Phytognomonica

BOOK ONE

Pith in bones exists just as it resides in the middle of wood; the wood is nourished by its pith original: medulla; in botany this is the pith, but the author uses the same word for bone marrow to emphasize the biological parallel, just as the bones of animals are. For Theophrastus A Greek philosopher and the "father of botany," student of Aristotle. spoke falsely when he said that all nourishment of a living plant is drawn through the pith of the trunk, as if through a siphon, as we have proved in our work On Agriculture. There are also animal bones, such as those of a lion, which lack marrow, just as there are trees that have very little, such as the olive and the boxwood, or those which seem to have none at all. Aphrodiscus Alexander of Aphrodisias, a famous commentator on Aristotle. says that Nature covered the stems themselves with leaves in place of hair or feathers, because she foresaw that they could be harmed or even perish from excessive cold or immoderate heat. Indeed, she armed some with thorns, like small spears, against the bites of animals, just as she gave horns to some creatures, stings to others, claws to others, or something similar by which they might defend themselves from those things that would bring them harm.

Aristotle says that hair in humans exists for necessity and for the sake of protection: for necessity because the brain is moist, and where there is the most moisture and heat, there is also a copious growth of hair. It is an aid because hair drives away extreme cold and heat. There is a benefit in this, as we have said, because noxious vapors are expelled from the body in this way, which is the origin of hair. Likewise, through the pores of the leaves, the undigested moisture of the plant is breathed out. Theophrastus, in his Enquiry into Plants, said that the most abundant leaves are for conservation, for longevity, for growth, and for the generation of fruit. Other authors add that hair is for ornament; take away the hair from the human body, and all its beauty withers; take away the "foliage" original: coma; literally "hair," used here for the leaves of a tree of a tree, and the whole tree is unpleasing.

Animals lose their fur and feathers, and plants lose their leaves. Just as hair adorns the highest part of a man as a mane, so the leaves, in the manner of tresses, adorn the tips of branches and "little forks" term: furculi; small forked branches when they are in leaf. These little forks are the genital members, born in an appropriate place. They conceive on various days, and according to their own nature, some carry their "offspring" immediately, others for a longer time while pregnant. The flower foretells the fruit, just as a woman's menstruation demonstrates potential conception; a plant is not fruit-bearing before it is flower-bearing. The fruit of the tree is the same as the seed in a human, toward which the animal is ordained for the propagation of the species.

In the bark of a plant there are veins and nerves—vital parts, as in a man—by which it attracts, digests, and expels. The roots perform the duty of the mouth. Mnesitheus An ancient Greek physician. says the stalk is the stomach; for just as in the mouth the juice is affected but not perfected, so in the stalk it is perfected by concoction An ancient medical term for the "cooking" or digestion of nutrients by internal heat. so that it may provide nourishment to the fruits. Others have called the root the heart of the plant, because it is the first part to live and the last to die. If the root rots, the plant dies immediately; but if the branches dry out, the revived root can produce new shoots. Therefore, roots seem to be the beginnings of life.

There are juices and humors in a plant just as in a man. Because of this, the Platonists not unpleasantly called man an "inverted plant," and a plant an "inverted man." For a plant draws its nourishment from its lower part, and man from his upper part. Plato calls plants "animals" because they share in life. He attributes to them a power of desire and nourishment, in which Aristotle and Theophrastus followed him. Galen ascribes four powers common to the desiring soul of humans: the attractive, the retentive, the alterative, and the expulsive, by which they take in food, retain what is taken so as to convert it into various parts of their essence, and expel waste.

For they saw that those plants which seem to have hands reach out with "little tendrils" original: capreolis vel clauiculis; literally "little goats" or "little keys" to catch hold of supports and stakes, by whose help they might raise themselves. For they seemed to waver at first until they could grasp something; then, once they had touched it, they would attack it and immediately wrap themselves around it. And if they felt anything foreign or harmful in the meantime, they would avoid it and pull back by a great design of nature, lest they turn something given for protection into something harmful. Furthermore, they noticed that others rejoice in the light of the Sun or the Moon, and even on a cloudy day their foliage and flowers seem to follow them; others, even those submerged in water, rise and descend, and close or open their flowers at the arrival and departure of the heavenly body.

When they observed these and other things, Anaxagoras asserted that plants were animals and even breathed; indeed, with Democritus, he asserted that they share in pain and pleasure: they grieve at the falling of their leaves and conversely take pleasure when the same are restored. Empedocles thought that a mixture of sexes existed within them. Others say that in some plants it is not so distinct, but in palms the male and female sexes are separate; indeed, the seeds of the male and female are planted bound together so that a most perfect plant might arise from them. Damageron said this also occurs in pistachios...

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