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Morus.
The mulberry
EMBLEMA CCX.
Serior at Morus nunquam nisi frigore lapso
Germinat:[1] & sapiens nomina falsa[2] gerit.
On the other hand, the mulberry is late, and never until the frost is past does it shoot; though wise, it bears a false name.
1. See Pliny, Natural History, 16.25.102: “the mulberry is the last of domesticated trees to shoot, and only does so when the frosts are over; for that reason it is called the wisest of trees”.
2. nomina falsa, ‘a false name’, reference to a supposed ‘etymology by opposites’: Latin morus ‘mulberry’ was equated with Greek μῶρος ‘fool’, but the tree was considered wise: see note 1.
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