Chap. 40.] THE CEAT^IGONON. 239 



in three sextarii of wine a day and a night. This potion is 

 effectual also for bringing away the after-birth. The seed of 

 this plant, taken in wine or hydromel, diminishes the milk in 

 nursing women. 



CHAP. 39. THE CIRSION : ONE REMEDY. 



The cirsion 24 is a plant consisting of a diminutive and deli- 

 cate stem, two cubits in height, of a triangular form, and 

 covered with prickly leaves. The prickles on the leaves are 

 downy, and the leaves themselves resemble those of buglos- 

 sos 25 in shape, but are smaller, and of a whitish colour. At 

 the summit of the plant there are small purple heads, which 

 fall off in the shape of down. This plant or the root of it, 

 worn as an amulet, it is said, is curative of the pains attendant 

 upon varicose veins. 



CHAP. 40. THE CRAT^GONON ; TWO KINDS OF IT ! EIGHT 



REMEDIES. 



The crataegonon 26 is similar to an ear of corn in appearance. 

 It is formed of numerous shoots, springing from a single root, 

 and full of joints. It grows in umbrageous localities, and has 

 a seed like that of millet, with a remarkably acrid taste. If 

 a man and woman, before the evening meal, take three oboli of 

 this seed in three cyathi of water, for forty days consecutively, 

 before the conception of their issue, it will be sure to be of the 

 male 27 sex, they say. 



There is another crataagonon, known also as " thelygonos," 28 

 and distinguished from the last mentioned plant by the mild- 

 ness of the taste. Some persons assert that females, if they 

 take the blossom of this plant in drink, will be sure to con- 

 ceive before the end of forty days. These plants, used in com- 

 bination with honey, are curative of black ulcers of a chronic 

 nature ; they also fill the concavities made by fistulous 



24 Identified with the Carduus parviflorus of Linnaeus, the Small-flowered 

 thistle. 25 See B. xxv. c. 40. 



26 Identified hy Fee and Desfontaines with the Polygonum persicaria of 

 Linnaeus, the Spotted persicaria, red-shanks, fleawort, or lakeweed. Littre 

 gives the Crucianella Monspeliaca of Linnaeus, Montpellier petty madder. 



27 Hence its name, signifying that it strengthens the generative powers. 



28 See B. xxvi. c. 91. 



