History of Monsters. 663
although the weakness of the progenitor, a poorly disposed material foundation for the fetus, the parents' imagination, and abominable unions—specifically those between humans and beasts—as well as others of this kind, should be numbered among these causes.
Nevertheless, at this point we must not overlook the power of the Evil Demon. With God’s permission, the demon operates within natural causes in a marvelous way, sometimes transforming a portion of the semen within the womb into a lowlier nature so that nothing but the body of a beast can result. At other times, it may secretly carry the fertile seed of some animal into a woman’s womb, so that a horrifying monster emerges from it. Indeed, it can even transfer the fetus of a beast into a woman’s womb and join it to a human conception, so that a half-human, half-beast monster bursts forth from the human womb. Let these remarks suffice concerning the monsters of animals.
# ON THE MONSTERS OF PLANTS.
Chapter XII.
The logical order mentioned at the beginning of this History demands that we now speak of the monsters of plants. In their procreation, Nature similarly commits certain errors, particularly because plants seem to have a very close relationship with animals. Indeed, there have been some who assigned all five senses of animals to plants. For it is clearly evident that zoophytes possess the sense of touch, as the sea-anemone, the sensitive plant (*Mimosa*), and others of this kind contract at a simple touch. Furthermore, some have attributed a sense of taste to plants, especially maritime ones, since if they are sown in a field lacking saltiness, they either do not sprout or, if transplanted there, they immediately perish. Others assert that those herbs are endowed with a sense of smell which wither when approached by women during their menstrual cycles. Moreover, some have observed a sense of hearing in plants on account of the white violet growing on Mount Mycenus, which is said to spoil immediately upon the mention of the word "stepmother." Finally, a sense of sight was supposedly observed in certain herbs, most notably in the *Araxe*; this plant, as soon as it perceives that it has been discovered by virgins, immediately sheds blood and wastes away. But to speak the truth, we consider these ideas to be vain and trifles.
Nevertheless, beyond these examples, there is no lack of arguments we can use to prove the great similarity between animals and plants. Indeed, Nature has placed a certain middle ground between the animal and the plant, serving as a link between them, which is called a *Zoophyte*—that is, a "plant-animal" or "animal-plant." In the manner of a plant, it clings to the ground, yet in the custom of an animal, it contracts at the slightest touch.
Furthermore, we recognize the kinship existing between plants and animals from their mutual generation, since animals may arise from plants and, conversely, plants from animals. Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Pliny testify that ivy has sometimes burst forth from the horns of a living stag as if from the soil. Likewise, Plutarch mentions a man who had long suffered from difficulty in urinating and finally passed a stalk of barley along with his urine. Thus, we should feel no wonder if stalks of barley have sometimes erupted from the nostrils of a living woman, as was recorded in the section on Prodigies. Finally, mossy herbs are occasionally observed growing on the backs of shelled and crustaceous creatures.
Conversely, animals are generated from plants. For Acosta records that worms and mice are born from reeds in New Spain. Giambattista della Porta, in his *Natural Magic*, teaches that eels arise spontaneously from seaweed. And finally, Cardano left a written account stating that silkworms are born from the leaves of a mulberry tree growing in a warmer climate, not unlike how bees are born from the carcasses of oxen.
Finally, the Turpentine tree, as Pliny attests, puts forth certain pods from which