[2288] Dioscorides says that it grows in Babylonia. It is a variety, no doubt, of the Andropogon schœnanthus.
[2289] “Ungues,” “nails;” in allusion to the white part of the finger-nails.
[2290] “Cortex.”
[2291] “Anchusam.”
[2292] In B. xiv. c. 19.
[2293] “In calliblepharum.”
[2294] “Diapasmata.”
[2295] “Pilulæ.” He alludes to the galls produced by an insect of the Cynips kind, and known as “bedeguar.” They are astringent, but no longer employed in medicine.
[2296] The efficacy of bears’-grease for promoting the growth of the hair was believed in, we find, so early as Pliny’s time.
[2297] See c. [11] of this Book. The bulbs of the lily contain a mucilage, and roasted or boiled they are sometimes employed, Fée says, to bring inflammations to a head. Employed internally, he thinks that they would be of no use whatever, and there is nothing in their composition, he says which would induce one to think that they might be employed to advantage in most of the cases mentioned by Pliny.