Sebestén y zumaque, dos frutos importados de Oriente durante la Edad Media

Abstract

This paper joins a number of historical pieces of information concerning two species of Asiatic origin, sebesten and sumac, whose fruits are mentioned among the goods brought to Barcelona from Syria during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In the case of the sebesten, we are in front of a tree native to India (Cordia myxa L.), whose edible fruits were employed to make a birdlime employed to catch birds. As for the sumach (Rhus coriaria L.), the fruits of this shrub were used traditionally to tan the leather. The information here offered has been taken from Grecolatin, Andalusian and later authors.