PREFACE 



This is^ I believe, tlie first attempt at an English 

 translation of the 'Enquiry into Plants.' That it 

 should be found entirely satisfactory is not to be 

 expected, since the translator is not, as he should be, 

 a botanist ; moreover, in the present state at least 

 of the text, the Greek of Theophrastus is sometimes 

 singularly elusive. I should never have undertaken 

 such a responsibility without the encouragement of 

 that veteran student of plant-lore the Rev. Canon 

 EUacombe, who first suggested that I should make 

 the attempt and introduced me to the book. It is a 

 great grief that he did not live to see the completion 

 of the work which he set me. If I had thought 

 it essential that a translator of Theophrastus should 

 himself grapple with the difficulties of identifying 

 the jilants which he mentions, I must have declined 

 a task which has otherwise proved quite onerous 

 enough. However the kindness and the expert 

 knowledge of Sir William Thiselton-Dyer came to 

 my rescue ; to him I not only owe gratitude for 

 constant help throughout ; the-identifications in the 

 Index of Plants are entirely his work, compared 

 with which the compilation of the Index itself was 



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