Ancient Roman Apple Varieties – Summary and Conclusions

This article is part of a short series on ancient Roman fruit varieties, specifically apples. Please see the Series Introduction for background information and a bibliography, the page on Authors and Sources for details of the documentary evidence I’ve referred to, and the page on Modern-Day Survivors? for my investigation of ‘Decio’ and ‘Court Pendu Plat’.

Summary of Ancient Roman Apple / “Apple” Varieties

If you’ve ploughed through all of the above to reach this point, then thank you! I do hope you’ve enjoyed at least some of the results of my detective work, and maybe learned something about ancient Roman apple varieties along the way. I know I both enjoyed the research, and definitely learned a lot, so that’s a result in my book.

If, on the other hand, you’ve clicked the link and taken the short-cut, then you probably just want to know which apple varieties were mentioned in ancient Roman source material. In which case, here they are.

Roman-Era Apple and/or Pome Fruit Varieties

In the following list, alternate names for each variety are listed in (regular brackets). The ancient Roman author(s) who mentioned the variety are listed in [square brackets].

Key to abbreviations:
acc. = according to
assoc. w. = associated with
n.f. = named for
ref. = referencing

• Amerina (Amerian, Amerinian, Amerinium) [Columella, Cloatius, Pliny]
  An apple. n.f. town of Ameria, in Umbria, Italy.
• Appiana (Appian) [Pliny]
  A quince? n.f. Appius (acc. Pliny) who allegedly grafted a quince (Contoneo) onto a Scaudian apple (acc. Rackham) or Scandian pear (acc. Bostock, and botanically more likely).
• Cestina (Cestine) [Columella] / Cestioque [Pliny]
  An apple. n.f. a member of the Cestius family.
• Coccymelum [Cloatius]
  An apple?
• Conditivum [Cloatius]
  A preserving apple, or a preserved apple?
• (Mala) Cotonea (Cotoneum) [Varro, Cloatius]
  A larger quince, if taken as a single word, rather than paired, as in the following, or possibly a generic term for quince, pre-Cydonia.
• Cotonea Mulvianum (Mulvian) [Pliny]
  A quince. Chrysolmela grafted on Struthea, the only variety eaten raw (acc. Pliny).
• Cotonea Quiriana (Quirianum) [Cloatius, Cato] / Quiriniana [Pliny, ref. Cato]
  A quince. n.f. a member of the Quirinus family.
• Cotonea Scantiana [Cato, Pliny ref. Cato]
  A quince. Or an apple (see: (mala) Scantiana). n.f. a member of the Scantius family.
• Cydonia Chrysomela (Chrysomelina) [Columella, Pliny]
  ‘Golden apple’. A quince, with an “exquisite scent”. (Possibly our modern Cydonia oblonga?)
• (Cydonia) Mustea [Columella, Pliny]
  ‘Must-apple’. A quince (acc. Columella & Pliny). Early-ripening (acc. Pliny). See also: (mala) Mustea, apple.
• (Cydonia) Neopolitania [Pliny]
  ‘Neopolitan’. A quince.
• (Cydonia) Parva Silvestria
  ‘small wild’ / ‘small forest’. A wild quince, which grows in hedges, similar in odour to the Struthian (acc. Pliny)
• Epimelis [Cloatius]
  From the Greek. A sweet apple?
• Farina (Farinacea) [Pliny]
  ‘Mealy apple’. An apple, very quick to ripen, but tends to mealy texture, “the worst apples of all” (acc. Pliny).
• Gemella [Pliny]
  ‘Twin-apple’. An apple. Always grows in pairs on a single stalk (acc. Pliny).
• Graecula [Pliny]
  ‘Little Greek’. An apple.
• Mallio [Pliny]
  An apple. n.f. a member of the Mallius family.
• Matiana (Matian, Mattianum) [Columella, Cloatius] / Matio [Pliny]
  An apple. n.f. a member of the Matius family.
• Medica [Pliny]
  ‘Medic apple’. A type of citron.
• Melimela [Columella]
  ‘Honey-apple’. An apple (not assoc. w. Mustea, acc. Columella, who listed Cydonia Mustea instead).
• Melofoliis (Melofolium) [Pliny]
  An apple. Said to have one or two leaves shooting from the middle of the fruit (acc. Pliny).
• (Mala) Mustea (Musteum) [Cato, Varro, Cloatius, Pliny] = Melimela [Varro, Pliny]
  ‘Must-apple’ (‘winesap’ per one translator), re-named ‘honey-apple’ (acc. Varro). An apple (acc. Cato, Varro & Pliny). See also: Cydonia Mustea, quince. Early-ripening (acc. Pliny).
• Ogratianum [Cloatius]
  An apple? “Ogratian”? Possibly n.f. a member of the Ocratius family?
• Orbiculata (Orbiculatum, Epirotica) [Varro, Columella, Cloatius, Pliny]
  ‘little round’ / ‘small round’ / ‘globe-apple’. An apple. Agreed by all to be spherical. a.k.a. Epirotica by the Greeks, therefore n.f. Epirus in Greece (acc. Pliny).
• Orthomastia (Orthomastium) [Pliny]
  An apple. Large, and breast-shaped (acc. Pliny).
• Pannuccea (Pannucceum) [Cloatius, Pliny]
  An apple. Said to shrivel very rapidly (acc. Pliny).
• Pelusiana (Pelusian) [Columella]
  An apple. n.f. the town of Pelusium in north-east Egypt.
• Petisia (Petisian) [Pliny]
  An apple. Most recently introduced to Italy, c. 77 CE, “a small one with a most agreeable flavour” (acc. Pliny).
• Praecox [Cloatius]
  An ‘early-ripening’ apple?
• Prosivum [Cloatius]
  The ‘helpful’¹ apple?
• Pulmonea (Pulmoneum) [Pliny]
  ‘Lung apple’. An apple, lumpy and swollen in appearance (acc. Pliny).
• Mala Persica (Persicum) [Various]
  A Peach.
• Mala Punica (Punicum) [Various]
  A Pomegranate.
• Rubrum [Cloatius]
  A red, ruddy apple?
• (Mala) Scantiana (Scantian, Scantianum) [Varro, Cloatius]
  An apple rather than a quince (acc. Varro) (see: Cotonea Scantiana).
• Scaudiana (Scaudian, Scaudianum) [Varro, Cloatius, Columella] / Scaudio [Pliny]
  An apple. n.f. someone called Scaudius. (acc. Bostock = ‘Scandian’, a winter pear, although possible confusion there with Cotonea Scantiana, the Scantian quince?)
• Sceptiana (Sceptian) [Pliny]
  An apple. n.f. a freedman (ex-slave), or the son of a freedman. Remarkable round shape (acc. Pliny).
• Silvestre [Cloatius]
  An apple ‘of the woods’, a wild apple, or crab apple?
• Spadonia (Spadonium, Castrati) [Pliny]
  ‘Eunuch apple’. An apple. Said to have been named by the Belgæ peoples of northern Gaul, and to produce no pips, hence ‘eunuch’.
• Mala Struthea (Strutea) [Cato, Varro] / Cydonia Struthia (Struthium) [Columella, Cloatius, Pliny]
  ‘Sparrow-apple’. A small quince. Late ripening and pungent smelling (acc. Pliny).
• Syrica (Syrian) [Columella, Pliny]
  An apple. Named for its assumed area of origin? Or its red colour (acc. Pliny), or both (acc. Rackham translation)
• Tibur [Cloatius]
  An apple, possibly n.f. the town of Latium on the Anio, modern-day Tivoli.
• Tubures [Pliny]
  ‘Tuber-apple’? Two kinds, white and red Syrian. Possibly a kind of jujube? (acc. Fée, via Bostock translation).
• Verianum [Cloatius]
  An apple, possibly n.f. a member of the Verianus family?

There’s obviously a lot of detail in the list above, so here’s a names-only summary of the summary:

Apples (or more likely to be an apple)

• Amerina (Amerian, Amerinian, Amerinium)
• Cestina (Cestioque, Cestine, Cestian, Cestiana)
• Coccymelum
• Conditivium
• Epimelis
• Farina (‘mealy-apple’)
• Gemella (‘twin-apple’)
• Graecula (‘little Greek’)
• Mallio (Mallius)
• Matiana (Matian, Mattianum) / Matio
• Melofoliis (Melofolium)
• Ogratianum
• Orbiculata (Epirotica)
• Orthomastia (Orthomastium)
• Pannuccea (Pannucceum)
• Pelusiana (Pelusian)
• Petisia (Petisian)
• Praecox
• Prosivum
• Pulmonea (Pulmoneum)
• Rubrum
• Scaudiana (Scaudian) 
• Sceptiana (Sceptian)
• Silvestre (‘wild’, or ‘woodland’?)
• Spadonia (Spadonium, Castrati, ‘eunuch-apple’)
• Syrica (‘Syrian’? ‘Red’?)
• Tibur
• Verianum

Either Apples or Quinces (or possibly both…)

• Mustea (‘must-apple’), later a.k.a. Melimela (‘honey-apple’)
• Scantiana (Scantian)

Quince (or more likely to be a quince)

• Appiana (Appian)
• Chrysomela (Chrysomelina)
• Cotonea (could be a variety, or a generic term for quince)
• Mulvianum (Mulvian)
• Neopolitania (‘Neopolitan’)
• Parva Silvestria (‘wild’ or ‘woodland’?)
• Quiriana / Quiriniana
• Struthea (Strutea, Struthia, ‘sparrow-apple’)

Other Pome Fruits

• Medica (‘medic-apple’) = citron
• (mala) Persica (Persicum) = peach
• (mala) Punica (Punicum) = pomegranate
• Tubures = a type of jujube?

Conclusions

After all that, what have we learned? What conclusions can we draw from the sources? Here are a few of the actual facts, as I’ve come to understand them.

On Ancient Roman “Apple” Varieties

It seems we know the names of between 28 and 30 varieties of apples, and between 8 and 10 varieties of quinces, that were grown in the ancient Roman era and were mentioned, and in some cases described, in the six surviving ancient Roman-era sources that list different varieties of fruit. Of course, that’s assuming I’ve read the sources reasonably well and I haven’t missed a few variety names in the depths of all that Latin print².

Those numbers don’t include the other fruits – pomegranates, peaches, citrons, zizipha (jujubes), the mysterious “tubures”, and “lanata” (‘wool-fruit’) – that some Roman-era writers seem to have classified as types of apple. I say seem because it’s not certain, and the uncertainty rests on the terms “mala”, “malum” and “malorum”, which I believe all refer to apples in particular; and “poma”, pomum” and “pomorum”, which could refer to apples, or possibly a broader grouping of “pome fruits”. Various terms are used by various writers at various times, so it’s hard to get a grip on how specific each was intended to be.

As a result I don’t think we can conclude that the Roman writers considered the likes of pomegranates, peaches etc. to be apples per se, because we don’t necessarily know what concepts these writers were originally intending to communicate, or even if the wording that we see in the sources today is completely true to the originals.

Every surviving ancient Roman source has been filtered through successive translators, which means the potential for changes to creep in according to each translator’s understanding, opinions and biases. Where a Roman writer used “poma”, intending “pome fruit”, a Renaissance scholar may have interpreted it as “apple”, and may even have changed “poma” to “mala” in their edition of the Latin on the basis of that assumption.

Confusion has probably arisen because some fruits had names that included the word “mala”, i.e. ‘mala struthea’ (‘sparrow-apple’) or ‘mala Punica’ (pomegranate). Also, some varieties – notably Mustea (‘must-apple’) and ‘Scantiana’ – were thought by some writers to be apples, by others to be quinces, or possibly both at the same time. and whether the writers in question were the original authors or later translators it’s impossible to say.

I rather suspect that the Romans were perfectly aware that just because a fruit carried the prefix “mala” that didn’t make it an actual apple. A point in favour is that, from the earliest source, Cato, onwards, a distinction was made between quinces – initially ‘mala Cotonea’, later Cydonia – and apples, and some writers talk about fruits such as ‘mala Persica’ (peaches) being grouped with apples even though they obviously weren’t really apples.

Another, potentially much simpler explanation for the inclusion of non-apples in an “apple” grouping could be that, according to Macrobius in around the 5th century CE, some agricultural writers of the day classed all fruits that were hard on the outside and edible on the inside as “nuts”, and any that were edible on the outside and had a hard centre as “apples”. Sadly, Macrobius didn’t say which authors in which sources, and so I’ve been unable to cross-reference or confirm his suggestion.

On Ancient Roman Survivors

Whilst it would be great to be able to confirm that yes, there definitely are ancient Roman apple varieties that have continued – via centuries of careful re-grafting by generations of orchardists – into the modern day, it is sadly all-but impossible to determine whether any modern-day varieties are genuine survivors from the ancient Roman-era.

Of the two that I looked at, it seems that ‘Decio’ is more likely to potentially be a Roman-era survivor, if a chain of events such as the one that I hypothesised in the previous section – an apple called ‘Decius’, taken on campaign against the Huns by General Ezio, then grown by his retired soldiers on their farms; known by them as ‘melo D’ezio’, later becoming ‘Decio’ – might have taken place. It’s quite a romantic notion, and so of course I’d like it to be true. But it can’t be proven; there just isn’t a clear enough chain of evidence.

‘Court Pendu (Plat)’, on the other hand, seems almost entirely unlikely to be an ancient Roman variety, although another member of the same group of apples, ‘Court Pendu Gris’, a.k.a. ‘Fenouillet Rouge’, just might be. There’s a tradition in various sixteenth and seventeenth century sources, of a link between ‘Court Pendu’ (a.k.a. ‘Courtpendu’, ‘Court-pendu’, etc.) and ‘Pomme de Capandu’ (a.k.a. ‘Capendu’, ‘Capendua’, ‘Curtipendula’, etc.) and some Renaissance-era writers did suggest that ‘Pommes de Capandu’ might originally have been one of two Roman-era varieties: ‘Cestioque’ / ‘Cestiana’, or ‘Petisia’.

However, these suggestions should really only be taken as such; as hearsay, or at best an informed opinion, rather than demonstrable fact. Again, there’s no clear chain of evidence to prove a link, only writers referencing earlier writers, back to the point at which someone merely mentions an association without saying where they had sourced their information from, and so breaking the chain.

Unfortunately, the mere suggestion of an association, in a Renaissance-era herbal or an early dictionary, is really not enough evidence to conclude that any ‘Court Pendu’ apple, or any of the other varieties thought to be Roman-era survivors, are definitely the same varieties of apples that the Caesars might have enjoyed with their lark’s tongues and roasted dormice.

So there we have it. A wander through what I’ve learned about ancient Roman apple and other fruit varieties, plus a bit of a discussion on whether or not any of them are likely to have survived to the present day.

I do hope you’ve enjoyed this article as much as I’ve enjoyed researching the subject and writing it all up.

One last thought before I go: in this article I’ve mentioned ancient Roman pear varieties in passing, but haven’t properly explored them. Pliny listed 41 varieties, and some of those earlier writers mentioned quite a few as well. I think a companion article on “piras” may have to follow, in tempore curriculo³. Watch this space.

Over To You…

As I mentioned in the introduction section, I’m not an academic, much less a Latin scholar, so whilst I’ve done my best to present the evidence in a reasonably coherent manner, I’m sure there are areas that could do with improvement.

I really would appreciate feedback, follow-up thoughts, suggestions, and definitely any informed and accurate corrections of any of the translations that I’ve referenced, or the assumptions that I’ve made in the course of this article.

If you have anything to add, please do leave a comment or send me an email. Thank you in advance!

Footnotes

1. According to Google Translate, “prosivum” = ‘helpful’? ↩︎
2. During the course of researching Cloatius Verus I came across a reference to work done by Prof. K. D. White on listing ancient Roman fruit varieties. I suspect the results may be found in Roman Farming (1970), but any available copies at the moment are a bit too pricey for me to pick up on the off-chance. ↩︎
3. Which I hope means: “in due course / in the course of time”. If not, then Google Translate has sold me a duff one, again. I mean, “Ostrich apple”? Honestly… ↩︎

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