ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, I. iii. 1-3 



a single stem, having knots and several branches, 

 and it cannot easily be uprooted ; for instance, olive 

 fig vine. 'A shrub is a thing which rises from the 

 root with many branches ; for instance, bramble 

 Christ's thorn. An under-shrub is a thing which 

 rises from the root with many stems as well as many 

 branches ; for instance, savor}' - rue. A herb is a 

 thing which comes up from the root with its leaves 

 and has no main stem, and the seed is borne on the 

 stem ; for instance, corn and pot-herbs. 



These definitions however must be taken and 

 accepted as applying generally and on the whole. For 

 in the case of some plants it might seem that our de- 

 finitions overlap ; and some under cultivation appear 

 to become different and depart from their essential 

 nature, for instance, mallow ^ when it grows tall and 

 becomes tree-like. For this comes to pass in no long 

 time, not more than six or seven months, so that in 

 length and -thickness the plant becomes as great as a 

 spear, and men accordingly use it as a walking-stick, 

 and after a longer period the result of cultivation is 

 proportionately greater. So too is it with the beets ; 

 they also increase in stature under cultivation, and so 

 still more do chaste-tree Christ's thorn ivy, so that, 

 as is generally admitted, these become trees, and yet 

 tiiey belong to the class of shrubs. On the other 

 hand the myrtle, unless it is pruned, turns into a 

 slirub, and so does filbert * : indeed this last appears 

 to bear better and more abundant fruit, if one leaves 



Kote that W.'s transposition gives koI . . . kuI the proper 

 fcrce; § 4 shews that the typical (ppvyavov in T.'s view was 



- Ovfi^pa conj. W.; ydfi0i>ri MSS. But the first <col being 

 n eaningless, W. also suggests aiav/xfipioy for icat ■yd.u.&pti. 

 « cf. Plin. 19. 62. * cf. 3. 15, 1. 



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