ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, II. i. 2-4 



except from root-stock and cleft wood ; apple and 

 pear grow also from branches, but rarely. However 

 it appears that most, if not practically all, 1 trees may 

 grow from branches, if these are smooth young and 

 vigorous. 2 But the other methods, one may say, are 

 more natural, and we must reckon what may 

 occasionally occur as a mere possibility. 



In fact there are quite few plants which grow and 

 are brought into being more easily from the upper 

 parts, as the vine is grown from branches ; for this, 

 though it cannot 3 be grown from the 'head,' 4 yet 

 can be grown from the branch, as can all similar 

 trees and under-shrubs, for instance, as it appears, 

 rue gilliflower bergamot-mint tufted thyme cala- 

 rnint. So the commonest ways of growth with all 

 plants are from a piece torn off or from seed ; for all 

 plants that have seeds grow also from seed. And 

 they say that the bay too grows 5 from a piece 

 torn off, if one takes off the young shoots and plants 

 them ; but it is necessary that the piece torn off 

 should have part of the root or stock 6 attached to it. 

 However the pomegranate and ' spring apple ' 7 will 

 grow even without this, and a slip of almond 8 grows 

 if it is planted. The olive grows, one may say, in 

 more ways than any other plant ; it grows from a 

 piece of the trunk or of the stock, 9 from the root, 

 from a twig, and from a stake, as has been said. 10 Of 

 other plants the myrtle also can be propagated in 

 several ways ; for this too grows from pieces of wood 



4 Trpwpas, cf. Col. 3. 10. 1, caput vitis vocat irpwpav. Sch. 

 restores the word, G. P. 3. 14. 7. 



5 cf. C. P. 1. 3. 2. 6 i.e. a 'heel' (Lat. perna). 



7 cf. G.P. 2. 11. 6 ; Athen. 3. 23. 8 cf. Geop. 10. 3. 9. 

 ' Kal dirb TOV {uAou om. Julius Pontedeva on Varro 1. 39. 3 : 

 a gloss On OTT& TOV irpt/j.vov KO.TO.K. 10 2. 1. 2. 



107 



