[652] This, Fée remarks, is not the fact.
[653] This comparison is inexact.
[654] It is not swarthy.
[655] A king of Thrace, contemporary with Alexander the Great. Sprengel and Desfontaines identify this plant with the Lythrum salicaria of Linnæus, the purple Willow-herb. Fée, on the authority of Dioscorides, identifies it with the Lysimachia vulgaris of Linnæus, the yellow Willow-plant. Littré gives the Lysimachia atro-purpurea of Linnæus.
[656] Pliny has probably mistranslated the Greek πυῤῥόν here, “reddish yellow.”
[657] An absurdity, of course.
[658] Artemis or Diana, the guardian of pregnant women.
[659] Probably the Artemisia chamæmelifolia, Camomile-leaved mugwort. The A. arborescens, the Tree-wormwood is named by Littré.
[660] Either the Artemisia Pontica of Linnæus, Little wormwood, or Roman wormwood, or else A. campestris of Linnæus, Field southern-wood.
[661] Identified with the Artemisia camphorata of Linnæus, Camphorated mugwort.