250 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXVII. 



CHAP. 63. HOLCTJS OR ARISTIS. 



Holcus 91 is a plant that grows in arid, stony, spots : it has an 

 ear at the end of a fine stem, and looks like barley that has put 

 forth again when cut. Attached to the head or around the arm, 

 it extracts 92 spikes of corn adhering to the flesh ; for which 

 reason, some persons give it the name of " aristis." 



CHAP. 64. HYOSERIS: ONE REMEDY. 



Hyoseris 92 * resembles endive in appearance, but is a smaller 

 plant, and rougher to the touch : pounded and applied to 

 wounds, it heals them with remarkable rapidity. 



CHAP. 65. THE HOLOSTEON I THREE REMEDIES. 



The holosteon, 93 so called by the Greeks by way of anti- 

 phrasis, 94 (in the same way that they give the name of 

 " sweet" 95 to the gall,) is a plant destitute of all hardness, of 

 such extreme fineness as to resemble hairs in appearance, four 

 fingers in length, and very similar to hay-grass. The leaves of it 

 are narrow, and it has a rough flavour : it grows upon elevated 

 spots composed of humus. Taken in wine, it is used for rup- 

 tures and convulsions. It has the property, also, of closing 

 wounds ; indeed, if applied to pieces of meat it will solder 

 them together. 



CHAP. 66. THE HIPPOPH^STON : EIGHT REMEDIES. 



The hippophaeston is one of those prickly plants which 

 fullers 96 use in their coppers ; it has neither stem nor flower, 



91 Identified with the Hordeum murinum of Linnaeus, and the same, 



most probably, as the Mouse barley of B. xxii. c. 65. 

 93 "Whence its name, from the Greek g'Xfcw, "to draw." 

 92* "Swine's endive." It is generally identified with the Centaurea 



nigra of Linnaeus ; though, as Fee says, on very insufficient grounds, as 



the black centaury has but little similarity to endive. 



93 The " all-bone " plant. Desfontaines identifies it with the Plantago 

 coronopus of Linnaeus, the Buckshorn plantain ; but Fee prefers the Plan- 

 tago holostea of Lamarck, the Grass-leaved plantain. Lfttre names the 

 Holosteum umbellatum. The Plantago albicans of Linnaeus has been also 

 mentioned. 



94 Because there is no hardness in it. 95 TA yXttata. 



96 See B. xxiv. c. 68. In B. xvi. c. 92, Fee identifies this plant with the 

 Calcitrapa stellata of Lamarck. He also suggests that it may possibly be 

 the second " Hippophaes," mentioned in B. xxii. c. 14. Desfontaines 

 identifies it with the Cuicus stellatus, the Star-thistle. Littre gives as its 



