ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS, IX. xvn. 4 -xvm. 2 



much difference ; 1 thus some say that the sheep of 

 some places do not eat wormwood ; yet those of 

 Pontus not only eat it but become fatter and fairer 

 and, as some say, have 110 bile. But these things 

 may be said to belong to a different enquiry. 



Of plants that possess properties affecting lifeless objects. 



XVIII. Herbs and shrubs, 2 as has been said, have 

 many virtues which are shown in their effects not 

 only on living bodies but on lifeless ones. Thus 

 they say that there is a kind of akantha (gum arabic) 

 which thickens water, when it is put in it ; 3 and that 

 so also does the root of marsh-mallow if one shreds 

 it and puts it in and stands the water in the open 

 air. Marsh-mallow has a leaf like mallow, but larger 

 and rougher ; the stems are soft, the flower yellow, 

 the fruit like that of mallow, the root fibrous and 

 white, with a taste like that of the stem of mallow. 

 They use it for fractures and for coughs in sweet wine, 

 and for sores in olive-oil. 



4 They say that there is another kind which, if 

 cooked with meat, combines with it and as it were 

 sets it hard ; and there are others that attract things 

 to them, like the magnet or amber. So much for 

 effects produced on lifeless things. 



Of plants whose properties affect animals other than man. 



5 Wolf's bane, which some call ' scorpion-plant be- 

 cause it has a root like a scorpion, kills that animal 



4 Referred to by Apollon. Hixt. Mirab. 41. c/. Diosc. 3. 147 ; 

 Plin. 27. 42 ; 25. 67. 



5 Referred to by Ael. H. A. 9. 27 ; Apollon. Hist. Mirab. 41. 

 c/. Plin. 25. 122 (c/. 27. 6) ; Diosc. 4. 76. This is evidently a 

 different plant to the a-Kopirios mentioned 9. 13. 6. See Index. 



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