358 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXI. 



provided with three or four other offsets attached to it. It is 

 generally used boiled in pottage. 9 



CHAP. 63. PLANTS WHICH ONLY MAZE THEIR APPEARANCE AT 



THE END OF A YEAH. PLANTS WHICH BEGIN TO BLOSSOM AT 

 THE TOP. PLANTS WHICH BEGIN TO BLOSSOM AT THE LOWER 

 PART. 



It is a remarkable thing that the herb lotus 10 and the segi- 

 lops 11 never make their appearance above ground till the end of 

 a year after the seed has been sown. The anthemis, 12 too. offers 

 the singular peculiarity that it begins to blossom at the top, 

 while in all the other plants which flower gradually, it is at 

 the lower part that the blossom first makes its appearance. 



CHAP. 64. THE LAPPA, A PLANT WHICH PRODUCES WITHIN ITSELF. 



THE OPUNTIA, WHICH THROWS OUT A ROOT FROM THE LEAF. 



In the lappa, 13 too, which clings so tenaciousty, there is this 

 remarkable peculiarity, that within it there grows a flower, 

 which does not make its appearance, but remains concealed ; 

 and there produces the seed, like those among the animals ' 

 which produce within themselves. In the vicinity of Opus 

 there grows a plant 14 which is very pleasant eating to man, 

 and the leaf of which, a most singular thing, gives birth to a 

 root by means of which it reproduces itself. 



CHAP. 65. THE IASIONE. THE CHONDRYLLA. THE PICRIS, WHICH 



REMAINS IN FLOWER THE WHOLE YEAR THROUGH. 



The iasione 15 has a single leaf only, but that so folded and 

 involved, as to have all the appearance of being several in 

 number. The chondrylla 16 is bitter, and the juice of the root 



9 "Puls." 



10 Probably the Melilotus coerulea of Linnaeus, Fee says. Desfontaines 

 mentions the Melilotus Cretica or Italica. 



11 The Avena fatua or sterilis ; the barren oat. See B. xviii. c. 44. 



12 See B. xxii. c. 26. 



13 The Gallium aparine of Linnaeus. See B. xviii. c. 44. 



14 The Opuntia. The Cactus Opuntia of Linnaeus; the cactus, or 

 Indian fig. 



15 Perhaps the Convolvulus sepium of Linnaeus ; though Fee dissents 

 from that opinion. See B. xxii. c. 39. 



16 See c. 52 of this Book. 



