ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, VII. iv. 4-6 



1 Of cabbage three kinds are distinguished, the 

 curly-leaved, the smooth-leaved, and thirdly, the 

 wild form. 2 The wild form 3 has a small round 

 leaf, it has many branches and many leaves, and 

 further a sharp medicinal taste ; wherefore physicians 

 use it for the stomach. Between the other two 

 kinds 4 there seem also to be differences, inasmuch 

 as one of them bears no seed or only inferior seed. 

 In general the curly-leaved kind has a better flavour 

 than the smooth and it has larger leaves. 



5 So too with beet ; the white kind has a better 

 flavour than the black and produces fewer seeds ; 

 some call it ' Sicilian ' beet. 



So too with lettuce ; the white kind is sweeter 

 and tenderer. Of this plant there are three other 

 kinds, 6 the flat-stalked, the round-stalked, and the 

 Laconian ; the last-named has a leaf like the 

 golden thistle, 7 but is erect and strong-growing and 

 has no side-shoots 8 from the main stem. Of the 

 'flat' kinds some have such flat stalks that some, 

 they say, use them to make a garden trellis. 9 The 

 third kind, which has much milky juice and small 

 leaves and a whiter stem, is like a wild plant. 



10 In celery the differences between the various 

 kinds lie in the leaves and stem ; one kind is close 

 and curly and has rough leaves, the other is more 

 open in growth and flatter, but has a larger stalk. 

 Again there are kinds with stems white, red or parti- 

 coloured ; and in general all such forms resemble 

 more the wild kind. 



3 r, aypla add. W. 



4 eKflvais conj. Sch. from Plin. I.e. ; IKC'IVC? Ald.H. 



6 Athen. 9. 11 ; Plin. 19. 132. 



6 Plin. 19. 125. 7 Athen. 2. 79. 8 c/. 7. 2. 4. 



9 ostiola olitoria Plin. 19. 125. 10 Plin. 19. 124. 



85 



