caprificus

Latin > English (Lewis & Short)

căprĭ-fīcus: i, f. caper-ficus, goatfig,
I the wild fig-tree: illi ubi etiam caprificus magna est, Ter. Ad. 4, 2, 38; Hor. Epod. 5, 17; Prop. 4 (5), 5, 76; Plin. 16, 25, 40, § 95: arbor, id. 34, 13, 35, § 133; Mart. 10, 2, 9; and in a play upon the word with caper and ficus, Mart. 4, 52, 2. The gall-insect, Cynips psenes, Linn., springing from this tree, ripens by its sting the fruit of the cultivated fig-tree, ficus (cf. Plin. 17, 27, 44, § 256, caprifico and caprificatio); hence poet., in allusion to the fact that the wild fig-tree strikes root in the cracks of stones, etc., and breaks them, Pers. 1, 25; cf. Juv. 10, 145.—
II The fruit of the wild fig-tree, the wild fig, Col. 11, 2, 56; Plin. 11, 15, 15, § 40: caprificus vocatur e silvestri genere ficus numquam maturescens, id. 15, 19, 21, § 79.