ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, II. i. 2-4 



except from root-stock and cleft wood ; apple .and 

 |>ear grow also from branches, but rarely. However 

 it appears that most, if not practically all,^ trees may 

 grow from branches, if these are smooth yomig and 

 vigorous. 2 But the other methods, one may say, are 

 more natural, and we must reckon what may 

 occasionally occur as a mere possibility. 



In fact there are quite few plants which grow and 

 are brought into being more easily from the upper 

 parts, as the viae is grown from branches ; for this, 

 though it cannot ^ be gro^vn from the * head,' * yet 

 can be grown from the branch, as can all similar 

 trees and under-shrubs, for instance, as it appears, 

 nie gilliflower bergamot-mint tufted thyme cala- 

 mint. So the commonest ways of growth with all 

 plants are from a piece torn off or from seed ; for all 

 plants that have seeds grow also from seed. And 

 they say that the bay too grows ^ from a piece 

 torn off, if one takes off the young shoots and plants 

 them ; but it is necessary that the piece torn off 

 should have part of the root or stock ^ attached to it. 

 However the pomegranate and ' spring apple ' ^ will 

 grow even without this, and a slip of almond ^ grows 

 if it is planted. The olive grows, one may say, in 

 more ways than any other plant ; it grows from a 

 ])iece of the trunk or of the stock,^ from the root, 

 from a twig, and from a stake, as has been said.^** Of 

 other plants the myrtle also can be propagated in 

 several ways ; for this too grows from pieces of wood 



* -r papas, cf. Col. 3. 10. 1, capxU vitis vocat wpiipav. Sch. 

 •estores the word, C.P. 3. 1-4. 7- 



» <•/. C.P. 1. 3. 2. « i.e. a ' heel' (Lat. jaema). 



7 «•/. C.P. 2. 11. 6 ; Athen. 3. 23. « cf. Geop. 10. 3. 9. 



' Kol arh Toil ^v\ou om. Julius Pontedeva on Varro 1. 39. 3 : 

 i gloss on airb tov wpt/wov Karcuc. ^' 2. 1, 2. 



107 



