ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, I. i. 2-^ 



permanent, that is, unless it be lost by disease, age 

 or mutilation. However some of the parts of plants 

 are such that their existence is limited to a year, for 

 instance, flower, ' catkin,' 1 leaf, fruit, in fact all 

 those parts which are antecedent to the fruit or else 

 appear along with it. Also the new shoot itself must 

 be included with these ; for trees always make fresh 

 growth every year alike in the parts above ground 

 and in those which pertain to the roots. So that if 

 one sets these 2 down as ' parts,' the number of parts 

 will be indeterminate and constantly changing ; 

 if on the other hand these are not to be called 

 1 parts,' the result will be that things which are 

 essential if the plant is to reach its perfection, and 

 which are its conspicuous features, are nevertheless 

 not ' parts ' ; for any plant always appears to be, as 

 indeed it is, more comely and more perfect when it 

 makes new growth, blooms, and bears fruit. Such, 

 we may say, are the difficulties involved in defining 

 a 'part.' 



But perhaps we should not expect to find in 

 plants a complete correspondence with animals 

 in regard to those things which concern repro- 

 duction any more than in other respects ; and so 

 we should reckon as ( parts ' even those things 

 to which the plant gives birth, for instance their 

 fruits, although 3 we do not so reckon the unborn 

 young of animals. (However, if such 4 a product seems 

 fairest to the eye, because the plant is then in its 

 prime, we can draw no inference from this in 



3 ow5e yap : ov8e seems to mean no more than ov (cf. neque, 

 enim = non enim) ; yap refers back to the beginning of the . 



* tv TTJ &pa o\J/t rovr6 ye I conj.; rp &pa ovj/et r6 ye vulg. 

 W. ; TOVTO, i.e. flower or fruit. 



