Ἐπιμήδιον,
Epimedium, Barren Wort; its powers are moderately refrigerant, with a watery humidity. When applied in the form of a cataplasm it preserves the breasts in a right state. It is also said to prevent conception when taken in a draught.
Commentary. Our author borrows his description of the Epimedium Alpinum, or Barren Wort, from Dioscorides; and none of the others supply any additional information respecting it.
Ἐπιμηλὶς,
Epimelis, Crab-tree, called also Unedo by the Italian husbandmen. It is a sort of wild apple, the fruit of which, being sour, is bad for the stomach, and occasions headache.
Commentary. It appears, from Dioscorides (i, 170), that it is a species of Medlar. Probably, then, it was the Mespilus Germanica. Dioscorides, Galen, and all the other authorities that treat of it give it the same character as our author. As a medicine, it has the same characters as the other Medlars.
Ἐπιπακτὶς,
Epipactis (called also Helleborine, or Bastard Hellebore), is drunk as an antidote for deadly poisons, and for diseases of the liver.
Commentary. The older herbalists, supported by the authority of Anguillara, incline to refer this article to the genus Herniaria, or Rupture Wort. The epipactis, it would seem, is still in great repute throughout Greece, as being alexipharmic, and curing complaints of the liver. Our author and all the others who notice it take its medicinal characters from Dioscorides. (iv, 107.) As far as we have been able to discover, it is not noticed by Hippocrates, Celsus, nor any of the Arabians.