666 Ulysses Aldrovandi

...crops are said to have grown on trees. Again, in the year of the world 3841, and 122 BC, Lycosthenes records that grain grew on trees in the territory of Veii, just as the reader can observe in Illustration I.

Furthermore, some recount that a prodigious tree grew in the year of human salvation 98. Indeed, we learn from Philostratus in his *Life of Apollonius of Tyana* that Theopetion, the elder leader of the Gymnosophists, commanded a certain elm tree to greet Apollonius of Tyana. This occurred exactly as intended: for the tree is said to have bowed its top and rustled its leaves, proving obedient to the command.

Moreover, according to Pliny, in a grove sacred to Juno near Nuceria during the Cimbrian War, an old elm tree that had been cast down to the ground and had its top cut off spontaneously stood upright and put forth leaves again. From this, the soothsayers predicted that the Roman people would be freed from their current hardships. Elsewhere, willow and maple trees that had long been lying on the ground also sent out new leaves.

Additionally, in the year of our Lord 1546, in Basel, Lycosthenes testifies that in the field of a widow living in the suburb of Saint Alban, a stalk of winter wheat was found adorned with seven ears, among which one more prominent ear surpassed the others in size. In that same year, the Emperor Charles V, accompanied by Spanish troops, invaded Germany to suppress certain princes who were being uncooperative.

This prodigious wheat brings to mind a stalk with fifteen ears, skillfully armed with their own awns, which was found without any sowing in 1541 in Germany near the village of Malsch, not far from the imperial city of Speyer. According to Lycosthenes, this event was followed by a shift from the high cost of grain to a period of abundance and low prices. This monstrous plant is shown in Illustration II.

We should be even more struck with wonder by the monstrous vines which, in the year of human salvation 1541, produced grapes covered in long "beards." Lycosthenes relates that these bearded grapes were discovered at harvest time in Germany near Albersweiler, not far from the town of Landau. They were first sent as a gift to Louis, Duke and Elector of Bavaria; later, they were viewed as a miracle by King Ferdinand and the princes of the Empire. Indeed, they were depicted in vivid colors by the notable painter Heinrich Vogtherr, just as they are drawn in Illustration III.

To the aforementioned, we wish to add a prodigious cabbage born in a certain village not far from Nuremberg in the year of our Lord 1553, according to the history of Lycosthenes. In that village, known in the local tongue as "Zutdem Thon," a head of cabbage was found in the field of a bailiff named Hofeler. From its single stalk, sixteen other heads grew, each with its own distinct leaves. This cabbage was brought before the local lords as a prodigy and shown to many others.

I recall that some years ago in Bologna, I saw a headed cabbage of immense size in a gardener’s plot, which many people gathered to see. Driven by curiosity, the gardener dug around the roots and discovered an old shoe buried in the earth, which the cabbage root had reached. Thus, the gardener learned that the leather of a cobbler's scraps was quite pleasing to this plant.

From Pliny, we might also point out that upon Xerxes' first arrival in Laodicea, a plane tree was transformed into an olive tree. Elsewhere, a plane tree that had already dried up regained the greenness of its foliage. Likewise, in the final year of Nero's reign, on the estates of V. Marcellus—a Roman knight managing Nero's private affairs—many trees, and especially olives, changed their location. Furthermore, according to Lycosthenes, in the year 1550, near the end of June in Germany, close to the village of Bertholdsdorf not far from the town of Coburg, pears nearing maturity were found on a pear tree of considerable size and height, even as other flowers were blooming at the top of the tree, signaling a second crop for that same year.

Finally, Surius, as reported by Cornelius Gemma, relates that in the year of our Lord 1559, in the month of March, in a region of England, which