberry.
3. He suggests that it is so called from "unum edo," "I eat but one;"
a rather fanciful etymology, it would seem.
4. This supposition is not warranted, from merely the fact of there being
two names.