[2628] In B. xxi. c. 68.
[2629] This practice, as Fée remarks, was based on sound principles, the acrid properties of the bulbs being removed by boiling.
[2630] Most medicinal roots are gathered at this period, their properties being, as Pliny says, most fully developed in the autumn.
[2631] See B. xvi. c. 11.
[2632] Other readings are Diocles, Socles, and Socrates. If “Sophocles” is the correct reading, all memorials of this physician have perished, beyond the mention made of him by Cælius Aurelianus, Chron. c. i.
[2633] “Vitia.”
[2634] The Atriplex halimus of Linnæus, sea orach. Belon says that it is found in great abundance in Candia, the ancient Crete, where it is known as “halimatia,” and the tops of the stalks are used as food.
[2635] Hence its name, ἅλιμον, from ἅλς, the “sea,” and not, as Pliny says, from its salt taste.
[2636] “Mitius.” Fée says that if this word means “cultivated,” the plant mentioned cannot be the Atriplex halimus; in which case he is inclined to identify it with the Atriplex portulacoides of Linnæus; the leaves and young stalks of which, preserved in vinegar, have an agreeable taste.
[2637] Some other plant, probably, Fée thinks.