ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IV. vin. 6-7 



Such are the plants which excel in sweetness of 

 taste. There is also another plant 1 which grows in 

 the marshes and lakes, but which does not take hold 

 of the ground ; in character it is like a lily, but it is 

 more leafy, and has its leaves opposite to one 

 another, as it were in a double row ; the colour is a 

 deep green. Physicians use it for the complaints of 

 women and for fractures. 



Now these plants grow in the river, unless the 

 stream has thrown them up on land ; it sometimes 

 happens that they are borne down the stream, and 

 that then other plants grow from them. 2 



3 But the ' Egyptian bean ' grows in the marshes 

 and lakes ; the length of its stalk at longest is four 

 cubits, it is as thick as a man's finger, and resembles 

 a pliant 4 reed without joints. Inside it has tubes 

 which run distinct from one another right through, 

 like a honey-comb : on this is set the ' head,' which 

 is like a round wasps' nest, and in each of the cells is 

 a 'bean,' which slightly projects from it; at most 

 there are thirty of these. The flower is twice as 

 large as a poppy's, and the colour is like a rose, of a 

 deep shade; the 'head' is above the water. Large 

 leaves grow at the side of each plant, equal 5 in size 

 to a Thessalian hat 6 ; these have a stalk exactly like 

 that 7 of the plant. If one of the ' beans ' is crushed, 

 you find the bitter substance coiled up, of which the 



s Plin. 18. 121 and 122. 



4 /j.a\aK<3 Ald.H.G Plin. I.e. A then. 3. 2 cites the passage 



with fj.a.Kp<j>. 



5 tffa conj. W. ; Ka\ Aid. 



6 irerdffef conj. Sch. from Diosc. 2. 106; TR'AW Ald.H. ; ol 

 iTfTCKroi are mentioned below ( 9) without explanation. The 

 comparison is omitted by G and Plin. i.e. 



7 '.. that which carries the Kudva. 



351 



