ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, III. vi. 1-3 



^bird-cherry) Valonia oak Phoenician cedar maple 

 hop-hornbeam zygia manna-ash alder Aleppo pine 

 atidrachne cornelian cherry box wild pear. But 

 silver-fir fir and Aleppo pine bear fruit from the very 

 first, whatever size they have attained. 



While the growth and budding of most trees are 

 irregular as regards the position in which the buds 

 appear, 1 the growth and budding of the silver-fir 

 follow a regular rule, and its development afterwards 

 is also in a regular sequence. For, when the trunk 

 first divides, then again from the divided trunk the 

 second division 2 takes place in like manner, and so the 

 tree goes on with each fresh formation of buds. In 

 other trees not even the knots are opposite to one 

 another, except in some few cases, as wild olive and 

 others. 3 Here too we find a difference in the 

 manner of growth which belongs to all trees alike, 

 both cultivated and wild : in some cases the growth 

 is from the top of the shoots and also from the side- 

 buds, 4 as in pear pomegranate fig myrtle and the 

 majority of trees, one may say : in some cases the 

 growth is not from the top, but only from the side- 

 buds, and the already existing part is pushed out 5 

 further, as is the whole trunk with the upper 

 branches. This occurs in the walnut and in the filbert 

 as well as in other trees. In all such trees the buds end 

 in a single leaf 6 ; wherefore it is reasonable that 

 they should not make fresh buds and growth from this 

 point, as they have no point of departure. (To a 

 certain extent the growth of corn is similar ; for it 



TOV . . . TrXayiui' : ? K TOV &Kpov nal K 



cf. 3. 5. 1. 



5 i.e. grows without dividing, cf. Plin. 16. 100. (of dif- 

 ferent trees). 

 8 <pu\\ov perhaps conceals some other word. 



193 



