ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IV. iv. 1-2 



ivy and olive l do not grow in Asia in the parts of 

 Syria which are five days' journey from the sea ; but 

 that in India ivy ~ appears on the mountain called 

 Meros, whence, according to the tale, Dionysus 

 came. Wherefore it is said 3 that Alexander, when 

 he came back from an expedition, 4 was crowned 

 with ivy, 5 himself and his army. But elsewhere in 

 Asia it is said to grow only in Media, for that country 

 seems in a way to surround and join on to the Euxine 

 Sea. 6 However," when Harpalus took great pains 

 over and over again to plant it in the gardens of 

 Babylon, and made a special point of it, he failed: 

 since it could not live like the other things intro- 

 duced from Hellas. The country then does not 8 

 admit this plant on account of the climate, and it 

 grudgingly admits the box and the lime ; for even 

 these give much trouble to those engaged in the 

 gardens. It also produces some peculiar trees and 

 shrubs. And in general the lands of the East and 

 South appear to have peculiar plants, as they have 

 peculiar animals ; for instance, Media and Persia have, 

 among many others, that which is called the 

 ' Median ' or ' Persian apple ' (citron). 9 This tree 10 

 has a leaf like to and almost identical with that of 

 the andrachne, but it has thorns like those of the 

 pear 11 or white-thorn, which however are smooth 

 and very sharp and strong. The ' apple ' is not 



6 i.e. and so Greek plants may be expected to grow there. 

 But the text is probably defective ; cf. the citation of this 

 passage, Pint. Quaest. Conv. 3. 2. 1. 



7 KO.ITOI -ye. This sentence does not connect properly with 

 the preceding. 8 ov add. Sch. 



9 Plin. 12. 15 and 16; cited also Athen. 3. 26. 



10 cf. Verg. O. 2. 131-135. 



11 &TTIOS: ? here=ax/>a$ R. Const, cf. G.P. 1. 15. 2. 



311 



