370 Natural- Historical Collections. 



•omewhat similar in design to Aristotle's History of Animals. Thus, according 

 to this model, he begins by treating of the parts of plants, which, first of all, he 

 divides into roots, stems, branches, and shoots. He remarks that there is not 

 one of these parts which is common to all plants — a circumstance jwhich is the 

 more true, if truffles and mushrooms be included, as it is proper they should be. 

 In every part, he distinguishes the bark, the wood, and the pith. He describes 

 the exterior organs of vegetables, the leaves, the liower, the peduncle, the ten- 

 drils, — and, under this head, he speaks of gall-nuts. Then he treats of the in- 

 terior parts, of the Jlesh, that is to say, of the parenchyma, veins, and juices. 



After these preliminary observations, he arranges plants, and forms a sort of 

 method, as Aristotle had done, in treating of animals. But his task was a more 

 difficult one to accomplish, as the characters upon which it is necessary to esta- 

 blish a classification, are less easily observed in vegetables than in animated be- 

 ings. Theophrastus contents himself, therefore, with dividing plants, according 

 to their size and consistence, into trees, shrubs, plants, and herbs. This mode 

 of division has been of very long continuance. 



He speaks of the different qualities of wood and pith, and of the different forms 

 assumed by the root, namely, the fusiform, the ramous, the tuberculous, or bul- 

 bous ; and illustrates his definitions by examples. He says that the root goes no 

 farther into the earth than the point to which the heat penetrates from the sur- 

 face. 



In treating of leaves, he makes the very just remark, that the inferior surface 

 of these organs is more absorbent than the superior. He divides them according 

 to their size, situation, and form. He speaks of the organs of fructification, and 

 makes a distinction between the upper and lower flowers, and points out the dif- 

 ferent kinds of seeds. He proceeds to examine the modes of reproduction in ve- 

 getables, which are perpetuated not only by seeds, but also often by suckers, roots, 

 and slips. He next considers wild and cultivated plants ; says that the latter are 

 not the produce of a degenerescence caused by cultivation ; and that, therefore, 

 it is false to say that barley can be transformed to oats. He speaks of the ef- 

 fects which the sun, climate, and various other circumstances have upon the fe- 

 cundity of plants ; and, on this subject, relates many curious facts. Thus, he 

 speaks of caprification, an operation, by means of which the bulk of the fruit of 

 the fig-tree is increased, and which consists in breeding upon it very small in- 

 sects, which introduce themselves into the calyx of the flower. He describes also 

 the way in which female date-trees were made to bear fruits, namely, by putting 

 them near enough to receive the influence of the male dates. He does not, how- 

 ever, look upon this as a real fecundation. In this place, he speaks of the differ- 

 ent palm-trees of warm countries ; and, among others, of a palm-tree having a 

 forked, or dichotomous stem, which belongs to Upper Egypt. He tells by what 

 means forest-trees are propagated to a distance, namely, by the aid of winds, in- 

 undations, &c. He next considers trees as they inhabit the plain or the moun- 

 tain, as they remain always green, or are divested of foliage ; and, in this last 

 division, he points out in many species the period of the fall of the leaf. He 

 speaks also of the time of the rising of the sap, and of the period of fructification. 

 Finally, he considers the slowness or the rapidity with which plants grow. 



Theophrastus, in speaking of trees, often distinguishes them as male and fe- 

 male ; but these terms, as used by him, do not convey the idea of sexes. He 

 describes different species : in speaking of the trees of warm climates, he de- 

 scribes the true acacia, which is a mimosa, a sensitive plant, different from that 

 small species which is cultivated in our greenhouses ; the lemon-tree (the thorny 

 apple-tree of the Medes), the fruit of which was used at that time for perfuming 

 clothes ; the banana-tree, the large leaves of which resemble a plume of ostrich 

 feathers ; aud the fig-tree of the Brahmins, the branches of which, descending 

 to the earth, take root in it, and send forth new shoots. He speaks also of 

 ebony and of the cotton-tree, a shrub which was known from the time of the ex- 

 pedition of Alexander, but which had not yet been transported into Greece. 



