Chap. 22 The Tree Called Cyna. Trees From Which Fabrics for Clothing Are Made in the East
Juba states, that about a certain shrub there grows a woolly down, from which a fabric is manufactured, preferable even to those of India. He adds, too, that certain trees of Arabia, from which vestments are made, are called cynæ, and that they have a leaf similar to that of the palm. Thus do their very trees afford clothing for the people of India. In the islands of Tylos, there is also another tree, with a blossom like the white violet490 in appearance, though four times as large, but it is destitute of smell, a very remarkable fact in these climates.