422 PLINr'3 NA-TURAL HISTOST. [Book XXI I. 



Bcrofulous sores. The root is prescribed in wine for the stings 

 of serpents, and as a diuretic. 



CHAP. 36. THE BTJPE.EST1S : ONE KEJrEDT. 



"With a remarkable degree of inconsistency, the Greek writers, 

 while praising the buprestis®* as an aliment, point out certain 

 antidotes^* to it, as though it were a poison. The very name, 

 however, proves to a certainty that it is poisonous to cattle, 

 and it is generally admitted that, on tasting it, they burst^® 

 asunder : we shall, therefore, say no more about it. Is there 

 any reason, in fact, why, when we are speaking of the mate- 

 rials employed in making our grass crowns, we should de- 

 scribe a poison ? or really ought we to enlarge upon it only to 

 please the libidinous fancies of those who imagine that there is 

 not a more powerful aphrodisiac in existence than this, when 

 taken in drink ? 



CHAP. 37. THE ELAPHOBOSCON : NIlfE BEMEDIES. 



The elaphoboscon ^ is a ferulaceous plant, articulated, and 

 about a finger in thickness. The seed of it is like that of dill, 

 hanging in umbels resembling those of hart- wort in appearance, 

 but not bitter. The leaves are very like those of olusatrum.^^ 

 This plant, too, is highly spoken of as an article of food ; in 

 addition to which, it is preserved and kept as a diuretic ^^ and 

 for the purpose of assuaging pains in the sides, curing rup- 

 tures and convulsions, and dispelling flatulency and colic. It 



9* Sprengel and Desfontaines consider it to be the Buplevrum rotiinrli- 

 folium : but Fee is of a contrary opinion, and thinks that it is impossible 

 to identify it. 



3^ Though Hardouin attempts to defend him, it is more than probable 

 that it is Pliny himself who is in error here ; and that he has confounded 

 the plant Buprestis with the insect of that name, which belongs to the 

 class of Canthurides, and received its name (burn-cow) from its fatal ef- 

 fects when eaten by cattle. 



96 See B. XXX. c. 10. 



'" " Stag's food." Fee adopts the opinion of Sprengel and Sibthorpe, 

 that this is the Pastinaca sutiva of Linnaeus, the cultivated parsnip. 

 Desfontaines identifies it with the Slum sisarum ; but, as Fee says, that 

 plant is but rarely found in Greece. 



'•^ See B. XX. c. 18. For the olusatrum, see B. xx. c. 46. 



93 The parsnip is no longer employed for its medicinal properties ; but 

 for a long time, the seed was looked upon as a diuretic and febrifuge. 

 The root contains a considerable quantity of saccharine matter. 



