354 PLINY'S NATFBAL HISTORY. [Book XXI. 



The smell of this plant is powerful, and the seed only ripens 

 at a late period, and never before autumn, although the same 

 may be said of all the prickly plants, in fact. All of them 

 are capable, however, of being reproduced from either seed 

 or root. 



The scolymos, which belongs to the thistle 74 genus, differs 

 from the rest of them in the circumstance that the root of it 

 is boiled and eaten. It is a singular fact that this genus of 

 plants bears blossoms, buds, and fruit the whole of the summer 

 through, without any interruption : when the leaf is dried, 

 the prickles lose their pungency. The helxine is a plant but 

 rarely seen, and in some countries only. It throws out leaves 

 at the root, from the middle of which there is a protuberance 

 in the shape of an apple, covered with leaves of its own : the 

 head of it contains a thick juice of a sweet flavour, the name 

 given to which is " acanthice mastiche. 75 



CHAP. 57. THE CACTOS ; THE PTEREIX, PAPPUS, AND 



ASCALIAS. 



The cactos, 76 too, is a plant that grows only in Sicily, having 

 peculiar characteristics of its own : the root throws out stalks 

 which creep along the ground, the leaves being broad and 

 thorny. The name given to these stalks is "cactos," and they 

 are not disliked as an article of food, 77 even when old. The 

 plant, however, has one stem which grows upright, and is 

 known by the name of " pternix ;" it has the same sweet 

 flavour as the other parts, though it will not keep. The seed 

 of it is covered with a kind of down, known as " pappus :" 78 

 when this is removed, as well as the rind 79 of the fruit, it is 

 tender, and like the pith of the palm : the name given to it is 

 "ascalias." 



74 " Carduus." 75 " Thorn mastich," or " resin." 



76 This is not the Cactus of modern botany, a plant mentioned in the 

 sequel under the name of " Opuntia," but probably the Cinara cardun- 

 celius. See B. xx. c. 99. 



77 Theophrastus says, that when peeled they have a somewhat bitter 

 flavour, and are kept pickled in brine. 



78 This name is now given by naturalists to the calyx of Composite, 

 which exists in the rudimentary condition of a membranous coronet, or of 

 downy hairs, like silk. 7a " Cortex." 



