Chap. 37.] DIFFERENT KINDS OF PLANTS. 179 



Others, again, throw out offsets, though not from a bulbous 

 root, such as parsley and beet, for instance. When the stalk 

 is cut, with the exception b4 of those which have not a rough 

 stem, nearly all these plants put forth fresh shoots, a thing that 

 may be seen in ocimum, 85 the radish, 86 and the lettuce, 87 which 

 are in daily use among us ; indeed, it is generally thought that 

 the lettuce which is grown from a fresh sprouting, is the 

 sweetest. The radish, too, is more pleasant eating when the 

 leaves have been removed before it has begun to run to stalk. 

 The same is the case, too, with rape ; for when the leaves are 

 taken off, and the roots well covered up with earth, it grows 

 all the larger for it, and keeps in good preservation till the en- 

 suing summer. 



CHAP. 37. PLANTS OF WHICH THERE IS BUT A SINGLE KIND. 



PLANTS OF WHICH THERE ARE SEVERAL KINDS. 



Of ocimum, lapathum, blite, cresses, rocket, orage, coriander, 

 and anise respectively, there is but a single kind, these plants 

 being the same everywhere, and no better in one place than 

 in another. It is the general belief that stolen 88 rue grows 

 the best, while, on the other hand, bees 89 that have been stolen 

 will never thrive. Wild mint, cat-mint, endive, and penny- 

 royal, will grow even without any cultivation. With refer- 

 ence to the plants of which we have already spoken, or shall 

 have occasion to speak, there are numerous varieties of many 

 of them, parsley more particularly. 



(8.) As to the kind of parsley 90 which grows spontaneously 

 in mo^t localities, it is known by the name of " helioselinum;" a] 

 it has a single leaf 92 only, and is not rough at the edges. In 



84 Fee suggests that Pliny may have intended here to except the Mono- 

 cotyledons, for otherwise his assertion would be false. 



85 This, Fee says, cannot be basil, for when cut it will not shoot again. 



86 The radish is not mentioned in the parallel passage by Theophrastus. 



87 The lettuce, as Fee remarks, will not shoot again when cut down. 



83 This puerility, Fee observes, runs counter to the more moral adage, 

 that " stolen goods never prosper." 



89 See B. xi. c. 15. 



90 This variety, Fee says, is the Apinin graveolens of Linnaeus. 



91 Or marsh-parsley. 



92 Pliny has mistranslated, or rather misread, the passage of Theo- 

 phrastus, who says, B. vii. c. 6, that this kind of parsley is pa 



N 2 



