Chap. 48.] OLL'SATKUil. 1P;3 



if it has not yet germinated, the matted tufts of the old roots 

 are used for the purpose. Tliis plant, too, is no less fond of a 

 humid soil than parsley ; it is green in summer and turns 

 yellow in winter. There is a wild kind of mint, known to us 

 as "mentastrum :"'^ it is reproduced by layers, like the vine, 

 or else by planting the branches upside down. It was the 

 sweetness of its smell that caused this plant to change its name 

 among the Greeks, its former name with them being '* mintha," 

 from w^hich the ancient Eomans derived their name"" for it ; 

 whereas now, of late, it has been called by them r,d-jofffMov.'^ 

 The mint that is used in the dishes at rustic entertainments 

 pervades the tables far and w'ide wdth its agreeable odour. 

 When once planted, it lasts a considerable length of time ; it 

 bears, too, a strong resemblance to pennyroyal, a property of 

 which is, as mentioned by us more than once,^^ to flow^er when 

 kept in our larders. 



These other herbs, mint, I mean, and catmint, as well as 

 pennyroyal, are all kept for use in a similar manner ; but it is 

 cummin^^ that is the best suited of all the seasoning herbs to 

 squeamish and delicate stomachs. This plant grows on the 

 surface of the soil, seeming hardly to adhere to it, and raising 

 itself aloft from the ground : it ought to be sown in the middle 

 of the summer, in a crumbly, warm soil, more particularly. 

 There is another wild kind*^' of cummin, known by some per- 

 sons as ''rustic," by others as "Thebaic" cummin: bruised 

 and drunk in w^ater, it is good for pains in the stomach. The 

 cummin most esteemed in our part of the world is that of 

 Carpetania,^- though elsewhere that of Africa and Ethiopia 

 is more highly esteemed ; with some, indeed, this last is pre- 

 ferred to that of Egypt. 



CHAP. 48. OLrSATETJM. 



But it is olusatrum,^' more particularly, that is of so singular 



's Called by the Greeks KaXafiivOr], according to Apuleius. 

 "^ Or ''Mentha." '** "Sweet-smelling." 



'' " Saepius." See B. xviii. c. 60. 

 ^^ The Cuminum cyrainum cf botanists. See B. xx. c. 57. 



81 See B. XX. c. 57. 



82 In Hispania Tarraconensis. See B. iii. c. 4. 



(?3 Or "black-herb :" the herb Alexander, the Smyrnium oliisatrum of 

 Linnieus. See B. xx. c. 46. 



VOL. IV. O 



