PREFACE 



THIS is, I believe, the first attempt at an English 

 translation of the ' Enquiry into Plants.' That it 

 should be found entirely satisfactory is not to be 

 expected, since the translator is not, as he should be, 

 a botanist ; moreover, in the present state at least 

 of the text, the Greek of Theophrastus is sometimes 

 singularly elusive. I should never have undertaken 

 such a responsibility without the encouragement of 

 that veteran student of plant-lore the Rev. Canon 

 Ellacombe, who first suggested that I should make 

 the attempt and introduced me to the book. It is a 

 great grief that he did not live to see the completion 

 of the work which he set me. If I had thought 

 it essential that a translator of Theophrastus should 

 himself grapple with the difficulties of identifying 

 the plants which he mentions, I must have declined 

 a task which has otherwise proved quite onerous 

 enough. However the kindness and the expert 

 knowledge of Sir William Thiselton-Dyer came to 

 my rescue ; to him I not only owe gratitude for 

 constant help throughout ; the identifications in the 

 Index of Plants are entirely his work, compared 

 with which the compilation of the Index itself was 



