ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, I. vi. ii-vii. i 



iiingon ^; for its leaves are large- and its shoots short, 

 while the root is long and is, as it were, the fruit. 

 It is an excellent thing ^ and is eaten ; men gather 

 it when the river goes down by turning the clods> 

 But the plants which afford the most conspicuous 

 instances and shew the greatest difference as com- 

 pared with others are silphium and the plant called 

 magydaris ; the character of both of these and of all 

 sucli plants is especially shewn in ^ their roots. Such 

 is the account to be given of these plants. 



Again some roots would seem to shew a gi-eater 

 difference ^ than those mentioned, for instance, those 

 of arakhidna,'' and of a plant ^ which resembles 

 arakos. For both of these bear a fruit underground 

 which is as large as the fruit above ground, and this 

 arakos-\\\i.e^ plant has one thick root, namely, the 

 one which runs deep, while the others which bear 

 the ' fruit ' are slenderer and branch ^"^ in many 

 directions at the tip. It is specially fond of sandy 

 ground. Neither of these plants has a leaf nor 

 anj-thing resembling a leaf, but they bear, as it 

 were, two kinds of fruit instead, which seems sur- 

 prising. So many then are the differences shewn 

 in the characters and functions of roots. 



VII. The roots of all plants seem to grow earlier 

 than the parts above ground (for growth does take 

 place downwards ^^). But no root goes down further 

 than the sun reaches, since it is the heat which 

 induces growth. Nevertheless the nature of the sod, 



^ i.e. to be even more abnormal: Sia<l>opav conj. Sch. ; 

 Sia<!>opa\ Aid. • Plin. 21. 89. 



* tine-tare. See Index, App. (1). 

 ® apaKuSes conj. Sch. ; trapKuhfs Ald.G. 

 ^'^ Koi before ax^C- o™- Sch. from G. 

 11 c/. G.P. 1. 12. 7. (cited by Vano, 1. 45. 3); 3. 3. 1. 



51 



