Chap. 69-1 THE EETSISCEPTRUM. 45 



CHAP. 68. (13.) — ASPALATHOS: ONE EEMEDT. 



The common^^ thorn too, with which the fulling coppers are 

 filled, is employed for the same purposes as the radicula.'*' In 

 the provinces of Spain it is commonly employed as an ingre- 

 dient in perfumes and unguents, under the name of "aspa- 

 lathos." There is no doubt, however, that there is also a wild 

 thorn of the same name in the East, as already mentioned,''^ of 

 a white colour, and the size of an ordinary tree. 



CHAP. 69. THE EliTSISCEPTRIJM, ADIPSATHEON, OR DTAXTLON : 



EIGHT REMEDIES. 



There is also found in the islands of N'isyros and of Rhodes, 

 a shrub of smaller size, but full as thorny, known by some as 

 the erysisceptrum,'^ by others as the adipsatheon, and by the 

 Syrians as the diaxylon. The best kind is that which is the 

 least'^ ferulaceous in the stem, and which is of a red colour, or 

 inclining to purple, when the bark is removed. It is found 

 growing in many places, but is not everywhere odoriferous. 

 We have already^* stated how remarkably sweet the odour of 

 it is, when the rainbow has been extended over it. 



This plant cures fetid ulcers of the mouth, polypus" of the 

 nose, ulcerations or carbuncles of the generative organs, and 

 chaps ; taken in drink it acts as a carminative, and is curative 

 of strangury. The bark is good for patients troubled with 

 discharges of blood, and a decoction of it acts astringently on 

 the bowels. It is generally thought that the wild plant is 

 productive of the same effects. 



^ Fee suggests that this may be the Dipsacus fullonum of Linnaeus, 

 the fuller's thistle. 



'" See B. xix. c. 18, and c. 58 of this Book. 



■Ji In B. xii. c. 52. But in that passage he makes the Aspalathos to he 

 identical with the Erysisceptrum, which he here distinguishes from it. Fee 

 thinks that there can be no identity between the common thorn here men- 

 tioned, and the Aspalathos. This latter, as mentioned in B. xii., according 

 to Fee, is the Convolvulus scoparius of Linnaeus, the broom bindweed, but 

 Littre says that M. Fraas has identified it with the Genista acanthoclada. 



'2 See the preceding Note. Fee identifies this Aspalathos with the 

 Spartium villosum of Linnaeus, making that of B xii. c. 52, to be the Lignum 

 Hhodianum of commerce, probably the Convolvulus scoparius of Linnaeus. 



'3 The corresponding passage in Dioscorides has f3apvQ, "heavy," /. e, 

 the most solid in the stem. 



"4 In B. xii. c. 52. " " Ozjenas." 



