Gen 1:12

“And to such a degree has the Holy Ghost made this the rule of His Scripture, that whenever anything is made out of anything, He mentions both the thing that is made and the thing of which it is made. "Let the earth," says He, "bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, after its kind. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind." ... If the Holy Ghost took upon Himself so great a concern for our instruction, that we might know from what everything was produced, would He not in like manner have kept us well informed about both the heaven and the earth, by indicating to us what it was that He made them of, if their original consisted of any material substance?”

“Although the grasses were only a moment old at their creation, they appeared as if they were months old. Likewise, the trees, although only a day old when they sprouted forth, were nevertheless like trees years old as they were fully grown and fruits were already budding on their branches. The grass that would be required as food for the animals that were to be created two days later was thus made ready. And the new corn that would be food for Adam and his descendants, who would be thrown out of paradise four days later, was thus prepared.”

“When I hear "grass," I think of grass, and in the same manner I understand everything as it is said: a plant, a fish, a wild animal and an ox. Indeed, "I am not ashamed of the gospel." … (Some) have attempted by false arguments and allegorical interpretations to bestow on the Scripture a dignity of their own imagining. But theirs is the attitude of one who considers himself wiser than the revelations of the Spirit and introduces his own ideas in pretense of an explanation. Therefore, let it be understood as it has been written.”

“Let everyone be informed that the sun is not the author of vegetation.… How can the sun give the faculty of life to growing plants when these have already been brought forth by the life-giving creative power of God before the sun entered into such a life as this? The sun is younger than the green shoot, younger than the green plant.”

“The Manichaeans are accustomed to say, "If God commanded that the edible plants and the fruit trees come forth from the earth, who commanded that there come forth so many thorny or poisonous plants that are useless for food and so many trees that bear no fruit?" … We should say then that the earth was cursed by reason of the sin of man so that it bears thorns, not that it should suffer punishment since it is without sensation but that it should always set before the eyes of man the judgment upon human sin. Thus men might be admonished by it to turn away from sins and to turn to God's commandments. Poisonous plants were created as a punishment or as a trial for mortals. All this is the result of sin.”

“ותוצא הארץ וגו AND THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH etc. — Although the expression למינהו according to its kind, was not used when the various kinds of herbage were bidden to come forth, they heard that the trees were so commanded and they applied to themselves the argument à fortiore (ק"ו), as it is explained in an Aggadic passage in (Chullin 60a).”

“There follows a reference to seeds and fruits. "The earth brought forth vegetation, every kind of seed-bearing plant." As in the gathering of the waters, there was a symbol of the many forms of intelligent beings, and in the germination of the earth, a symbol of the multiplicity of sacramental images, so also in the seeds is shown a kind of infinity in the heavenly theories that are pointed to by these same seeds. For the principal intelligences and figures exist in certain determined numbers, while the theories are almost infinite. For as the reflection of light-rays and images from a mirror comes about in almost infinite ways, so it is from the mirror of Scriptures. Who can know how many are the intermediate angles between the right and the obtuse, between the obtuse and the acute? Hence, as in the seeds there is multiplication to infinity, so also are the theories multiplied. Wherefore in Daniel: "Many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be manifold," for one man and another look differently into the mirror.”

“"The earth brought forth vegetation, every kind of seed-bearing plant and all kinds of trees that bear fruit containing their seed," etc. Concerning this vision of the intelligence taught by Scripture, we have said of the spiritual interpretation that it was understood by means of the gathering of waters. Likewise, of the sacramental figure, that it was understood through the germination of the earth. We have spoken also of the theories that were understood both through the seed and through the fruit. For these theories reproduce in a manner related to seed, and they sustain in a manner related to food: wherefore they are understood partly under the aspect of seed and partly under the aspect of the germination of fruits. In terms of seed, they consist in correlations of times, by which times follow one another; in terms of the fruit of a tree they consist also in correlations of times, by which times correspond to one another. In the order of comparison of a tree or a seed to the seed, the times follow one another; in the order of comparison of the germ to the germinating, they correspond to each other.”