Latin Texts & Translations

For some plants, in fact, are thorny, while others, again, are destitute of prickles: the species of thorny plants are very numerous. The asparagus ^[Note] and the scorpio ^[Note] are essentially thorny plants, having no leaves at all upon them. Some

plants, again, that are prickly have leaves as well, such as the thistle, for instance, the erynge, ^[Note] the glycyrriza, ^[Note] and the nettle; ^[Note] all these plants being provided with leaves that prick or sting.

Some plants have thorns at the base of their leaves, the tribulus ^[Note] and the anonis ^[Note] for instance; others, again, have thorns, not on the leaves but on the stem, the pheos ^[Note] for example, known as the stœbe to some. The hippophaës ^[Note] has thorns at the joints; the tribulus presents the peculiarity of bearing a fruit that is thorny.