# Περὶ φυτῶν αἰτιῶν 1.5.3

Theophrastus, Περὶ φυτῶν αἰτιῶν, Book 1, Chapter 5. Ancient Greek.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/greek/theophrastus/text-2/1.5.3

ἀλλ᾽ αὗται μὲν οὐκ αὐτόματοι δόξαιεν ἂν, ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ σπειρόμεναί τινες καὶ φυτευόμεναι. τὸ δὲ τῶν ἀκάρπων οἰηθείη τις ἂν μᾶλλον αὐτομάτους εἶναι μήτε φυτευομένων μήτε ἀπὸ σπέρματος γινομένων, ὅπερ ἀναγκαῖον εἰ μηδ᾽ ἕτερον τούτων· ἀλλὰ μὴ ποτ᾽ οὐκ ᾖ τοῦτ᾽ ἀληθὲς ἐπί γε τῶν μειζόνων, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον λανθάνουσιν αἱ πᾶσαι τῶν σπερμάτων φύσεις ὅπερ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις ἐλέχθη περί τε τῆς ἰτέας καὶ τῆς πτελέας· ἐπεὶ καὶ τῶν ἐλαττόνων πολλαὶ διαλανθάνουσι τῶν ποιωδῶν, ὥσπερ καὶ περὶ τοῦ θύμου καὶ ἑτέρων εἴπομεν ὡς κατὰ μὲν τὴν ὄψιν οὐ φανερὰ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν δύναμιν φανερά· σπειρομένων γὰρ τῶν ἀνθῶν γεννᾶται.

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Theophrastus, Περὶ φυτῶν αἰτιῶν, ed. Friedrich Wimmer. Text: The Greek Library, from the Perseus Digital Library and other open sources, CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: apostrophes normalised and the text divided into reading sections by Interlinea.
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Source: https://thegreeklibrary.pages.lisn.upsaclay.fr/works/tlg0093.tlg002.local001/.