Chap. 54.] THE AKISTOLOCHIA. 117 



lochia, which would appear to have derived its name from 

 females in a state of pregnancy, as being apiGrri Xo^ou<ra/$, 17 

 Among us, however, it is known as the " malum terrse," or 

 apple of the earth, 18 four different varieties of it being dis- 

 tinguished. One of these has a root covered with tubercles of 

 a rounded 19 shape, and leaves of a mixed appearance, between 

 those of the mallow and the ivy, only softer and more swarthy. 

 The second 20 kind is the male plant, with an elongated root 

 some four fingers in length, and the thickness of a walking- 

 stick. A third 21 variety is extremely thin and long, similar to 

 a young vine in appearance : it has the most strongly-marked 

 properties of them all, and is known by the additional names 

 of " clematitis," and "cretica." All these plants are the 

 colour of boxwood, have a slender stem, and bear a purple flower 

 and small berries like those of the caper : the root is the only 

 part that is possessed of any virtues. 



There is also a fourth 22 kind, the name given to which is 

 " plistolochia ;" it is more slender than the one last mentioned, 

 has a root thickly covered with filaments, and is about as thick 

 as a good-sized bulrush : another name given to it is " polyr- 

 rhizos." The smell of all these plants is medicinal, but that of 

 the one with an oblong root and a very slender stem, is the most 

 agreeable : this last, in fact, which has a fleshy outer coat, is 

 well adapted as an ingredient for nardine unguents even. They 

 grow in rich champaign soils, and the best time for gathering 

 them is harvest ; after the earth is scraped from off them, they 

 are put by for keeping. 



The aristolochia that is the most esteemed, however, is that 



17 "Most excellent for pregnancy." 18 See B. xxvi. c. 56. 



19 Identified by Fee with the Aristolochia rotunda of Linnseus, Kounded 

 birthwort, a native of the south of France and the southern parts of 

 Europe. Littre gives the Aristolochia pallida of Willdenow. 



20 Most probably the Aristolochia longa of Linnaeus, found in France, 

 Spain, Portugal, and Italy, Littre gives as its synonym the Aristolochia 

 parvifolia of Sibthorp. 



21 The Aristolochia clematis of Linnaeus, almost identical with the 

 Aristolochia Cretica and Baetica. 



22 The Aristolochia plistolochia of Linnaeus, the Spanish branching 

 stemmed birthwort. Fee thinks that these identifications, though probable 

 enough, are not altogether satisfactory, and that the Greeks may have made 

 these distinctions between varieties of the plant comparatively unknown to 

 the rest of Europe. They are no longer held in any esteem for their 

 medicinal properties. 



