Note 840 — Chapter IV

This depends upon the opinion formed with respect to A. glabra, Forskal (A. Asiatica, B. Dun. Anon., p. 71; A. Forskalii, D. C. Syst., i. p. 472), which was sometimes cultivated in gardens in Egypt when Forskal visited that country; it was called keschta, that is, coagulated milk. The rarity of its cultivation and the silence of ancient authors shows that it was of modern introduction into Egypt. Ebn Baithar (Sondtheimer’s German translation, in 2 vols., 1840), an Arabian physician of the thirteenth century, mentions no Anonacea, nor the name keschta. I do not see that Forskal’s description and illustration (Descr., p. 102. ic. tab. 15) differ from A. squamosa. Coquebert’s specimen, mentioned in the Systema, agrees with Forskal’s plate; but as it is in flower while the plate shows the fruit, its identity cannot be proved.