148 pLimr's NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XIX. 



grows also upon Mount Parnassus, 2 * in great abundance, a plant 

 to which some persons give the name of " laserpitium:" by 

 means of all these varieties, adulterations are effected of a pro- 

 duction that is held in the highest esteem for its salutary 

 qualities and its general usefulness. The chief proofs of its 

 genuineness consist in its colour, which ought to be slightly 

 red without, and when broken quite white and transparent 

 within ; the drops of it, too, should melt very rapidly on the 

 application of spittle. It is extensively employed for medi- 

 cinal purposes. 3 



CHAP. 17. MADDER. 



There are two other plants also, which are but little known 

 to any but the herd of the sordid and avaricious, and this be- 

 cause of the large profits that are derived from them. The 

 first of these is madder, 4 the employment of which is neces- 

 sary in dyeing wool and leather. The madder of Italy is the 

 most esteemed, and that more particularly which is grown in 

 the suburbs of the City ; nearly all our provinces, too, pro- 

 duce it in great abundance. 5 It grows spontaneously, but is 

 capable of reproduction by sowing, much after the same man- 

 ner as the fitch. The stem, 6 however, is prickly, and articu- 

 lated, with five leaves arranged round each joint : the seed is 

 red. Its medicinal properties we shall have occasion to men- 

 tion in the appropriate place. 7 



CHAP. 18. THE RADICULA. 



The plant known to us by the name of " radicula," 8 is the 



2 * From Littre we learn that M. Fraas has suggested that the Magy- 

 daris and Laserpitium are possibly the Ferula Tingitana, and the Ptychotis 

 verticillata of Decaudolle, which last he has found upon high mountains in 

 the lower region of pines, on Mount Parnassus, among others. 



3 See B. xxii. cc. 48, 49. 4 The Rubia tinctorum of Linnaeus. 



5 Dioscorides speaks of the madder of Eavenna as being the most 

 esteemed. It is much cultivated at the present day in the South of 

 France, Holland, and the Levant. That of Lille enjoys a high reputation. 



6 It is covered with bristly hairs, or rather, fine, hooked teeth, Inhere 

 is, however, no resemblance whatever between it and ervilia or orobus, 

 the fitch. 



7 B. xxiv. c. 56. 



8 Or " little root ;" though, in reality, as Pliny says, it had a large 

 root. Some writers have supposed, that by tin's name is meant the 

 Reseda luteola of Linnaeus, the " dyer's weed" of the moderns; but neither 



