Commentary. It is very difficult to determine; and it would be useless to mention the variety of conjectures which have been advanced respecting it. Sprengel inclines to think that it was a species of tulip, and suggests that it probably was the Tulipa Gesneriana. This is the species which Dioscorides further distinguishes by the name of Trifolium. The other named by him Erythronium is probably the Erythronium Dens Canis. What confirms this conjecture very much is, the circumstance that the Dens Canis is still reputed to be aphrodisiac, as the Erythronium is reported to be by Dioscorides. (iii, 134.) See Lindley (Veg. Kingd. 204.) Galen gives nearly the same account of it as our author. The Arabians scarcely appear to distinguish it properly from the orchis, but otherwise they give the same characters of these plants as the Greeks. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 706, 707); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 7, 14.)
Σάυρα,
Lacerta, the Lizard; the liver and head have been treated of in their proper places. When an entire one has been cut in pieces and applied, it cures persons bitten by scorpions.
Commentary. It seems not unlikely that it may have been the Lacerta Gecko. See the translation of Ebn Baithar by Sontheimer (ii, 3), where the chapter of Dioscorides on the Saura, is arranged under this head, along with another to the same effect from Avicenna. Dioscorides, and indeed all the authorities who treat of it, recommend it for the bites of scorpions. Pliny recommends it in complaints of the eyes. (H. N. xxix, 38.) The Arabians recommend it in the same cases as the Greeks, and also say of it, that its liver soothes the pains of toothache, and that its urine and blood are useful in the ruptures of children. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 639.) In the East it is still used medicinally. Ainslie (Mat. Ind. ii, 276.)
Σέλινον,
Apium, Parsley, is hot to such a degree that it promotes the urinary and menstrual discharges. It is also carminative and especially the seed of it.
Commentary. There seems little or no doubt that it is the Common Parsley, namely, Apium petroselinum, which long held a place in our Dispensatory, and retained in it its ancient characters. Dioscorides recommends it in a great many cases; for inflammations of the eyes in cataplasms; for heat of the stomach; as a diuretic and antidote to venomous animals; and for various other medicinal purposes. (iii, 77.) Galen and the other Greek authorities merely state its virtues in general terms. The Arabians treat of it under Apium, not distinguishing it very accurately from its congeners. See Avicenna (ii, 2, 55); Serapion (c. 290); Averrhoes (Collig. v, 42); Rhases (Cont. l. ult. i, 69.)
Σερὶς,
Seris, Endive, is a bitterish potherb, being considerably refrigerant and diluent. It has also some astringency.