50 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXIV. 



CHAP. 75. THE IDJ2AN BRAMBLE. 



The Idsean bramble 6 is so called from the fact that it is the 

 only plant of the kind found growing upon Mount Ida. It is 

 of a more delicate nature than the others, and smaller ; the 

 canes too are thinner, and not 7 so prickly : it mostly grows 

 beneath the shade of trees. The blossom of it, mixed with 

 honey, is applied topically for defluxions of the eyes, and is 

 administered in water for erysipelas and affections of the 

 stomach. 8 In other respects, it has properties similar to those 

 of the plants 9 already mentioned. 



CHAP. 76. THE RHAMNOS; TWO VARIETIES OF IT! FIVE REMEDIES. 



Among the several kinds 10 of bramble is reckoned the plant 

 called " rhamnos" by the Greeks. One variety of it is whiter 11 

 than the other, and has a more shrublike appearance, throwing 

 out branches armed with straight thorns, and not hooked, like 

 those of the other kinds; the leaves too are larger. The other 

 kind, 12 which is found growing wild, is of a more swarthy hue, 

 in some measure inclining to red ; it bears too a sort 13 of pod. 

 "With the root of it boiled in water a medicament is made, 

 known as "lycium:" 14 the seed of it is useful for bringing 

 away the after-birth. The white kind, however, is of a more 

 astringent and cooling nature, and better adapted for the treat- 

 ment of gatherings and wounds. The leaves of both kinds, 

 either raw or boiled, are employed topically with oil. 



6 The raspberry; see B. xvi. c. 71. 



7 There is one variety which is very diminutive, and entirely destitute 

 of thorns, the Kubus Idaeus Isevis of C. Bauhin, the Rubus Idaeus non 

 spinosus of J. Bauhin. 8 See B. xvi. c. 71. 



9 Of the bramble genus. 



10 In reality, as Fee says, there is no botanical affinity between the 

 Rubus, or bramble, and the Rhamnus. 



11 Sprengel identifies this plant with the Zizyphus vulgarisof Linnseus, 

 the jujube, and Desfontaines is of the same opinion. Fee, however, takes 

 it to be the Rhamnus saxatilis of Linnaeus, the rock buckthorn. 



12 Identified by some authorities with the Paliurus aculeatus of Decan- 

 dolles, mentioned in c. 71. Sprengel is in doubt whether it may not be 

 the Rhamnus lycioides of Linnaeus. 



13 Not a characteristic, Fee says, of the genus Rhamnus of modern Botany. 



14 Or "Lycian" extract. See B. xii. c. 15. 



