Enquiry into Plants, Vol. 2

leaf, somewhat like that of the olive; the leaf of the black is like that of the tamarisk and fleshy; the white grows more on the ground and is scented, while the black is scentless. In both the root, which runs deep, is large (and the branches which divide at the ground level are numerous thick and woody), and the root is also very woody. It is also very tough, wherefore it is used for binding and to put round things, like the withy. It grows and flowers after the autumnal equinox, and remains in flower a long time.

Of marjoram the black form is barren, the white bears fruit. There is a black and a white thyme, and it flowers very freely: it is in bloom about the summer solstice. It is from this flower that the bee gets the honey, and by it beekeepers say that it is made known whether they have a good yield of honey or not; for, if the thyme flowers abundantly, they have a good yield, but the bloom is injured or even destroyed if it is rained upon.

Savory, and still more marjoram, has a conspicuous fruitful seed, but in thyme it is not easy to find, being somehow mixed up with the flower; for men sow the flower and plants come up from it. This plant is sought and obtained by those in Athens who wish to export such herbs. But it has a peculiarity as compared both with similar plants and with most others, namely the kind of region which it affects; they say that it can not be grown or become