ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, VIII. n. 3-5 



no side-shoots except such sorts of wheat as are 

 called sitanias and krithanias (' barley-wheat '). 



1 During winter cereals remain in the blade, but, 

 as the season begins to smile, they send up a stem 

 from the midst and it becomes jointed. 2 And it 

 comes to pass that the ear also at once appears in the 

 third, or in some cases in the fourth joint, though 

 it is not distinctly seen in the mass of growth (the 

 whole stem contains more joints than three or four), 

 so that it must be formed at the same time that 

 the straw grows or but a little later ; though it does 

 not become conspicuous till it has first swollen and 

 formed in the sheath, 3 and by that time its size 

 makes its development visible. 



Four or five days after being set free 4 wheat and 

 barley flower and remain in bloom for a like number 

 of days ; those who put the period at the longest say 

 that the bloom is shed in seven days. 5 On the 

 other hand the flowering period of leguminous plants 

 lasts a long time ; that of vetch and chick-pea is 

 longer than that of most, but that of the bean is far 

 longer than that of any of them ; they say that it is 

 in bloom for forty days ; some however give this 

 period absolutely, others say that at different times 

 different parts are in flower, 6 since the whole plant 

 does not flower at once. For plants with an ear 

 bloom all at once, but plants with pods and all 

 leguminous plants bloom part at a time ; the lower 

 part blooms first, and, when this bloom has fallen, 

 the part next above it, and so on up to the top. 



4 So. from the sheath. avoXvOels AW.H.; airox^Bels conj. 

 Sch. followed by W. cf. airoxvffis 8. 3. 4. 



5 Plin. 18.59. 



6 xapavdovi'Tos conj. H. ; TrapavOovvrfs Aid. 



153 



