Ancient Botany (Sciences of Antiquity Series) by Hardy Gavin & Totelin Laurence

Author:Hardy, Gavin & Totelin, Laurence [Hardy, Gavin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781134386789
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2015-10-04T16:00:00+00:00

Dioscorides compared plant leaves to those of mastic (schinos, Pistacia lentiscus L.) on two further occasions (MM 1.96: lime tree; 4.49: stinking tutsan); he used the size of the plane catkins as a measure on two further occasions (MM 4.73: head of the thorn apple; 4.136: fruit of the burweed); he referred to lentils on many occasions in his comparisons, and even employed the technical word ‘lentiform’ (phakoeidēs, see e.g. MM 4.135); he also alluded to the hyacinth (huakinthos, Scilla bifolia L.) in his description of the akanthos (MM 3.17). Clearly, Dioscorides’ comparisons of liquorice parts with those of other plants were not haphazard.

All ancient botanical authors followed the same mode of plant descriptions, whether they wrote in the Aristotelian tradition or in the magical tradition; or whether they wrote in prose or in verse. Two further examples will suffice. The first comes from the Hermetic Cyranides:

There are two types of this plant: the first is the white vine [ampelos] … Its twigs, leaves and sarments are similar to those of the cultivated vine, but shaggier. It entwines with the neighbouring shrubs, grabbing them with its sarments. It has a fruit that is grape-like and yellowish-red, which depilates the skin.

The second is called ‘the black vine’…. It has ivy-like leaves, rather similar to those of smilax, but larger; it attaches itself to trees with its sarments; it has grape-like fruits, which are green at first, but become darker as they ripen; it has roots that are black on the outside, but yellowish-red inside.

(Cyranides 1.1.106–117, our emphasis)

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