124 Plant Description [ch. 



efforts, and to increase his perception of delicate shades 

 of difference or similarity of form, which he might never 

 have noticed, or attempted to express in words, if the 

 draughtsman had not, as it were, lent him his trained 

 eyesight. 



The next great worker, Hieronymus Bock, differs from 

 Brunfels in the comparative unimportance of his contri- 

 butions to plant illustration, and the relatively greater value 

 of his text. His descriptions of flowers and fruits are 

 excellent, and the way in which he indicates the general 

 habit is often masterly. As an example we may quote his 

 description of Mistletoe plants, which may be translated as 

 follows : " They grow almost in the shape of a cluster, with 

 many forks and articulations. The whole plant is light 

 green, the leaves are fleshy, plump and thick, larger than 

 those of the Box. They flower in the beginning of spring, 

 the flowers are however very small and yellow in colour, 

 from them develop, towards autumn, small, round white 

 berries very like those on the wild gooseberry. These 

 berries are full inside of white tough lime, yet each berry 

 has its small black grain, as if it were the seed, which 

 however does not grow when sown, for, as I have said 

 above, the Mistletoe only originates and develops on trees. 

 In winter missel thrushes seek their food from the Mistletoe, 

 but in summer they are caught with it, for bird-lime is 

 commonly made from its bark. Thus the Mistletoes are 

 both beneficial and harmful to birds." 



In ' De historia stirpium,' the great Latin work of 

 Leonhard Fuchs, the plant descriptions are brief and of 

 little importance, being frequently taken word for word 

 from previous writers. This book, however, is notable in 

 possessing a full glossary of the technical terms used, which 

 is of importance as being the first contribution of the kind 

 to botanical literature. We may translate two examples at 

 random, to show the style of Fuchs' definitions : — 



" Stamens are the points [apices] that shoot forth in the 

 middle of the flower-cup [calyx] : so called because they 

 spring out like threads from the inmost bosom of the 

 flower 1 ." 



"Pappus, both to the Greeks and to the Latins, is the 



1 Stamen = warp or thread. 



