98 ON PLANTS. 



example, the fig and the wild fig.* He explains more fully, 

 in H . A. v. c. 26, s. 3, the action of the wild fig. In wild 

 figs, according to him, is an insect called Psen, which, after 

 passing through its larval and pupal stages, flies out and 

 enters the unripe fruit of the cultivated fig trees. The effect 

 produced is, so Aristotle says, that the figs do not fall off the 

 trees, and, for this reason, the growers attach branches of 

 the wild fig to the cultivated trees, and also plant the two 

 kinds of trees close together. 



This shows that he was aware of the custom of growers 

 of figs to use branches of the Wild Fig (Caprificus) to effect 

 the process, so well known by the name caprification, by 

 which the growers believed that the ripening of the figs was 

 hastened. The process of artificial fertilization of the date 

 palm by applying the flowers of the male tree to those of 

 the female tree was also practised by the Ancients, although 

 they did not understand the process. The case of the fig 

 was different, for both its male and its female flowers are 

 carried by the inner parts of the hollow fleshy receptacle 

 which forms the greater part of the fig. In this case, the 

 beneficial result, if any, is believed to be due, just as Aristotle 

 believed, to the piercing of the fruit by a kind of gall-insect 

 (Cynips) carried by the branches of the wild fig. 



Aristotle seems to have taken a very limited view of the 

 functions of plants, for he says that they have no other 

 duty but the production of seeds and fruit. f He states 

 incorrectly that willows and black poplars do not produce 

 seeds. I Some plants, he says, are fertile and others sterile. 



In what way Aristotle believed that the male and female 

 principles or powers were blended in plants is not clear. 

 His statement that some plants are fertile and others sterile 

 indicates that he knew of the existence of what are now 

 called dioecious plants, but it is also clear that he did not 

 know that the sterile plants bore the male and the fertile 

 ones the female flowers. 



Aristotle came near to discovering that hermaphroditism 

 which is found in the majority of flowering plants, but his 

 views on the production of fruits and seeds prevented him 

 from making the discovery. He seems to have been con 

 vinced that this production was the result of a process of 

 nutrition. Plants, according to him, had a nutritive soul or 



* G. A. i. c. 1, 7156. f Ibid. i. c. 4, 7170. 



{ Ibid. i. c. 18, 7260. H. A. iv. c. 11, s. 2. 



