ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IV. xii. 3-xiii. i 



being, as it were, made up of several united together ; 

 it is broad, and underneath it has reddisli scales. 

 Now it is a peculiar fact about the roots of this plant 

 that they wither every year and that the fresh 

 growth of roots comes from the part of the plant 

 wliich is above ground. Such is the character of 

 rushes. 



Bramble and Christ's thorn may be considered to 

 some extent plants of the water or the waterside, 

 as they are in some districts ; but the distinctive 

 characters of these plants are fairly clear, for we have 

 spoken of both already.^ 



The floating islands of Orchomenos - are of various 

 sizes, the largest being about three furlongs in cir- 

 cumference. But in Egypt very large ones form, so 

 that even a number of boars are found in them, and 

 men go across to the islands to hunt them. Let 



this account of water-plants suffice. 



Of the length or shortness of the life of 2tlants, and the canses. 



XIII. As to the comparative shortness of life of 

 plants and trees of the water we may say thus much 

 as a general account, that, like the water-animals, 

 they are shorter-lived than those of the dry land. 

 But we must enquire into the lives of those of the 

 dry land severally. Now the woodmen say that 

 the wild kinds are almost ^ without exception long- 

 lived, and none of them is short-lived : so far they 

 may be speaking the truth ; all such plants do live 

 far longer than others. However, just as in the case 

 jf cultivated plants, some are longer-lived than others, 



■^ cf. 4. 10. 2, to which § this note perhaps belongs. 

 ^ ij eltre'ii' eonj. Sch. ; is flxetXJ-; is et-roi MV; as ttr eliroiev 

 Ald.H. 



383 



