ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IV. xii. 1-3 



head ' because it has black fruit ; this is stouter and 

 ileshier : and third the ' entire rush/ as it is called, 

 which is distinguished by its size stoutness and 

 fleshiness. 



Now the 'black-head' grows by itself, but the 

 ' sharp ' rush and the ' entire ' rush grow from the 

 same stock, which seems extraordinary, and indeed 

 it was strange to see it ^ when the whole clump of 

 rushes was brought before me ; for from the same 

 stock there were growing ' barren ' rushes, which 

 were the most numerous, and also a few ' fruiting ' 

 ones. ■ This then is a matter for further enquir}-. 

 The ' fruiting ' - ones are in general scarcer, for ^ the 

 ' entire rush ' is more useful for wicker-work because 

 i)f its fleshiness and pliancy. The ' fruiting ' rush in 

 general produces a club-like^ head which swells 

 straight from the wiry stem, and then bears egg-like 

 bodies ; for attached to a single wiry ^ base it has its 

 very spike-like** branches all round it, and on the 

 i?nds of these it has its round vessels borne laterally 

 and gaping '^; in each of these is the small seed, 

 which is pointed and black, and like that of the 

 Michaelmas daisy, except that it is less solid. It 

 has a long root, which is stouter than that of the 

 ordinary rush ; this withers ever}' year, and then 

 another strikes down again from the ' head ' ^ of the 

 ])lant. And it is easy to observe that some of the 

 roots as they are let down are withered, some green. 

 The ' head ' is like that of an onion or long onion. 



T€pi(rTaxv«5tis seems an impossible word ; ? »«pl avrhr 



jTaxvwSets. 

 I'TToxtuTKovaas coTii. Soh.; cTio-xa^ovo-os AlcLH. 



e. the part above ground; cf. Plin. I.e. Sch. has dis- 

 .1 of the idea that ic€^>aA4 is here a ' bulbous ' root. 



381 



