350 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXI. 



never blossoms ;*° while the aphace, on tlie other hand, as its 

 flowers die, from time to time puts forth fresh ones, aud re- 

 mains" in blossom throughout the winter and tlie spring, until 

 the following summer. 



CHAP. 53. FOUR VARIETIES OE THE CNECOS. 



The Egyptians have many other plants also, of little note ; 

 but they speak in the highest terms of the enecos ;"*'* a plant 

 unknown to Italy, and which the Egyptians hold in esteem, 

 not as an article of food, but for the oil it produces, and which 

 is extracted from the seed. The principal varieties are the 

 wild and the cultivated kinds ; of the wild variet}', again, there 

 are two sorts, one of which is less prickly*- than the other, but 

 with a similar stem, only more upright : hence it is tliat in 

 former times females used it for distaffs, from which circum- 

 stance it has received the name of ** atractylis"*^ from some; 

 the seed of it is white, large, and bitter. The other variety"** 

 is more prickly, and has a more sinewy stem, which may be 

 said almost to creep upon the ground ; the seed is small. The 

 enecos belongs to the thorny plants : indeed, it will be as well 

 to make some classification of them. 



CHAP. 54. PLANTS OF A PRICKLY NATURE I THE ERYNGE, THE 



GLYCYRRIZA, THE TRIBULUS, THE ANONIS, THE PHEOS OR 

 STCEBE, AND THE HIPPOPHAES. 



For some plants, in fact, are thorny, while others, again, are 

 destitute of prickles : the species of tliorny plants are very 

 numerous. The asparagus** and the scorpio*^ are essentially 

 thorny plants, having no leaves at all upon them. Some 



*° On the contrary, it has a purple flower, 



*i It is this, probably, that has caused it to be identified with the Leon- 

 todon taraxacum. 



*^* The Carthamus tinctorius of Linnaeus, or bastard saffron. The seed 

 of it is a powerful purgative to man, but has no effect on birds : it is much 

 used for feeding parrots, hence one of its names, '' parrot-seed." 



*■■* Identified by Fee with the Atractylis of Dioscorides, the Carthamus 

 mitissimus of Linnaus ; the Carduucelius mitissimus of DecandoUe. 



^■^ From uTpaKTog, " a distaff." 



** The Centaurea lanata of DecandoUe, the Centaurea benedicta of 

 Linnaeus. 



45 The Asparagus aphylla of Linnaeus : the leafless asparagus. 



*<» The Spartium scorpius of Linnaeus : scorpion-grass, or scorpion- wort- 



