56 PLINY'S NATUHAL HISTORY. [Book XVIII. 



darnel, 16 the tribulus, 17 the thistle, 18 and the burdock, 19 1 can 

 consider them, no more than the bramble, among the maladies 

 that attack the cereals, but rather as so many pests inflicted on 

 the earth. Mildew, 20 a malady resulting from the inclemency 

 of the weather, and equally attacking the vine 21 and corn, is 

 in no degree less injurious. It attacks corn most frequently in 

 localities which are exposed to dews, and in vallies which have 

 not a thorough draught for the wind ; windy and elevated 

 spots, on the other hand, are totally exempt from it. Another 

 evil, again, in corn, is over-luxuriance, when it falls to the 

 ground beneath the weight 22 of the grain. One evil, however, 

 to which all crops in common, the chick-pea even, are exposed, 

 is the attacks of the caterpillar, when the rain, by washing 

 away the natural saltness of the vegetation, makes it 23 all the 

 more tempting for its sweetness. 



There is a certain plant, 24 too, which kills the chick-pea and 

 the fitch, by twining around them ; the name of it is " oro- 

 banche." In a similar manner, also, wheat is attacked by 

 darnel, 25 barley by a long- stalked plant, called " segilops," 26 and 

 the lentil by an axe-leafed grass, to which, from the resem- 

 blance 27 of the leaf, the Greeks have given the name of " pele- 

 cinon." All these plants, too, kill the others by entwining 

 around them. In the neighbourhood of Philippi, there is a 

 plant known as ateramon, 28 which grows in a rich soil, and 



16 Lolium temulentum of Linnaeus. 17 See B. xxi. c. 58. 



18 " Carduus." A general term, probably including the genera Centaurea 

 (the prickly kinds), Serratula, Carduus, and Cnicus. The Centaurea sol- 

 stitialis is the thistle most commonly found in the south of Europe. 



19 Gallium Aparine of Linnaeus. 



20 Barley, wheat, oats, and millet have, each its own "rubigo" or mil- 

 dew, known to modern botany as uredo. 



21 The Erineum vitis of botanists. 



22 This rarely happens except through the violence of wind or rain. 



23 See c. 32 of this Book. 



24 The Cuscuta Europaea, probably, of Linnaeus ; one of the Convolvuli. 



25 "JEra." It is generally considered to be the same with darnel, 

 though Pliny probably looked upon them as different. 



26 The jEgilops ovata, probably, of Linnaeus. Dalechamps and Har- 

 douin identify it with the barren oat, the Avena sterilis of Linnaeus. 



27 To the Greek 7r(\fKv^ or battle-axe. It is probably the Biserrula 

 pelecina of Linnaeus, though the Astragalus hamosus and the Coronilla 

 securidaca of Linnaeus have been suggested. 



28 Pliny has here committed a singular error in translating from 

 Theopnrastus, de Causis, B. iv. c. 14, who only says that a cold wind in 



