Damascena pruna

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Damascena pruna a damasco unde habuerunt originem ceteris meliora Plinio teste.


Apparatus:

habuerunt ABC ejp | h͡ebea͡t f
teste | testãte p


Translation:

Damascena pruna {“Damascene plums”} are named after Damascus from where they originate and they are superior to other varieties according to Pliny’s attestation.


Commentary:

Damascena pruna:
or Prunum damascenum is mentioned by Pliny, who in, 13, 10, 51, ed. Rackham (1938-63: IV.128) names the tree as foreign, Syria being its country of origin and he says: pruna in Damasco Monte et myxas, utramque iam familiarem Italiae – “the pruna {“plums”} from Mount Damascus and the sebesten plum are fruit-trees now adapted to Italy's climate”.
In the same volume book 14, 12, 43, ed. Rackham (1938-63: IV.316) Pliny says that the Damascena plums have been grown in Italy for a long time and now they even differ from those in Syria, i.e. they have a larger stone and less flesh: Damascena a Syriae Damasco cognominata, iam pridem in Italia nascentia, grandiore quamquam ligno et exiliore carne … .


Botanical identification:

It is generally assumed that some cultivar of the damson variety is meant, cf. [[1]], but the link between modern damsons and those in Antiquity and the Middle Ages is tenuous. Its taxonomic status is disputed, cf. Prunus damascena R., syn. Prunus domestica var. damascena; syn. Prunus domestica subsp. insititia (L.) C. Schneid [[2]], [[3]].


WilfGunther (talk) 11:02, 13 November 2015 (GMT)


See also Pruna damascena, Coquimella, Nixa


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