ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, I. xni. 1-3 



ences shewn in a variety of ways. Thus of flowers 

 some are downy, as that of the vine mulberry and 

 ivy, some are ' leafy,' l as in almond apple pear 

 plum. Again some of these flowers are conspicuous, 

 while that of the olive, though it is ' leafy,' is incon- 

 spicuous. Again it is in annual and herbaceous 

 plants alike that we find some leafy, some downy. 

 All plants again have flowers either of two colours or 

 of one ; most of the flowers of trees are of one colour 

 and white, that of the pomegranate being almost the 

 only one which is red, while that of some almonds is 



. * 



reddish. The flower of no other cultivated trees is 

 gay nor of two colours, though it may be so with 

 some uncultivated 2 trees, as with the flower of silver- 

 fir, for its flower is of saffron colour ; and so with 

 the flowers of those trees by the ocean which have, 

 they say, the colour of roses. 



However, among annuals, most are of this charac- 

 ter their flowers are two-coloured and twofold. 3 I 

 mean by ' twofold ' that the plant has another 

 flower inside the flower, in the middle, as with rose 

 lily violet. Some flowers again consist of a single 

 ' leaf,' 4 having merely an indication of more, as that 

 of bindweed. 5 For in the flower of this the separate 

 ' leaves ' are not distinct ; nor is it so in the lower 

 part of the narcissus, 6 but there are angular projec- 

 tions 7 from the edges. And the flower of the olive 

 is nearly of the same character. 



But there are also differences in the way of growth 

 and the position of the flower ; some plants have it 



5 cf. C.P. 2. 18. 2 and 3 ; Plin. 21. 65. 



6 \eiplou conj. Sch., i.e. narcissus, cf. 6. 6. 9 ; x fl p( v MSS. 



7 i.e. something resembling separate 'leaves' (petals or 

 sepals). 



91 



