The MGS Forum

Miscellaneous => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: John J on September 22, 2014, 08:06:32 AM

Title: What is this 71? Now solved!
Post by: John J on September 22, 2014, 08:06:32 AM

OK, Hilary, here's another one for you. A fruit, certainly, but of what?

Title: Re: What is this 71?
Post by: John J on September 24, 2014, 07:26:20 AM

No takers so far? Don't be put off by the reference to fruit (actually technically it's a drupe) and it is not an exotic from the tropics, it's very much a native of the Mediterranean.

Title: Re: What is this 71?
Post by: Miriam on September 24, 2014, 11:23:56 AM

Styrax officinalis?

Title: Re: What is this 71?
Post by: John J on September 24, 2014, 02:04:36 PM

Excellent, Miriam, well done. I was beginning to think I'd have to come up with some cryptic clues and I couldn't.
Apparently in the past Styrax has been used here in Cyprus for a variety of reasons. The pulped fruit was used to kill lice and/or as a narcotic to stun eels in the mountain streams to make them easier to trap. A fragrant resin from the bark was used to scent clothing or as a substitute for frankincense.
In gardens it is useful as a very drought tolerant shrub that has scented white flowers in spring and early summer.