ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, VII. iv. 6-8 



As to cucumber and gourd, it is said that 

 there are various forms of the former, but of the 

 latter, just as in radish and turnip, the differences 

 are only between better and inferior individuals. 

 1 Of the cucumber there are three forms, the 

 Laconian the cudgel-shaped and the Boeotian. Of 

 these the Laconian is better with moisture, the 

 others without it. 



2 There are also various kinds of onion and of 

 garlic ; those of the onion are the more numerous, 

 for instance, those called after their localities 

 Sardian, 3 Cnidian, Samothracian ; and again the 

 ' annual ' the ' divided ' 4 (shallot) and that of 

 Ascalon. 5 Of these the annual kind is small but 

 very sweet, while the divided and the Ascalonian 

 differ plainly as to their character as well as in 

 respect of their cultivation. For the ' divided ' 6 

 kind they leave untended in winter with its foliage, 7 

 but in spring they strip off 8 the outside leaves and 

 tend the plant in other ways ; when the leaves 

 are stripped off, others grow, and at the same 

 time division takes place under ground, which is 

 the reason of the name 'divided.' 9 Some indeed 

 say that all kinds should be thus treated, in 

 order that the force of the plant may be directed 

 downwards and it may not go to seed. The 

 Ascalonian kind has a somewhat peculiar character ; 

 it is the only kind which does not 10 divide and 

 which does not, as it were, reproduce itself from 

 the root ; moreover in the plant n itself there is no 

 power of increasing and multiplying; wherefore 



7 K<fyi7js cuffiv conj. Seal. ; Koi^fffuis UMP 2 Ald. 



8 irepiaipovffi conj. Seal, from Plin. I.e. and Gr ; irepidyova-i 

 P. 2 Ald.H. 9 c/. Pall. 3. 24. 3. 



10 ov add. Seal. n ie. the part above ground. 



