ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, VII. n. 8-in. i 



are basil blite orach rocket dill : coriander, and in 

 general, those with fibrous stems ; for in dill and 

 coriander, which have a single root, the root is 

 woody and not long, and the slender side-roots 2 from 

 it are not numerous ; but both plants have several 

 stems and branches ; wherefore in neither of these 

 plants does the part above ground correspond to the 

 part which is below. 



The following 3 have short roots : lettuce and purs- 

 lane, in which both the straight main root and the 

 side ones are short. 4 Lettuce may be said to have 

 no such side-roots, but only the slender ones, and 

 may be called in the strictest sense a plant of a 

 single root. In general all summer herbs have short 

 roots : we may include cucumber gourd and bottle- 

 gourd, both because of the season to which they 

 belong and perhaps still more because of their 

 character, which corresponds to the season. How- 

 ever the transplanted lettuce has a shorter root than 

 one that is raised from seed, since it is more apt to 

 send out side-growths ; also the wild kind has a 

 shorter 5 root than the cultivated, and the part above 

 ground has more stems. 6 



Of the flowers and fruits of pot-herbs. 



III. 7 A11, except one, of these herbs produce all their 

 bloom at once, but basil has a succession of flowers, 

 the lower part of the plant flowering first, and then, 

 when that bloom is over, the upper part. Wherefore 

 its season of bloom is a long one, like that of the 



5 fipaxvrepav conj. Sch.; fipaxvrfpa Aid. 



6 &vu>Qev iro\vKav\oTfpa conj. Sell, from G ; Si/or ra 8e TTO\VK 

 Aid. cf. Diosc. 2. 136. 7 Plin. 19. 100. 



75 



