

MED 



MED 



i 



1 l.c inrub Cytlfus, by Ariftomachus, the Athenian, I Pliny fays the wood is of no value, that it muft of 

 a^ nuy be feen in Pliny [who fays much the fame as 1 necefficy produce woody branches -, nay, ihe contrar/ 



Varro and Columella, from whom probably he has 

 taken it,] i?. higldy commended for food for ihccp, 

 nnd, being dry, for fwine •, the utiliry [as to hcakh 

 and fattening, Dal] the fame as that of Ervum, but 

 the faiiecy is quicker, a four-footed animal growing 

 fat with a little of ic, fo that cattle fee lighr by their 



Barley. 



No food makes a greater quantity, nor better milk, 



and it excels all things as to the difeafcs of cattle-, 

 moreover, being given dry, or in a decodion of wa- 

 ter mixed with^'wine, to nurfes whofe milk fails, it 

 helps very much,and makes the children ftronger, and 

 take to their feet fooner-, green, it is alfo good for 

 them, cr dry, if it be m.ade moift. 

 Democritus and Ariftomachus fay, bees will never 

 want food, if they have Cytifus enough, nor is any 



thing cheaper. 



If, when the feed be fown, fliowers are wanting, Co- 

 lumella directs, That it be watered the fifteen fol- 

 lowing days. 



Ic is fown [according to the antients] after the equi- 

 noxes. It is perfected in three years. It is mown 

 in the vernal equinox [for it flourifiies all the win- 

 ter, Dal.] with the cheap labour of a boy, or old 



woman. 



The Cytifus is hoary in afpect. If any one would 



exprefs its likenefs briefly, it is a llirub of a broader 



fort of Trefoil. 



In winter, being moiftened, ten pounds will fatisfy a 



horfe, and a lefs quantity other anim.als. Being dry, 



it has more virtue, and a lefs quantity fatisfies. 



This fhrub was found in the ifle Cythnus, thence it 



was trandaced into all the Cyclades, and afterwards 



into the cities of Greece, where it oc 

 increafe of cheefe. 



IS rather true, that there is no value in the wood 

 that it bears viny pliable branches, v;ith which the 

 goacs cannot be fatiated. 



Hieocritus very plainly exprcfics it, Tliat Cyt'.fus is 

 a very giateful food to goats : 



" Capra Cytifum, lupus capclla.n fequitur.'* 



"Which is thus imitated by Virril : 



" Torva len^na lupumfequitur, lupus ipfecapellam- 

 "Florentem Cycifjm fequitur laf:^va capella." 



Amatus, to avoid this diiEculty, concludes Cytifus to 

 be betv/een trees and fl:irubs, by the difference of f^e- 

 nus, to be diftinguiflied by Pliny, that, asatree^it 

 may be ufed in the feminine gender, as a flirub in 

 the mafculine, which is not worth the mindino-. 

 Columella ufec Cytifus in the feminine gender, and 

 Theocritus and others in the mafculine-, as 'Cob; 

 Confir. in Lex. w]:o writes that it was called a>n'-ul 

 ?.ov, and Theocritus calls this lhrubxu7iAJj/, and others, 

 KUTjo-cv ; others a^ain twA*?. 



Of Cythnus, or, as others, of Cythifa, the name of 

 an ifland, as Severius has it. - "-'-'- 



Among thefb words of Diofcorides in feme manu. 

 fcripts, there are found, falfely written, in feme, Te- 

 linen Triphyllon, in others Lotum Grandem. 

 Diofcorides's defcription of the Cytifus is not fo ac- 

 curate, that from it the true Cytifus may be afcer- 

 ^tained. ■ 



'^ -^ ^ »^> 



'.L 



ca 



fioned a great 



It fears not the injuiy of heat nor cold, nor hail nor 

 fnow, and Hyginus adds, nor of enemies, becaufe 

 the wood is of no value. 



Alfo Galen, in his book de Antid. writes, 



C€ 



Cytifus 



Although in the feveral fpecies of Cytifufes it is hard 

 tojud^e which is the legitimate Cytifus fpecified by 

 the antients ; the moft Ikilful take it to be that which 

 Maranthus has defcribed, which is our Medica,' which 

 has been ranged under the genus of Cytifus, by moft 

 of the writers before Dr. Tournefort, who eftablifhed 



(C 



Myfia 



.1. - 



our province, there is atraftwhich they callBrot- 

 ton, in which there is a place full of Cytifus, from 

 'r ** the flowers of which, all ag;ree, the bees make very 

 much honey. . - . , 



It is a fruticofe plant ; it rifes to the height of a 



My 



Medica_, , 

 g like that of Medica 





vfifre 



cc 



(( 



He fays, feven fimple leaves have the faculty of di- 

 gelling, mixed with warm water, as the leaves of 

 Mallov/s : thus Galen. 



Cornarus too fecurely writes, That Cytifus eitlier ne- 

 ver came among the Germans, or that it periflied long 

 ago. From what Pliny fays. That it was very rare in 

 Italy in his time, he cannot perfuade me, that nothing 

 could grow in Germany, that was fcarce in Italy, Jo. 

 Bauh. - '■ J:- ^.-' 



V - ^ 



Strabo, contrary to Diofcorides, Pliny, and Galen, 

 will have the Cytifus to be a tree, and he likens it to 

 the Balfamum, an odoriferous tree, which probably 

 was the occafion, that Cornarus thought this tree came 

 neareft to a Ihrub, becaufe Pliny faid the wood was of 

 no value, therefore he perfuades himfelf, that it pro- 

 duces woody branches, not tender and foft, as in an - took Cytifus for Medica 

 Uherb. ..^ < ; ^::v ... >/; MEDIC AGO. Lin. Gen. Plant. 805. Medica. 



"But Virml (hews it is neither a tree nor a fhrub, 1 Tourn. Inft. R, H. 410. tab. 221. Snail Trefoil. 



the goats feed upon it, and from their milk are niadc 

 great quantities of cheefe. I have had both feeds and 

 Specimens of the plant fent m.e from thence, by per- 

 fons of the greatelt Ikill in botany, who have affured 

 me, that this plant is generally fuppofed, by all the 

 people of learning in that country, to be the plant 

 mentioned by Virgil. '' 



Trifolium fruticans, according to Dodonsus, orPo- 

 lemonium, according to fome, is improperly called, 

 Cytifus by many. J^. - . ;' 



Trifolium candidum Dodon. by fome is faid to be 

 the Cytifus of Columella, concerning which, fee Lib. 

 Hift. n.9. 17. of Trifolious herbs. . ■"' * '* 

 .- Tragus writes. That their opinion is to be rejeded, 

 who interpret the Trifolium pratenfe to be a Cytifus, 

 Some contend the Trifolium candidum of Dodon. the 

 Reftum Meixlotum vulgarem, to be the Cytifus of 

 the antients, as Dodon^us fays, but they have not hit ' 

 on the truth. •. 



V^A 1 L1AV« LI. LftLllB — ' ' 



Ruellius writes, That he was afraid that Marcellus 



# V . * 



when he fays: 



Y. • 



'^ 



■■ ■ 



cc 



1 ' ■ . 



Non me pafcente, capell^. 



-- J 



The Characters are, 



I'he flower hath a cylindrical ereB empahment of 



** Florentem Cytifum, & falices capretis amaras." 



7 " [Bug. f^CLOG. I. 



. -^'^ Sic Cytifo paftaediftenduntubera vacca^." 



. . ■ ■ / ECLOC. 9. 



Nee Cytifo faturantur apes, nee fronde capelte." 



' EcLOG. 10. 



mt leaf^ 

 fegments. 





J. 



fhe 



Virgil, I fay, indicates very plainly in thefe verfes, 

 that it is neither^a tree nor a Ihrub, for goats do not 

 ufe it ; nor can they, if they were wont to eat flowery 

 trees. Neither will what Cornarus lays avail, when 



'Theflotver is of ihc butterfly kind^ having an 

 ftandard^ whofe borders are reflexed. The ivt 

 long^ Qval^ and fixed to the keel by an appc. 

 keel is oblongs bifida ohtufe^ and reflexed* It hath ten 

 ftamina^ nine of which are joined^ and the other is flngl^y 

 terminated by fmall fummits^ and an cblongger. 

 fits upon afhort ftyky is involved with thefia) 

 keely and crowned by a very fmall ftigraa. ih^ germen 

 afterward turns to along comprejfed pod, fiVifled into tbe 

 form of a fnail^ imlojing many kidney-fl^aped feeds. 



This 



he 





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y --- 



