ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, VI. m. 3-5 



it retires, plainly shewing that it needs no tendance 

 but is a wild thing. The people of Cyrene say that 

 the silphium appeared l seven years before they 

 founded their city; now they had lived there for 

 about three hundred years before the archonship at 

 Athens of Simonides. 2 



Such is their account. Others however say that 

 the root of the silphium grows to the length of a 

 cubit or a little longer, and in the middle of this is a 

 head, 3 which is the highest part and almost comes 

 above ground, and is called the f milk', 4 from this 

 then presently grows the stalk, and from that the 

 magydaris? which is also called the phyllon 6 ; but it 7 

 is really the seed, and, when a strong south wind 

 blows after the setting of the dog-star, it is scattered 8 

 abroad and the silphium grows from it. The root 

 and the stalk grow r in the same year ; nor is this a 

 singular feature unless they mean that it grows 

 immediately after the dispersal 9 of the seed since 

 the same thing occurs with other 10 plants also. 



There is this singular statement, which is incon- 

 sistent with what was said above, that, it is said, it 

 is necessary to dig the ground every year, and that, 

 if it be left alone, it bears n the seed and the stalk, 

 but these are inferior and so is the root ; on the 

 other hand, that with digging they are improved 

 because the soil is changed. (This is inconsistent 

 with the statement that silphium avoids cultivated 

 land.) They add that the roots are cut up into 

 vinegar and eaten fresh, and that the leaf is of a golden 



8 diapplirreffBai conj. Sch.; SiappiirreTai AW.; Siappi-rrTflTai U ; 



Sia/JplTTTTJTOt M. 



9 Sidppttyiv conj. Sch.; Sfpit^jvUM; eitpityiv Aid. 



10 fV SAAajj/ conj. W.; T>V &\\wv Ald.H. 



11 p.fv conj. Sch.; irav Aid. 



19 



c 2 



