Phytognomonica

BOOK ONE.

...can be handled, such as orache original: "atriplex" and blite original: "blitum"; these are soft-leaved potherbs. But those that are hard and solid seek a hard and solid environment. A plant that spreads broad from its stem and tapers to a sharp point, so that it resembles a pointed wedge, seeks out stone walls and ruined buildings, living packed between the gaps in rocks; it is therefore called saxifrage literally "stone-breaker". Trees that hasten to sprout, such as the almond, peach, and apricot original: "præcox, & armeniaca", which bloom in January, should be planted during the first summer rains. Those that bloom late, like the mulberry, we can sow later, as we do with the vine and the apple; for it is necessary that they lie beneath the earth for a little while so they may unite with the soil and conceive. Those that sprout in the intermediate time can be planted between autumn and spring. Cereal crops original: "Frumentacea", which have a hungry and thin appearance, rejoice in rich fallow land and fertile manure. Hungry things desire more food, and dry bodies long for abundant and rich nourishment; they draw no benefit from what is dry and lean. Just as hungry and thin men delight in rich food so they may improve in color and strength, the same is truly seen in trees. A plant demonstrates it must be warded off when it is a vice and a troublesome companion to the crop. Drooping vine-shoots which take root as soon as they touch the ground and are born again—filling everything unless they are restrained—clearly show they wish to propagate themselves. Those plants that show aborted and degenerate fruits are demanding lower ground.

In grafting infitio: the practice of joining a part of one plant onto another so they grow together, those things unite which have the same nature of bark and which bloom equally at the same hour, having a shared timing for sprouting and for the union of their shoots. For whenever dry things are resisted by wet ones, or hard barks by soft ones, they conceive with great difficulty. Trees clothed in a thicker bark, because they suck up copious moisture from the earth, require foliage-grafting emphyllismon: a method where a shoot is inserted under the bark, such as the fig, olive, and cherry; otherwise, when the shoot is driven between the bark and the wood, the bandage of the bark is burst asunder. Those joined by a thin bark, being dry on the outside and content with less moisture—as if the moisture had retreated from the bark into the inner marrow—such as the vine and the citron, require cleft-grafting encentrismon: inserting a wedge-shaped scion into a cleft in the host's wood, and they nourish the foreign shoot in the nurturing lap of the parent. For those whose bark wavers with too much moisture and possesses a rich sap beneath, budding enophtalmismon: from the Greek for "eye" (bud); inserting a single bud into a slit in the bark is appropriate: for they enclose a bud taken from another plant, receiving it gently in the soft beds of the bark and joining it in a living bond. For those whose lopped-off branches do not regrow, grafting is denied; never have farmers seen a cypress, spruce, or pine that nourished the offspring of another. Those that "weep" resin and pitch scorn the fellowship of other inoculations and graftings; a grafted branch never takes hold in the spruce or pine.

Those trees require pruning which are exhausted by excessive fertility, like the vine, for its luxury is restrained by pruning; in the same way, those that grow wild with a wanton boldness of branches, like the olives, need it. But for those that are harmed by clipping, we advise that nothing be taken away. Those that produce watery and large fruits in a short interval of time rejoice in marshy and shady places, like the melon, cucumber, and gourd. Those swelling with a large, heavy fruit over a longer time, like quinces, citrons, and apples, prefer moist places or those that can be irrigated. Those with tiny fruits, like the jujube original: "lotus", dogwood, and palm, prefer mountains and sterile places. Flowers of a cheerful appearance and charming elegance, like roses, delight in basking in the sun; those of a sad and pale look seek out shady places, like the boxwood, cypress, nightshade original: "solanus", and the like. Because we have treated these matters copiously in the work dedicated to this task, we will omit them here; let it suffice to have tasted a few examples to show that through similarity and the form of the thing itself, all things demonstrate their internal gifts.

TO MAN, WHAT BENEFITS ARISE FROM PLANTS AND THEIR PARTS

which mimic human limbs. Chapter XII.

But because this similarity is wandering, manifold, and of great scope, lest we disturb the minds of readers with a tangled or greatly confused review, we provide the usual table of classification below. This is so that memory may be aided by a brief compendium, and we may arrange the matter into a more elegant series with few and clear words. Therefore, the hidden properties of plants are demonstrated by similarity: first to living creatures, then to inanimate things. We shall speak first of living creatures—namely man, quadrupeds, birds, fish, and reptiles. For Man...