56 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOEY. [Book XXIV. 



bles wild thyme in appearance. The stem of it is tough and 

 ligneous, and it is a palm in height. It grows in stony soils, 

 and the leaves are trained regularly around the stem, 47 which 

 resembles a bed-post in appearance. This plant is taken in 

 drink, for convulsions, ruptures, strangury, and wounds inflicted 

 by serpents : a decoction is also made of it, and the juice is 

 similarly employed. 



CHAP. 88. THE CLEMATIS CENTUNCULUS ; THREE REMEDIES. 



"We shall now have to annex some plants, of a marvellous 

 nature no doubt, but not so well known, reserving those of a 

 higher reputation for the succeeding Books. 



Our people give the name of " centunculus," 48 to a creep- 

 ing plant that grows in the fields, the leaves of which bear a 

 strong resemblance to the hoods attached to our cloaks. By 

 the Greeks it is known as the " clematis/' Taken in astrin- 

 gent wine it is wonderfully effectual for arresting 49 diarrhoea : 

 beaten up, in doses of one denarius, in five cyathi of oxyinel 

 or of warm water, it arrests haemorrhage, and facilitates the 

 after-birth. 



CHAP. 89. THE CLEMATIS ECHITES, OR LA-GIKE. 



The Greeks have other varieties also of the clematis, one of 

 which is known as " echites" 50 or "lagine," and by some as 

 the " little scammony." Its stems are about two feet in height, 

 and covered with leaves: in general appearance it is not 

 unlike scammony, were it not that the leaves are darker and 

 more diminutive ; it is found growing in vineyards and cultivated 

 soils. It is eaten as a vegetable, with oil and salt, and acts as 

 a laxative upon the bowels. It is taken 51 also for dysentery, 



basil. It lias some useful properties attributed to it ; but what Pliny here 

 states respecting it is erroneous. 



47 This seems to be the meaning of " orbiculato foliorum ambitu." 



48 Turner and C. Bauhin identify it with the Gnaphalium German ieum 

 of Lamarck, and Sprengel with the Polygonum convolvulus of Linnaeus. 

 If so, Fee says, the synonym here given by Pliny is erroneous; for the 

 Greek clematis, there can be little doubt, is the Clematis cirrhosa of Lin- 

 naeus. See the account given of the Gnaphalion in B. xxvii. c. 61. 



49 All that Pliny states as to its medicinal properties, Fee says, is 

 erroneous. 



60 Probably the Asclepias nigra of Linnaeus, black swallow- wort. 

 51 The Asclepias nigra has no such medicinal effects as those mentioned 

 by Pliny. 



