6o Greek Biology 



male aids the female for they call the fruit-bearing [palm] 

 female but whilst in the one there is a union of the two 

 sexes, in the other things are different '- 1 



Theophrastus was not very successful in distinguishing the 

 nature of the primary elements of plants, though he was able 

 to separate root, stem, leaf, stipule, and flower on morpho- 

 logical as well as to a limited extent on physiological grounds. 

 For the root he adopts the familiar definition, the only one 

 possible before the rise of chemistry, that it ' is that by which 

 the plant draws up nourishment ', 2 a description that applies 

 to the account given by the pre-Aristotelian author of the 

 work 7T6/H yor?/s, On generation. But Theophrastus shows 

 by many examples that he is capable of following out 

 morphological homologies. Thus he knows that the ivy regularly 

 puts forth roots from the shoots between the leaves, by means 

 of which it gets hold of trees and walls, 3 tjiat the mistletoe 

 will not sprout except on the bark of living trees into which 

 it strikes its roots, and that the very peculiar formation of the 

 mangrove tree is to be explained by the fact that ' this plant 

 sends out roots from the shoots till it has hold on the ground 

 and roots again : and so there comes to be a continuous circle 

 of roots round the tree, not connected with the main stem, 

 but at a distance from it '. 4 He does not succeed, however, in 

 distinguishing the real nature of such structures as bulbs, 

 rhizomes, and tubers, but regards them all as roots. Nor is 

 he more successful in his discussion of the nature of stems. 

 As to leaves, he is more definite and satisfactory, though wholly 

 in the dark as to their function ; he is quite clear that the 

 pinnate leaf of the rowan tree, for instance, is a leaf and not 

 a branch. 



Notwithstanding his lack of insight as to the nature of sex 

 in flowers, he attains to an approximately correct idea of the 



1 Historia plantarutn, ii. 8, iv. - Ibid. i. i, ix. 



2 Ibid. iii. 1 8, x. 4 De causis plantarum, ii. 23. 



