CHAP. 115.—THE TRAGONIS OR TRAGION: FOUR REMEDIES.
The tragonis,[2021] or tragion, grows nowhere but in the maritime districts of the Isle of Crete; it resembles the juniper in the seed, leaf, and branches. Its milky juice, which thickens in the form of a gum, or its seed, taken in drink, expels pointed weapons from the flesh. The plant, too, is pounded fresh and applied as a liniment with wine, or, dried and powdered, with honey. It increases the milk in nursing women, and is a sovereign remedy for diseases of the mamillæ.
CHAP. 116.—THE TRAGOS OR SCORPION: FOUR REMEDIES.
There is another plant also, called “tragos,”[2022] or “scorpion” by some, half a foot in height, branchy, destitute of leaves, and bearing diminutive red clusters, with a seed like that of wheat, but pointed at the extremity: this too grows in maritime localities. Ten or twelve tops of the branches, bruised and taken in wine, are remedial in cases of cœliac affections, dysentery, spitting of blood, and excessive menstruation.
CHAP. 117.—THE TRAGOPOGON OR COME.
There is the tragopogon,[2023] also, by some called “come;” a plant with a small stem, leaves like those of saffron, an elongated, sweet, root, and a large, swarthy calyx at the extremity of the stem. It grows in rugged soils, and is never used.
CHAP. 118.—THE AGES OF PLANTS.
Such, then, is all that I have hitherto been enabled to learn or discover, worthy of mention, relative to plants. At the close, of this subject, it seems to me that it will not be out of place to remind the reader, that the properties of plants vary according to their age. It is elaterium, as already stated,[2024] that preserves its properties the longest of all. The black chamæleon[2025] retains its virtues forty years, centaury not more than twelve, peucedanum[2026] and aristolochia[2027] six, and the wild vine one year—that is to say, if they are kept in the shade. I would remark, also, that beyond those animals which breed within the plants, there are none that attack the roots of any of those which have been mentioned by me; with the exception, indeed, of the sphondyle,[2028] a kind of creeping insect,[2029] which infests them all.
CHAP. 119.—HOW THE GREATEST EFFICACY IN PLANTS MAY BE ENSURED.
It is also an undoubted truth, that the virtues and properties of all roots are more feebly developed, when the fruit has been allowed to ripen; and that it is the same with the seed, when incisions have been previously made in the root, for the extraction of the juice. The efficacy, too, of all plants is impaired by making habitual use of them; and these substances, if employed daily, lose equally their good or bad properties, when required to be effectual. All plants, too, have more powerful properties, when grown in soils that are cold and exposed to the north-eastern blasts, or in dry localities.