THEOPHRASTUS 



ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS 

 BOOK I 



Or THE PARTS OF PLANTS AND THEIR COMPOSITION. 

 OF CLASSIFICATION. 



Introductory: How plants are to be classified; difficulty 

 of defining what are the essential 'parts' of a plant, 

 especially if plants are assumed to correspond to animals. 



I. IN considering the distinctive characters of 

 plants and their nature generally one must take 

 into account their 1 parts, their qualities, 2 the 

 ways in which their life originates, and the course 

 which it follows in each case : (conduct and activities 

 we do not find in them, as we do in animals). Now 

 the differences in the way in which their life origin- 

 ates, in their qualities and in their life-history are com- 

 paratively easy to observe and are simpler, while 

 those shewn 3 in their ' parts ' present more com- 

 plexity. Indeed it has not even been satisfactorily 

 determined what ought and what ought not to be 

 called 'parts,' and some difficulty is involved in 

 making the distinction. 



Now it appears that by a ' part.' seeing that it is 

 something which belongs to the plant's characteristic 

 nature, we mean something which is permanent either 

 absolutely or when once it has appeared (like those 

 parts of animals which remain for a time undeveloped) 



