Theophrasti De Historia Plantarum (1483 Incunabulum)

they are able to progress as they please. Especially if the place is empty and nothing obstructs it, such as a well or some aqueduct; just as in Lycia, a plane tree, by an aqueduct, while still a sapling, sent roots about thirty cubits, when it had obtained both an abundance of food and a liberal space of location. You would think the fig tree, so to speak, to have the longest root. Those that are of a rare body and drive a straight root send it further; and new ones, if they have reached the vigor of their age, will support themselves more by the length and depth of the root than older ones. For roots are also accustomed to diminish together with the rest of the body. The juices of all roots are held to be sweeter than their fruit. Some are even almost entirely unsweet. Wherefore, there are some that possess a bitter root even though they produce very sweet fruit. Some are medicinal and fragrant, such as those of the iris. The nature and power of the root of the fig is peculiar. For it is sent from the genera insofar as it has joined itself to the parent fig and clings safely to the earth. Thus, a frequent meeting of roots occurs around the tree, which does not touch the trunk at all but is slightly distant from it. Similar to this, or rather in a way more miraculous, is if something sends down a root from its leaves, such as they recount of the opuntia prickly pear herb, to which it is given that it can also possess the sweetness of honey. For that which is seen in lupines is less wondrous, so that if they are sown under deep material, the roots, being obstructed, cut through toward the top of the earth and send out strong sprouts. We ought to observe the differences of the roots in those very things. But such differences can be taken for trees. For there are some that are knotted. Others are knotless, more or less according to both nature and location. I say knotless, not so that they lack nodes entirely. For no tree seems to be such. But if there is something of that kind, it holds a place among others, such as the reed, the cat-tail, and the gladiolus. To sum up, if there is anything among marsh plants. But I want "knotless" to be understood in such a way that they have few nodes, in the order of nature, such as the elder, the laurel, the fig, and finally all those that have smooth bark or those that rise with a concave and loose body. Knotted: the olive, the pitch-pine, the wild olive. Of these, some are in shaded, windless, and moist places. Others are in sunny, winter-exposed, cold, lean, and arid places. For among those that share the same genus, some are less knotted. In sum, mountain [trees] are more knotted than those of the plains, and dry ones are more knotted than marsh ones. Likewise, by reason of the planting, those that are dense are knotless and tall. Sparse ones rise up more knotted and twisted; it happens that some are in the shade, others in the sun. Males are also more knotted than females, where both sexes can be held to be such, such as the cypress, the fir, and the hornbeam. For a certain genus calls the hornbeam the "female." Wild [trees] are more knotted than urban ones, as simply as those that are placed under the same genus, such as the wild olive and the olive, the wild fig and the fig, the pear and the wild pear. For all these are more knotted, and all dense ones are for the most part more knotted than those with rare bodies. For males and wild ones are denser, except if any, due to excessive density, is entirely knotless or has very few nodes, such as boxwood and the hackberry. In some, the nodes happen to be unordered. In some, they are ordered both in interval and in number as we have related; for this reason they call them "excellent." For in some, a parity is spread almost everywhere. In some, it increases continuously because it is adjacent to the thicker part, which is especially evident in wild olives and reeds. For a joint is like a node. Some correspond to each other, like those of the wild olive. Some are mixed, like those which chance has brought.