Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c5.106

c5.106

For vegetables and fruits there were the green-grocers or fruit-sellers (paṇṇikā) who specialised in them and bought from the growers to sell to the customers, and it was a very flourishing industry.¹⁰ And so also with the flowers, which were grown and used in sufficiently large quantity to give rise to the specialised occupations of the florist and the garland-makers (mālākārās).¹¹ This fruit and flower culture must have been highly advanced, for forcing flowers and fruits out of season was known.¹²