CHAP. 86.—THE CALLITRICHOS: ONE REMEDY.
A sternutatory, too, is prepared from the callitrichos.[834] The leaves of this plant are similar to those of the lentil, and the stems resemble fine rushes; the root is very diminutive. It grows in shady, moist localities, and has a burning taste in the mouth.
CHAP. 87.—HYSSOP: TEN REMEDIES.
Hyssop,[835] beaten up in oil, is curative of phthiriasis and prurigo of the head. The best hyssop is that of Mount Taurus in Cilicia, next to which in quality is the produce of Pamphylia and Smyrna. This plant is injurious to the stomach: taken with figs, it produces alvine evacuations, and used in combination with honey, it acts as an emetic. It is generally thought that, beaten up with honey, salt, and cummin, it is curative of the stings of serpents.
CHAP. 88.—THE LONCHITIS: FOUR REMEDIES.
The lonchitis[836] is not, as most writers have imagined, the same plant as the xiphion[837] or phasganion, although the seed of it does bear a resemblance to the point of a spear. The lonchitis, in fact, has leaves like those of the leek, of a reddish colour near the root, and more numerous there than on the upper part of the stem. It bears diminutive heads, which are very similar to our masks of comedy, and from which a small tongue protrudes:[838] the roots of it are remarkably long. It grows in thirsty, arid soils.
CHAP. 89.—THE XIPHION OR PHASGANION: FOUR REMEDIES.
The xiphion[839] or phasganion, on the other hand, is found growing in humid localities. On first leaving the ground it has the appearance of a sword; the stem of it is two cubits in length, and the root is fringed like a hazel nut.[840]
This root should always be taken up before harvest, and dried in the shade. The upper part of it, pounded with frankincense, and mixed with an equal quantity of wine, extracts fractured bones of the cranium, purulent matter in all parts of the body, and bones of serpents,[841] when accidentally trodden upon; if is very efficacious, too, for poisons. In cases of head-ache, the head should be rubbed with hellebore, boiled and beaten up in olive oil, or oil of roses, or else with peucedanum steeped in olive oil or rose oil, and vinegar. This last plant, made lukewarm, is very good also for hemicrania[842] and vertigo. It being of a heating nature, the body is rubbed with the root as a sudorific.