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The quince (; ''Cydonia oblonga'') is the sole member of the genus ''Cydonia'' in the family Rosaceae (which also contains apples and pears, among other fruits). It is a small deciduous tree that bears a pome fruit, similar in appearance to a pear, and bright golden-yellow when mature. Throughout history the cooked fruit has been used as food, but the tree is also grown for its attractive pale pink blossom and other ornamental qualities. The tree grows high and wide. The fruit is long and across. It is native to rocky slopes and woodland margins in South-west Asia, Turkey and Iran although it can be grown successfully at latitudes as far north as Scotland. It should not be confused with its relatives, the Chinese Quince, ''Pseudocydonia sinensis'', or the Flowering Quinces of genus ''Chaenomeles''. The immature fruit is green with dense grey-white pubescence, most of which rubs off before maturity in late autumn when the fruit changes colour to yellow with hard, strongly perfumed flesh. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, long, with an entire margin and densely pubescent with fine white hairs. The flowers, produced in spring after the leaves, are white or pink, across, with five petals. Quince is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including brown-tail, ''Bucculatrix bechsteinella'', ''Bucculatrix pomifoliella'', ''Coleophora cerasivorella'', ''Coleophora malivorella'', green pug and winter moth. Four other species previously included in the genus ''Cydonia'' are now treated in separate genera. These are ''Pseudocydonia sinensis'' and the three flowering quinces of eastern Asia in the genus ''Chaenomeles''. Another unrelated fruit, the bael, is sometimes called the "Bengal quince". == Origins == The fruit was known to the Akkadians, who called it ''supurgillu''; Arabic سفرجل ''al safarjal'' "quinces" (collective plural).〔(Olivier Lauffenburger, 2006. The Hittite Grammar Homepage, Akkadian dictionary, entry for supurgillu )〕 The modern name originated in the 14th century as a plural of ''quoyn'', via Old French ''cooin'' from Latin ''cotoneum malum'' / ''cydonium malum'', ultimately from Greek κυδώνιον μῆλον, ''kydonion melon'' "Kydonian apple". The quince tree is native to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Pakistan, Kashmir, Afghanistan and was introduced to Poland, Syria, Lebanon, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Turkey, Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Moldova, and Bulgaria. Cultivation of quince may have preceded apple culture, and many references translated to "apple", such as the fruit in ''Song of Songs'', may have been a quince. Among the ancient Greeks, the quince was a ritual offering at weddings, for it had come from the Levant with Aphrodite and remained sacred to her. Plutarch reported that a Greek bride would nibble a quince to perfume her kiss before entering the bridal chamber, "in order that the first greeting may not be disagreeable nor unpleasant" (''Roman Questions'' 3.65). It was with a quince that Paris awarded Aphrodite. It was for a golden quince that Atalanta paused in her race. The Romans also used quinces; the Roman cookbook of Apicius gives recipes for stewing quince with honey, and even combining them, unexpectedly, with leeks. Pliny the Elder mentioned the one variety, Mulvian quince, that could be eaten raw. Columella mentioned three, one of which, the "golden apple" that may have been the paradisal fruit in the Garden of the Hesperides, has donated its name in Italian to the tomato, ''pomodoro''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Quince」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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