Egyptian trees which are called vargariaton[1]; in some cases it grows in the middle of the plant. In some plants the leaves and knots[2] are not separated; in others the leaves are equal in size and similar to one another, and some of those which have branches have branches equal in size. The following parts, which we will name, are found in〈almost〉all plants,[3] and admit of growth and addition—namely, the root, the shoots, the stem, and the branches; these resemble the limbs of animals which include all the other limbs. The root acts as an intermediary between the plants and its food, and for that reason the Greeks call it the root and cause of life in plants, for it supplies the plant with its means of life. The stem is the only part which grows out of the ground and forms, as it were, its erect stature. The suckers are the parts which sprout from the root of a tree, while the branches are above the suckers. They are not found in all plants; and in some plants which have branches these are not permanent, but only last from year to year. There are plants which do not have branches or leaves, fungi, for example, and mushrooms. Branches are only found on trees. Bark and wood and the pith of a tree are produced from moisture; some call this pith the womb of the tree, others the vitals, others the heart. The fibres[4] and veins and flesh of the whole plant are made up from the four elements. Parts are often found which are adapted to reproduction, leaves, for example, and flowers and small twigs (which are flowers outside the plant);[5] the fruit and leaves on a plant grow in the same way, being produced[6] from the seed and the shell which surrounds it.
Of plants some are trees, some are midway between trees
- ↑ This word is clearly corrupt; it perhaps represents the ἀράχιδνα of Theophr. l. c. 12, 7.
- ↑ Nodi is here, according to Meyer, used in its proper sense of knots (ὄζοι) and not in the sense of ἶνες (fibrae) as in 818a 6 and 11.
- ↑ Omnium plantarum can hardly be right here, for it is stated below (l. 30) that rami are not found in all plants. The parallel passage of Theophr. l. c. 1, 9 has (
Greek characters).
- ↑ See notes on 818a 6, 819b 13.
- ↑ These words are certainly corrupt: the parallel passage in Theophr. l. c. 2, 1 has (Greek characters).
- ↑ Omitting quae.
