278 PLINY'S HATURAL HISTOEY. [Book XX. 



CHAP. 77. (19.) THE POPPY CALLED RHOSAS I TWO REMEDIES. 



The poppy which we have 70 spoken of under the names of 

 "rhoeas" and the " erratic" poppj 7 ", forms an intermediate va- 

 riety between the cultivated and the wild poppy ; for it grows 

 in the fields, it is true, but it is self-set nevertheless. Some 

 persons eat 71 it, calyx and all, immediately after it is gathered. 

 This plant is an extremely powerful purgative : five heads of 

 it, boiled in three semi-sextarii of wine, and taken in drink, 

 have the effect of producing sleep. 



CHAP. 78. THE WILD POPPY CALLED CERATITIS, GLATJCTUM, OR 



PAltALITJM : SIX REMEDIES. 



There is one variety of wild poppy known as " ceratitis." 72 

 It is of a black colour, a cubit in height, and has a thick root 

 covered with bark, with a head resembling a small bud, bent 

 and pointed at the end like a horn. The leaves of this plant 

 are smaller and thinner than those of the other wild poppies, 

 and the seed, which is very diminutive, is ripe at harvest. 

 Taken with honied wine, in doses of half an acetabulum, the 1 

 seed acts as a purgative. The leaves, beaten up in oil, are a 

 cure for the white 73 specks which form on the eyes of beasts 

 of burden. The root, boiled down to one half, in doses of one 

 acetabulum to two sextarii of water, is prescribed for maladies 

 of the loins and liver, and the leaves, employed with honey, 

 are a cure for carbuncles. 



Some persons give this kind of poppy the name of " glau- 

 cion," and others of "paralium," 74 for it grows, in fact, in 

 spots exposed to exhalations from the sea, or else in soils of a 

 nitrous nature. 



CHAP. 79. THE WILD POPPY CALLED HERACLITJM, OR APHRON I 



FOUR REMEDIES. DIACODION. 



There is another kind 75 of wild poppy, known as "heraclion" 



70 In B. xix. c. 53. The Papaver rhoeas of Linnaeus : the field poppy, 

 corn poppy, or corn rose. 



71 Theophrastus says that it has just the taste of wild endive. Fee re- 

 marks that the peasants of Treves eat the leaves of this poppy while young. 



72 The Glaucium Corniculatum of Persoon; the horned poppy, or glau- 

 ciura. This, Fee remarks, is not a poppy in reality, but a species of the 

 genus Chelidonium. The juice is an irritating poison, and the seed is said 

 to act as an emetic. 73 " Argema." 74 " By the sea-shore." 



75 Not a poppy, but the Euphorbia esula of Linnaeus, a spurge. The 



