250 flint's natural histoet. [Book XXVII. 



CHAP. 63. HOLCUS OE AETSTIS. 



Holcus®^ is a plant that grows in arid, stony, spots : it has an 

 ear at the end of a fine stem, and looks like barley that has put 

 forth again when cut. Attached to the head or around the arm, 

 it extracts^^ spikes of corn adhering to the flesh; for which 

 reason, some persons give it the name of *' aristis." 



CHAP. 64. HTOSEEIS: ONE EEMEDT. 



Hyoseris^-* resembles endive in appearance, but is a smaller 

 plant, and rougher to the touch : pounded and applied to 

 wounds, it heals them with remarkable rapidity. 



CHAP. 65. THE HOLOSTEON I THEEE EEMEDIES. 



The holosteon,^ so called by the Greeks by way of anti- 

 phrasis,^^ (in the same way that they give the name of 

 **sweet"^* to the gall,) is a plant destitute of all hardness, of 

 such extreme fineness as to resemble hairs in aj^pearance, four 

 fingers in length, and very similar to hay-grass. The leaves of it 

 are narrow, and it has a rough flavour : it grows upon elevated 

 spots composed of humus. Taken in wine, it is used for rup- 

 tures and convulsions. It has the property, also, of closing 

 wounds ; indeed, if applied to pieces of meat it will solder 

 them together. 



CHAP. 66. THE HIPPOPH^STON : EIGHT EEMEDIES. 



The hippopha^ston is one of those prickly plants -which 

 fuUers^^ use in their coppers ; it has neither stem nor flower, 



^1 Identified with the Hordeura murinum of Linnaeus, and the same, 

 most probably, as the Mouse barley of B. xxii. c. 65. 



92 Whence its name, from the Greek «\/cw, "to draw." 



92. "Swine's endive." It is generally identified with the Centaurea 

 nigra of Linnaeus ; though, as Fee says, on very insufficient grounds, as 

 the black centaury has but little similarity to endive, 



33 The " all-bone " plant. Desfontaines identifies it with the Plantago 

 coronopus of Linnseus, the Buckshorn plantain ; but Fee prefers the Plan- 

 tago holostea of Lamarck, the Grass-leaved plantain. Li'ttre names the 

 Ilolosteum umbellatum. The Plantago albicans of Linnaeus has been also 

 mentioned. 



^^ Because there is no hardness in it. ^^ t^ yXvKsa. 



96 See B. xxiv. c. 68. In B. xvi. c. 92, Fee identifies this plant with the 

 Calcitrapa stellata of Lamarck. He also suggests that it may possibly be 

 the second " Hippophaes," mentioned in B. xxii. c. 14. Desfontaines 

 identifies it with the Ciiicus stellatus, the Star-thistle. Littre gives as its 



