ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, III. iii. 6-8 



growing in the same place as the former, or ^ quite 

 near it. Take for instance the centaury in Elea ; where 

 it grows in hill-countr}-, it is fruitful ; where it grows 

 in the jilain, it bears no fruit, but only flowers ; and 

 where it grows in deej) valleys, it does not even 

 flower, unless it be scantily. Any way it appears 

 that, even of other plants Avhich are of the same 

 kind and all go by the same name, one will be 

 without fruit, while another bears fruit ; for instance, 

 one kermes-oak will be fruitful, another not ; and the 

 same is true of the alder, though both produce 

 flowers. And, generally speaking, all those of any 

 given kind which are called ' male ' trees are ^vithout 

 fruit, and that though- some of these, they saj-, 

 produce many flowers, some few, some none at all. 

 On the other hand they say that in some cases it is 

 onl}' the ' males ' that bear fruit, but that, in spite 

 of this, the trees grow from the flowers,^ (just as in 

 the case of fruit-bearing trees they grow from the 

 fruit). And they add that in both cases,^ the crop 

 of seedlings ^ which comes up is sometimes so thick 

 that the woodmen camiot get through except by 

 clearing a way. 



There is also a doubt about the flower of some 

 trees, as we said. Some think that the oak bears 

 flowers, and also the filbert the chestnut and even 

 the fir and Aleppo pine ; some however think that 

 none of these has a flower, but that, — resembling"^ 

 and corresponding to the ^^^ld figs which drop off" 

 prematurely, we have in the nuts the catkin," in the 



form alone bears fruit, but the fruit is infertile. The passage 

 is obscure : W. gives up the text. 



* fKipvcriv. cf. 7. 4. 3. 



* ofioiov conj.W.; Sfioiav UAld. cf. 3. 7. 3. 

 " cf. 3. 5. 5. 



177 

 VOL. I. N 



