CENTURY VI. 263 



stance ; as penny-wort, purslane, houseleek, penny 

 royal, &c. 



567. The water also doth send forth plants, 

 that have no roots fixed in the bottom, but they are 

 less perfect plants, being almost but leaves, and those 

 small ones ; such is that we call duck-weed, which 

 hath a leaf no bigger than a thyme leaf, but of a 

 fresher green, and putteth forth a little string into 

 the water far from the bottom. As for the water 

 lily, it hath a root in the ground ; and so have a 

 number of other herbs that grow in ponds. 



568. It is reported by some of the ancients, and 

 some modern testimony likewise, that there be some 

 plants that grow upon the top of the sea, being sup 

 posed to grow of some concretion of slime from the 

 water, where the sun beateth hot, and where the 

 sea stirreth little. As for alga marina, sea weed, 

 and eryngium, sea thistle, both have roots ; but 

 the sea weed under the water, the sea thistle but 

 upon the shore. 



569. The ancients have noted, that there are 

 some herbs that grow out of snow laid up close toge 

 ther and pu trifled, and that they are all bitter, and 

 they name one specially, &quot; flomus,&quot; which we call 

 moth-mullein. It is certain, that worms are found 

 in snow commonly, like earth-worms ; and there 

 fore it is not unlike, that it may likewise put forth 

 plants. 



570. The ancients have affirmed, that there are 

 some herbs that grow out of stone, which may be, 

 for that it is certain that toads have been found in 



