Theophrasti De Historia Plantarum (1483 Incunabulum)

they are such: as strength. Some are as if knotted and hairy, like the olive. This comes about for this reason: because they send out many short, thin, and mixed roots. For even if for all [trees] they come forth from the large ones, they are not gathered and frequent in the same way for all. There are likewise others with deep roots, such as the oak. Others are attached at the very top to the soil, such as the pomegranate, the apple tree, and the cypress; likewise, for others, they are perfectly equal, while for others they are oblique and unequal. This does not happen only for the reason of the location—because they are unable to progress in a straight path—but it is also a property of their very nature, as is clear in the laurel and the olive. In the fig and others of this kind, the root is oblique because they lack an open and easy path. Pith exists in all, just as in the trunks and branches, which certainly do not testify to their principles without a reason of their own. Likewise, some possess the power for offspring to be generated upwards, such as the vine and the pomegranate. Some are able to bring forth no offspring at all, such as firs, cypresses, pines, and also sub-shrubs and others; one may assign these same differences, unless something lacks a root entirely, such as a truffle, a fungus, or a cranium a parasitic plant growth or excrescence. For in some the root is numerous, as in wheat, barley, cat-tails, and all things of this kind, which are seen to be related by a certain similarity; in others, they are few, as in legumes. Also, the greater part of vegetables are attached by a single root, such as cabbage, beet, celery, and dock. But some provide large shoots, such as celery and beet. Which, by the nature of their body, truly root themselves deeper than trees. In others they are fleshy, as in the radish, turnips, arum, and crocus; in others they are woody, as in rocket, basil, and wild plants for the most part, in which many and divided [roots] do not immediately come forth, as they do in wheat, barley, and that which we specifically call grass. This is the difference of roots in the genus of annual herbs: that some are immediately multiple and cut equally, while others are brought forth as simple, or double, which they mostly consist of. For others, most of them arise from these, to the sum of the difference of the roots in the genus of vegetables, and many can be accepted in humble matter. For there are some that are woody, such as basil; others that are fleshy, such as beets and much more so, arum, royal spear-lily, and crocus. Some consist, as it were, of flesh and bark, such as those of radishes and turnips; others are jointed, like those of reeds and grasses, and whatever is of the reed-kind. These, indeed, are seen to be formed in a way most similar to those that rise above the ground. For since reeds also take root supported by fibers, others extend themselves with multiple, bark-like tunics, such as squills, bulbs, and onions and those similar to them, for something can always be removed from them. These things indeed all seem to exhibit a certain double kind of root. For some, this same thing pleases for all that are capitate and buried in the earth. For they have that fleshy and bark-like part, such as the squill and those that come from it. It does not differ only in thickness and thinness, as in the olive and trees, but they are seen to have a different genus. It is most evident in the gladiolus and the arum, since the one is thick, smooth, and fleshy, while the other is thin and fibrous. Wherefore, someone might rightly have doubted whether these should be placed among the roots. For that which is attached beneath the earth may appear to be a root. But you would say that that which is produced in the opposite way for others possesses no root at all. For a root is thinner at the final part, and tends continuously toward a point.