ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, III. vi. 3-5 



also regularly increases by pushing forward of the 

 already existing part/ even if the leaves are mutilated, 

 as in corn which is bitten down by animals. Corn 

 however does not'^ make side-growths, as some 

 leguminous plants do.) Here then we may find a 

 difference which occurs both in the making of buds 

 and in the making of fresh growth. 



3 Some say that wild trees are not deep rooting, 

 because they all grow from seed ; but this is not a 

 very accurate statement. For it is possible that, 

 when they are well established,* they may send 

 their roots down far ; in fact even most pot-herbs 

 do this, though these are not so strong as trees, and 

 are undoubtedly grown from seed planted in the 

 ground.^ The kermes-oak however seems to be the 

 deepest rooting of wild trees ; silver-fir and fir are 

 only moderately so, and shallowest are joint-fir plum 

 bullace (which is a sort of wild plum). The last 

 two also have few roots, while joint-fir has many. 

 Trees which do not root deep,* and especially silver- 

 fir and fir, are liable to be rooted up b}' winds. 



So the Arcadians say. But the people who live 

 near Mount Ida say that the silver fir is deeper 

 rooting' than the oak,^ and has straighter roots, 

 though they are fewer. Also that those which have 

 the deepest roots are plum and filbert, the latter 

 having strong slender roots, the former having 

 many : but they add that both trees must be well 

 established to acquire these characters ; also that 

 plum is very tenacious of life. Maple, they say, 



* iyapyus . . . 75 : so G ; ^v add. W. 

 ® 0<i0ovs conj. Sch.; j3a0os Aid. 



^ $adoppi(6r(poy conj. W.; ^oBvppi^oraiov UMVAld. 

 "* Proverbial for its hold on the ground ; cf. Verg. Atn. 4. 

 441 foU. 



195 

 o 2 



