556 ORD. XXXI. Columnifere.  mazva sytvestris. 
diet ;" and we are told that the Chinese still eat the leaves of 
mallow either raw as sallad, or boiled as spinage.* 
Respecting the medicinal qualities of this plant, little remains 
to be said after the account we have given of Althza, as the leaves 
afford a similar glutinous juice, which is fitted to answer the same 
purposes as those of marsh-mallow, and are therefore principally 
used in fomentations, cataplasms, and emollient enemas; but the 
internal use of these leaves seems to be wholly pieoeeten by the 
radix. althaeae.* 
> ——-— Me pascunt olive 
Me cichorea levesque malvzx. Hor. t. 1, Od, 31. 
Exoneraturas ventrem mihi villica malvas 
Attulit, & varias, quas habet hortus, opes. Martial. 
‘The laxative quality of this plant is also mentioned by Cicero. 
Epistol. lib, 7, epist. 26. 
* Melanges interessans et curieux, Tom. 4. p. 28. 
*- Althza in omnibus ek dictis efficacior radix.” Plin. Nat, Hist. vol. 2. p. 662. 
