Definitions of the various classes into which plants may be divided.
III. Now since our study becomes more illuminating[1] if we distinguish different kinds,[2] it is well to follow this plan where it is possible. The first and most important classes, those which comprise all or nearly all[3] plants, are tree, shrub, under-shrub, herb.
A tree is a thing which springs from the root with a single stem, having knots and several branches, and it cannot easily be uprooted; for instance, olive fig vine. [4]A shrub is a thing which rises from the root with many branches; for instance, bramble Christ's thorn. An under-shrub is a thing which rises from the root with many stems as well as many branches; for instance, savory[5] rue. A herb is a thing which comes up from the root with its leaves and has no main stem, and the seed is borne on the stem; for instance, corn and pot-herbs.
These definitions however must be taken and accepted as applying generally and on the whole. For in the case of some plants it might seem that our definitions overlap; and some under cultivation appear to become different and depart from their essential nature, for instance, mallow[6] when it grows tall and becomes tree-like. For this comes to pass in no long time, not more than six or seven months, so that in length and thickness the plant becomes as great as a spear, and men accordingly use it as a walking-stick, and after a longer period the result of cultivation is proportionately greater. So too is it with the beets; they also increase in stature under cultivation, and so still more do chaste-tree Christ's thorn ivy, so that, as is generally admitted, these become trees, and yet they belong to the class of shrubs. On the other hand the myrtle, unless it is pruned, turns into a shrub, and so does filbert[7]: indeed this last appears to bear better and more abundant fruit, if one leaves a good many of its branches untouched, since it is by nature like a shrub. Again neither the apple nor the pomegranate nor the pear would seem to be a tree of a single stem, nor indeed any of the trees which have side stems from the roots, but they acquire the character of a tree when the other stems are removed. However some trees men even leave with their numerous stems because of their slenderness, for instance, the pomegranate and the apple, and they leave the stems of the olive and the fig cut short.[8]
- ↑ σαφεστέραν conj. W.; σαφέστερον Ald.
- ↑ εἴδη here=γένη; cf. 6. 1. 2. n.
- ↑ πάντ᾽ ἢ conj. Sch. after G; πάντη UMVAld.
- ↑ θάμνος . . . πήγανον W.'s text transposes, without alteration, the definitions of θάμνος and φράγανον as given in U. φρύγανον δὲ τὸ ἀπὸ ῥίζης καὶ πολυστέλεχες καὶ πολύκλαδον οὗον βάτος παλίουρος, Ald. So also M, but with a lacuna marked before φρύγανον and a note that the definition of θάμνος is wanting. φρύγανον δὲ τὸ ἀπὸ ῥἰζης καὶ πολυστέλεχες καὶ πολύκλαδον οἷον καὶ γάμβοη καὶ πήγανον. θάμνος δὲ ἀπὸ ῥἰζης πολύκλαδον οἷον βάτος παλίουρος U. So also very nearly P1P2. G gives to θάμνος (frutex) the definition assigned in U to φρύγανον (suffrutex) and the other definition is wanting. Note that W.'s transposition gives καὶ . . . καὶ the proper force; § 4 shews that the typical φρύγανον in T.'s view was πολυστέλεχεσ.
- ↑ θύμβρα conj. W.; γάμβρη MSS. But the first καὶ being meaningless, W. also suggests σισύμβριον for καὶ γάμβρη.
- ↑ cf. Plin. 19. 62.
- ↑ cf. 3. 15. 1.
- ↑ i.e. so that the tree comes to look like a shrub from the growth of fresh shoots after cutting. cf. 2. 6. 12; 2. 7. 2.