ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, VI. iv. 6-9 



towards autumn. Indeed, generally speaking, all 

 plants like the thistle-tribe l are late fruiting. All 

 these plants grow both from seed and from the root, 

 so that there is but a short period between the 

 beginning of growth and the maturing of the seed. 



Golden thistle has not only this peculiarity, that 

 it has a root which is edible, whether boiled or raw, 

 but the root is best when the plant is in flower, and, 

 as it becomes hard, it produces a juice. The flowering 

 time 2 is also peculiar, about the solstice. 



The root of the sow-thistle 3 is also fleshy and 

 edible ; but the swollen part * is elongated and not 

 thistle-like 5 ; and, alone of the spinous-leaved plants, 

 it has this peculiarity, in which it is the reverse of 

 the chamaeleon, 6 (for that plant, though it has not 

 spinous leaves, has a thistle-like flower-head). The 

 flower of the sow-thistle, as it ages, turns into down, 

 as do that of the dandelion 7 the tamarisk 8 w and other 

 plants like these. In its growth 9 there is a succes- 

 sion up to the summer, part forming flowers, part 

 flowering, and part producing seed 10 ; this 11 has little 

 moisture in it and has a sharp point. The leaf, as it 

 dries, becomes flaccid and no longer pricks. 



Ixine does not grow in many places, and it has 

 leaves on the root. From the middle of the root 

 grows the seed-bearing thistle-head, which is like 



both of the plants which he calls x a P- a - i ^* (av ( see Index) have 

 spinous leaves. 



7 oTraTrrjs conj. Sch., c/. 7. 8. 3; ndirvris U; SaTra^r/i P; 

 8a0v7]S Aid. 



8 fjLvplKi]5 conj. Sch.; nvptvijs M ; /uvpph'Tjs Aid. 



9 c/. Plin. I.e. 



10 ffTTpfj.a T'IKTOV I conj. ; (Tir(pfj.aros p.tv Ald.H. ; crirfp- 

 fj.or6Kovv conj. Sch. 



11 Text perhaps defective. 



29 



