ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IX. xvi. 3-5 



of Crete are superior in leaves boughs 1 and in 

 general all the parts above ground to those of other 

 places ; while those of Parnassus are superior to most 

 of those found elsewhere. 



Of wolfs-bane, and its habitat, and of meadow-saffron. 



2 Wolf's-bane grows in Crete and in Zakynthos, 

 but is most abundant and best at Herakleia in 

 Pontus. It has a leaf like chicory, a root like in 

 shape and colour to a prawn, 3 and in this root resides 

 its deadly property, whereas they say that the leaf 

 and the fruit produce no effects. The fruit is that of 

 a herb, 4 not that of a shrub or tree. It is a low- 

 growing herb and shows no special feature, but is 

 like corn, except that the seed is not in an ear. It 

 grows everywhere and not only at Akonai, 5 from 

 whence it gets its name (this is a village of the 

 Mariandynoi) 6 : and it specially likes rocky ground. 

 Neither sheep nor any other animals eat it. 7 In 

 order to be effective it is said that it must be com- 

 pounded in a certain manner, and that not everyone 

 can do this : and so that physicians, not knowing 

 how to compound it, use it as a septic and for other 

 purposes : and 8 that, if drunk mixed in wine or a 

 honey-posset, it produces no sensation : but that it 

 can be so compounded as to prove fatal at a certain 

 moment which may be in two three or six months, 

 or in a year, or even in two years : and that the 



and translates it in nudis cautibus, misled perhaps by rovs 

 TrerpwStiS r6irovs below. 



VlapiavSvvuv conj. Meurs. ; TTfpiavtivvwv U*Ald.H. 



7 U* adds here fioijBe'ia.i 5e TOJS eve-y/cajueVois etVi and omits 

 5, 6 . . . 6t8ei/ai, continuing iro\\<i>as yap fya.a\ TO. avSpdiroSa. 



8 Se add. Sch. 



299 



