EXQCIRY IXTO PLANTS, I. v. 2-4 



one coat, as in fig reed darnel. Such are the 

 respects in which bark differs. 



Next of the woods themselves and of stems 

 generally some are fleshy, as in oak and fig, and, 

 among lesser plants, in buckthorn ' beet hemlock ^ ; 

 while some are not fleshy, for instance, prickly cedar 

 nettle-tree cypress. Again some are fibrous, for of 

 this character is the wood of the silver-fir and the 

 date-palm ; while some are not fibroas,^ as in the 

 fig. In like manner some are full of ' veins,' others 

 veinless. Further in shrubby plants and under- 

 shrubs and in woody plants ^ in general one might 

 find other differences : thus the reed is jointed, 

 while the bramble and Christ's thorn have thorns on 

 the wood. Bulrush and some of the marsh or pond 

 plants are in like manner'' without joints and smooth, 

 like the rush ; and the stem of galingale and sedge 

 has a certain smoothness beyond those just men- 

 tioned ; and still more perhaps has that of the 

 mushroom. 



Differences as to qtialities and properties. 



These then would seem to be the diflerences in 

 the parts which make up the plant. Those which 

 belong to the qualities ^ and properties are such as 

 hardness or softness, toughness or brittleness, close- 

 ness or openness of texture, lightness or heaviness, 

 and the like. For willow-wood is light from the 

 first, even when it is green, and so is that of the 

 cork-oak ; but box and ebony are not light even 

 when dried. Some woods again can be split,'^ such 



' bfioiais, sense doubtful ; on'xvvfioiv conj. W, 

 " xd^Tj, rf. 1. 1. 1 n. 



' fX'C*''^"' conj. W. ; <rxt(r0(VTa UMVAld. ; ffX'<TTd H. : 

 nssiles G. 



37 



