ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IV. vi. io-vn. i 



The ' sea-palm ' is a deep-sea plant, but with a 

 very short stem, and the branches which spring from 

 it are almost straight ; and these under water are 

 not set all round the stem, like the twigs which grow 

 from the branches, but extend, as it were, quite 

 flat in one direction, and are uniform ; though 

 occasionally they are irregular. 1 The character of 

 these branches or outgrowths to some extent re- 

 sembles the leaves of thistle-like spinous plants, 

 such as the sow-thistles 2 and the like, except that 

 they are straight and not bent over 3 like these, 

 and have their leaves eaten away by the brine ; in 

 the fact that the central stalk 4 at least runs through 

 the whole, they resemble these, and so does the 

 general appearance. The colour both of the branches 

 and of the stalks and of the plant as a whole is a 

 deep red or scarlet. 



Such are the plants found in this sea. For sponges 

 and what are called aplysiai 5 and such-like growths 

 are of a different character. 



Of the aquatic plants of the 'outer sea ' (i.e. Atlantic, Persian 



Gulf, etc.). 



VII. In the outer sea near the pillars of Heracles 

 grows the ' sea-leek,' as has been said 6 ; also the 

 well known 7 plants which turn to stone, as thijma t 

 the plants like the bay and others. And in the 

 sea called the Red Sea 8 a little above Coptos 9 



4 i.e. midrib. 



5 Some kind of sponge. airKvaiai conj. R. Const.; ir\\><nai 

 UAld. ; ir\vaiai M ; TrXoi/a/at V. 6 4. 6. 4. 



' raZra: cf. 3. 7. 3 ; 3. 18. 11. 



8 Plin. 13. 139. 



9 KQTTTOV conj. Seal.; K^TTOV MV; i<6\ir<jv UAld.; Capto G 

 and Plin. I.e. 



337 



