Classical writers use the word myrobalan only in connection with oil-producing plants, such as sugar date and bentree . The use of myrobalan in connection with the cherry plum is of more recent date. It was first applied by the botanist Carolus Clusius . As is expressed in the epithet of one of the synonyms , the fruits of the cherry plum bear resemblance in both size and color, as far as the red-colored specimens are concerned, to those of the cherries and the mirabelle . Today, this name is especially used for cherry plums used as stocks for grafting plums, apricots , and peach . That the Romans did cultivate the cherry plum could be evidenced, however, from archaeobotanical records. So far, three Roman sites have revealed the diagnostic endocarps: Bad Homburg, Ellingen, and Köngen, all located in southern Germany . Other records concern much earlier periods and include charred endocarp fragments from the Middle Palaeolithic Douara Cave in Syria, identified as wild cherry plum by means of chemical analysis and Neolithic remains from Russia, Moldavia, and Slovakia. More recent records are unearthed from medieval contexts such as those from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy, and Germany . Because the fruits are not adapted to the arid conditions of Egypt, their presence in Berenike certainly points to import from the Mediterranean area or beyond.The taxonomy as well as the domestication of plums are still in discussion owing to their vegetative reproduction and hybridization. The vegetative reproduction of plums has a long tradition in its domestication history. Domestic plum varieties can be propagated from root suckers and by grafting, 25 liter pot plastic in which grafts of the desired species are unifi ed with the stock of a host species called scion. This kind of reproduction, in addition to cross-pollination and hybridization, has resulted in a highly varied polyploid complex of plum taxa.

The variability of the plum species is also expressed in their endocarps and, therefore, hampers the identification of these mostly well-preserved fragments from archaeological contexts. Woldring suggests that the black fruited damson plum originates directly from sloe . The damson plum itself is considered to be the main progenitor of the domestic plum . Another possible domestication history is proposed by KörberGrohne , who is of the opinion that the hexaploid domestic plum is a hybrid of the tetraploid sloe and the diploid cherry plum . A third possibility is discussed by Zohary and Hopf , who state that the domesticated plum evolved directly from the variable cherry plum and consider both taxa therefore as a single species .Five endocarps have been unearthed in Berenike that belong to Prunus domestica, three of them bearing resemblance to the domestic plum ; the other two show more similarity to modern endocarps of the damson plum . The endocarps partly originate from trenches 33 and 48, which also revealed the cherry plum, suggesting that these two fruits belonged to the same assemblage of food supply. In point of fact, the endocarps of P. domestica in Berenike are the first evidence of its use as food in Egypt. The two other Egyptian records of plum concern its wood, originating from Thebes , and its leaves made into a garland, which was found in a Greco-Roman grave in Antinoë . This scanty Egyptian record contrasts with the sizeable archaeobotanical record of P. domestica from Europe in particular. Certain groups of plums of the subspecies domestica and insititia are easily dried and become prunes, which can be easily stored and transported. The import of plums as prunes from the Mediterranean area, where plums were cultivated in orchards, would have been easy and would have been a nourishing food supply in Berenike. That only a small number of fruit remains has been found might indicate that the supply was limited. But it is also possible that most of the delivered prunes had been already destoned, which is quite easily done with fruits of P. domestica.

If so, endocarps of plums would only occasionally have ended up in the dump areas of Berenike.The peach is a latecomer in the tradition of horticulture. Originating from the mountainous areas of Tibet and western China, it reached Greece through Persia about 300 BC. Dilphilus of Siphnos, who lived from 340–289 BC, is the first Greek author who undeniably mentions this tree . The only archaeobotanical record from Greece originates from Samos and is dated to the seventh century AD . The Romans did not cultivate the peach until the first century AD . Most varieties of peach require 500 to 1,000 hours of cold temperatures below 7°C to bloom naturally in the spring. So its distribution is restricted to temperate regions of the world with cold, but not severe, winters . The climatic conditions in most parts of Egypt are, therefore, not favorable for the cultivation of peaches. In present-day Egypt, peach cultivation is mainly confined to the Bahriya Oasis and the northern Sinai . The oldest Egyptian record of the peach originates from Ptolemaic el-Hibeh in the Nile Valley, some 60 km south of the Fayum . Other finds are dated to the Roman and early Byzantine periods and are recorded from the Fayum , the Dakhla Oasis , the Nile Valley , and the Red Sea coastal area . The concentration of finds in the Fayum supports the claim that peach was one of the new crops introduced to the Fayum . The find of just one single part of the inner fruit wall of a peach in Berenike may reflect that this luxury fruit was probably only sporadically available, although it may not be excluded that destoned peaches also were brought to Berenike. Peaches may have originated from Egyptian plantations or from a more remote distant area to the north of Egypt. The recovery from a late context argues for the import of peaches produced in Egypt. According to Pliny , the journey from Koptos to Berenike took 12 days, and the same period was necessary to travel from Alexandria to Koptos . Thus, imported either from Egyptian orchards or from the Mediterranean area, the long distance transport and storage of the perishable peaches would only have been feasible if the peaches were conserved as syrup or as pickles.

Although seeds of peaches contain a considerable amount of oil, it is unlikely that they were transported to Berenike especially for this nutriment only. If this was the case, one would expect to find only some spoiled seeds and not remnants of the relatively large fruit stones.The wild forms of the pomegranate are abundantly present in two areas: to the east in the south Caspian belt and northeastern Turkey and more to the west in the Balkan area, including Albania and Montenegro . Wood suggests that the tree might be native to Arabia as the only other member of the family, namely, P. protopunica Balf. f., is endemic in Socotra. Archaeobotanical evidence, however, points to the eastern Mediterranean area as the core area of its domestication. Textual records and wall paintings in Egyptian tombs that make reference of horticultural practices of the pomegranate are dated to the New Kingdom , whereas the first archaeobotanical records are dated to the preceding Second Intermediate Period . There is some doubt about the dating of small fruits of the pomegranate recorded from the Twelfth Dynasty at Dra Abu el-Naga, and it is suggested that they probably belong to the Eighteenth Dynasty . In addition to the archaeobotanical finds, 25 litre plant pot which include whole fruits, rinds, seeds, leaves, and flower , ceramic imitations and dinnerware designs based on the whole fruit, also express the appreciation of the highly prized tree. The main production area of pomegranates in present-day Egypt is the lagoon of Marash Matruh in the western Mediterranean coastal strip, about 170 km west of El-Alamein . Fruits of wild specimens are sour and relatively small; those of domesticated ones are large and more appetizing. The fleshy fruit consists of 8–12 carpels, each containing many seeds. The fruit is often called a “berry,” but this is incorrect because the juicy, edible part is in fact the seed coat. Pliny distinguishes five different tastes: sweet, sour, mixed, acid, and vinous. The fruits can be eaten fresh, and the somewhat bitter seeds are not swallowed, or their juice can be drunk as grenadine or used for fermentation into shedeh or rhoites wine .

The root and bark are used for expelling tapeworm, and the rind is used as an astringent for the treatment of, for example, diarrhea and bleeding . Several parts of the plant are also used for tanning and dyeing. According to Pliny , the rinds of unripe fruits are especially used for tanning leather for clothing. This kind of use is recorded from North Africa, including Tunis and Morocco, and from the Near East . The rind provides a yellow dye, which can be used as ink and for dyeing textiles. Whole, desiccated fruits or particles of the leathery rind are still available in Near Eastern shops with a good assortment of herbal products. In addition, the fruit was also considered as a symbol of fertility, based on the large number of seeds in a single fruit. This number has been estimated by Kucˇan at 250 to 400 seeds per fruit. The specimens from Berenike would have been imported from the Nile Valley. Fully ripe fruits keep well and can be transported over considerable distances if bruising is prevented.Several trenches from Berenike yielded fruits that could be identified to either Italian senna , with a characteristic flap like crested vein on both sides of the fruit, or to Alexandrian senna and S. holosericea, whose fruits lack this pronounced vein. Although their leaves easily distinguish S. alexandrina and S. holosericea, an identification on the basis of their fruits is not possible. For that reason, the sub-fossil fruits from Berenike lacking the crested veins have been attributed to both these species. The fruits of coffee senna do not come into consideration, as they are small and narrow. The above-mentioned species were formerly classified within the genus Cassia and may not be confused with the cassia frequently mentioned by classical writers with respect to the bark of certain cinnamon species, which also bear the name “cassia” in some of their vernacular names, such as cassia , Indian cassia , and Padang cassia . Both S. alexandrina and S. holosericea are desert plants and are recorded from the Eastern Desert, including the Red Sea coastal strip. Only Italian senna grows in the near vicinity of Berenike, whereas S. holosericea has been found in the late Roman settlement Qariya Mustafa ’Amr Gama in Wadi Umm Athl, some 40 km south of Berenike. The fruits of these species must have been deliberately collected as it seems unlikely that they once grow at Berenike’s site proper or that their fruits were blown into the site from populations growing in the nearby wadis. Only Alexandrian senna has some economic value. It provides tannin, and both dried leaves and fruits are used as a purgative and are still sold by herbalists in the Near East. Other archaeobotanical evidence from Egypt of Cassia and Senna concern threaded seeds of Cassia cf. absus L. found in Gebelein and charcoal of S. alexandrina found at Nabta Playa, dated to the late Palaeolithic. The glossy, rhomboid seeds of C. absus are still available at bazaars in the Near East, including Egypt.Wild species of sesame occur in India and Africa. Referring to the large number of wild species in Africa, it has been frequently suggested that the cultivation of sesame started in the African continent . Inter specific hybridization and chemical studies now indicate that sesame was first brought into cultivation in India, in which Sesamum orientale var. malabaricum Nar. is proposed as the crop progenitor . Bedigian and Harlan and Bedigian summerized the archaebotanical, philological and historical evidence. From India, the crop would have been introduced both eastward to China and westward to the Near East and the Mediterranean region. Archaeobotanical remains are recorded from India, Pakistan, China, the Near East, Turkey, Yemen, and Egypt. So far, the oldest find of sesame is recorded from Harappa in Pakistan, which is dated to 3500–3050 BC. Sesame is cultivated for its edible, lightly aromatic seeds and its odorless oil.