Chap. 60.] OMPHACIUM. 3 53 



made in the stalk at harvest-time, and in the root in autumn. 

 When in a coagulated state, it is esteemed according to its 

 whiteness. The next in value is that of a pallid colour, while 

 the black is held in no esteem. The price of that of the best 

 quality is two denarii per pound. 



CHAP. 58. SPONDYLIUM. 



The difference between this kind of giant- fennel and that 

 known as spondylium, 86 consists only in the leaf, which is 

 smaller, and divided like that of the plane-tree. It grows in 

 shady places only. The seed bears the same name as the plant, 

 and has a strong resemblance to that of hart- wort : it is only 

 employed in medicine. 



CHAP. 59. MALOBATHRTJM. 



Syria produces the malobathrum 86 also, a tree which bears a 

 folded leaf, with just the colour of a leaf when dried. From 

 this plant an oil is extracted for unguents. Egypt produces it 

 in still greater abundance ; but that which is the most esteemed 

 of all comes from India, where it is said to grow in the marshes 

 like the lentil. It has a more powerful odour than saffron, 

 and has a black, rough appearance, with a sort of brackish 

 taste. The white is the least approved of all, and it very soon 

 turns musty when old. In taste it ought to be similar to 

 nard, when placed under the tongue. "When made hike-warm 

 in wine, the odour which it emits is superior to any other. 

 The prices at which this drug ranges are something quite 

 marvellous, being from one denarius to four hundred per pound ; 

 as for the leaf^ it generally sells at sixty denarii per pound. 



chap. 60. (27.) — OMPHACIUM. 



Omphacium 87 is also a kind of oil, which is obtained from 



85 The umbelliferous plant known as the Heracleum spondylium of Lin- 

 naeus. It is commonly found in France, where it is called Berce-branc- 

 ursine. It received its name from the resemblance of its smell to that of 

 the sphondyle, a fetid kind of wood-beetle. 



86 Some suppose this tree to be the Lauras cassia of Linnaeus, or wild 

 cinnamon ; others take it for the betel, the Piper betel of Linnaeus. Clu- 

 sius thinks that the name -is derived from the Indian Tamalpatra, the name 

 given from time immemorial to the leaf of a tree known by the Arabs as 

 the Cadegi-indi, possibly the same as the Katou-carua of the Malabars. 



87 From the Greek bn<pdiciov, being made of unripe grapes. As Fee 



