LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
Cover: Enquiry into Plants, Volume II: Books 6-9. On Odours. Weather Signs, from Harvard University PressCover: Enquiry into Plants, Volume II: Books 6-9. On Odours. Weather Signs in HARDCOVER

Loeb Classical Library 79

Enquiry into Plants, Volume II: Books 6-9. On Odours. Weather Signs

Product Details

HARDCOVER

$29.00 • £22.95 • €23.95

ISBN 9780674990883

Publication Date: 01/01/1916

Loeb

512 pages

4-1/4 x 6-3/8 inches

Indexes and key

Loeb Classical Library > Enquiry into Plants

World

Add to Cart

Media Requests:

Related Subjects

The digital Loeb Classical Library extends the founding mission of James Loeb with an interconnected, fully searchable, perpetually growing virtual library of all that is important in Greek and Latin literature. Now with enhanced navigation »

Theophrastus of Eresus in Lesbos, born about 370 BCE, is the author of the most important botanical works that have survived from classical antiquity. He was in turn student, collaborator, and successor of Aristotle. Like his predecessor he was interested in all aspects of human knowledge and experience, especially natural science. His writings on plants form a counterpart to Aristotle’s zoological works.

In the Enquiry into Plants, Theophrastus classifies and describes varieties—covering trees, plants of particular regions, shrubs, herbaceous plants, and cereals; in the last of the nine books he focuses on plant juices and medicinal properties of herbs. The Loeb Classical Library edition is in two volumes; the second contains two additional treatises: On Odours and Weather Signs.

In De Causis Plantarum, Theophrastus turns to plant physiology. Books 1 and 2 are concerned with generation, sprouting, flowering and fruiting, and the effects of climate. In Books 3 and 4, Theophrastus studies cultivation and agricultural methods. In Books 5 and 6, he discusses plant breeding; diseases and other causes of death; and distinctive flavours and odours.

Theophrastus’s celebrated Characters is of a quite different nature. This collection of descriptive sketches is the earliest known character-writing and a striking reflection of contemporary life.

Recent News

Black lives matter. Black voices matter. A statement from HUP »

From Our Blog

Jacket: Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500, by Peter Wilson, from Harvard University Press

A Lesson in German Military History with Peter Wilson

In his landmark book Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500, acclaimed historian Peter H. Wilson offers a masterful reappraisal of German militarism and warfighting over the last five centuries, leading to the rise of Prussia and the world wars. Below, Wilson answers our questions about this complex history,