ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IV. XH. 1-3 



head ' because it has black fruit ; this is stouter and 

 fleshier : and third the ' entire rush/ as it is called, 

 which is distinguished by its size stoutness and 

 fleshiness. 



Now the ' black-head ' grows by itself, but the 

 ' sharp ' rush and the ' entire ' rush grow from the 

 same stock, which seems extraordinary, and indeed 

 it was strange to see it 1 when the whole clump of 

 rushes was brought before me ; for from the same 

 stock there were growing ' barren ' rushes, which 

 were the most numerous, and also a few 'fruiting' 

 ones. This then is a matter for further enquiry. 

 The 'fruiting' ' 2 ones are in general scarcer, for 3 the 

 ' entire rush ' is more useful for wicker-work because 

 of its fleshiness and pliancy. The 'fruiting ' rush in 

 general produces a club-like 4 head which swells 

 straight from the wiry stem, and then bears egg-like 

 bodies ; for attached to a single wiry 5 base it has its 

 very spike-like a branches all round it, and on the 

 ends of these it has its round vessels borne laterally 

 and gaping 7 ; in each of these is the small seed, 

 which is pointed and black, and like that of the 

 Michaelmas daisy, except that it is less solid. It 

 has a long root, which is stouter than that of the 

 ordinary rush ; this withers every year, and then 

 another strikes down again from the ' head ' 8 of the 

 plant. And it is easy to observe that some of the 

 roots as they are let down are withered, some green. 

 The ' head ' is like that of an onion or long onion, 



seems an impossible word ; ? Trepl 

 rovs ffTaxvwfieis. 



7 viroxaffKovcras conj. Sch.; 7rt<rxa(/>u<ras Aid. H. 



8 i.e. the part above ground ; cf. Plin. I.e. Sch. has dis- 

 posed of the idea that KC^OATJ is here a ' bulbous ' root. 



