Chap. 59.] TKE ANTEEMIS. 355 



CHAP. 58. THE TEIBULT7S : THE Al^ONIS. 



The tribulus^" grows nowhere except in marshy places : 

 though held in abomination elsewhere,^^ it is employed on the 

 banks of the Nilus and Strymon as an article of food. It 

 always bends towards the water, and has a leaf like that of 

 the elm, with a long stalk. In other parts of the world there 

 are two varieties of this plant; the one^- with leaves like those 

 of the chicheling vetch, the other with leaves protected by 

 prickles. This last variety blossoms also at a later period 

 than the other, and is mostly found in the hedge-rows about 

 farm-houses. The seed of it is black, rounder than that of the 

 other, and enclosed in pods : that of the other variety bears a 

 resemblance to sand. 



Among the prickly plants there is also another kind, known 

 as the "anonis :"^^ indeed, it has thorns upon the branches, 

 to which leaves are attached similar to those of rue, the stem 

 being entirely covered also with leaves, in form resembling a 

 garland. It comes up in land that has been newly ploughed, 

 being highly prejudicial to the corn, and long-lived in the 

 extreme. 



CHAP. 59. PLAIS^TS CLASSIFIED- ACCORDHSTG TO THEIR STEMS '. THE 



COEO^fOPTIS, THE ANCHUSA, THE ANTHEMIS, THE PHYLLANTHES, 

 THE CEEPIS, A:srD THE LOTUS. 



Some, again, among the prickly plants have a stem which 

 creeps along the ground, that, for instance, known as the 

 " coronopus."^^ On the other hand, the anchusa,^^ the root of 

 which is employed for dyeing wood and wax, has an upright 

 stem ; which is the case also with some of the plants that are 

 prickly in a less degree, the anthemis,^ for example, the phyl- 



^° The Traptt natans of Linnaeus, or water chesnut, a prickly marsh plant 

 of Europe and Asia. Hence our word " caltrop." 



SI " l)ira res alibi." 



82 These two plants have no aflSnity whatever with the one just men- 

 tioned. The first of these so-called varieties is the Tribulus terrestris of 

 Linnaeus ; and the second is identified by Fee, though with some doubt, 

 with the Fagonia Cretica of Linnajus. 



^^ The Ononis antiquorum of Linnasus, the Cammock, or rest-harrow. 



'* The Cochlearia coronopus. See B. xxii. c. 22. 



S5 The Anchusa tinctoria, probably, or dyers' alkan:gt. See B. sxii. c. 23. 



6« See B. xxii. c. 26. 



