[1510] Chrysippus and Dioscorides were of opinion, that a decoction of asparagus root causes sterility in women; a false notion, which, as Fée remarks, prevailed very generally in Greece.
[1511] This is not consistent with fact.
[1512] See B. xix. c. [37]. Parsley, though possessed of marked properties, is but little employed in medicine. What Pliny here states respecting it, Fée says, is a tissue of fables: but it is still used for the cure of sores, and even as an ophthalmic.
[1513] This distinction, Fée says, cannot be admitted.
[1514] Or maggots.
[1515] This belief in its efficacy, Fée says, still exists.
[1516] See B. xxi. c. [86]: this is the Melissa officinalis of Linnæus, or balm-gentle, from which the bees gather honey, quite a different plant to apiastrum or wild parsley. The Sardinian plant here mentioned, is probably the same as the Ranunculus, mentioned in B. xxv. c. 109, where its identification will be further discussed.
[1518] Or “horse parsley.”
[1519] Or strangury. No medicinal use is made of this plant in modern times.