BOOK XII. Lx. i3r-Lxii. 134 



bitter and dry to the taste. Omphacium sells at 6 

 denarii a pound. There is also another way of 

 making it, by pounding up unripe grapes in mortars ; 

 the grapes are afterwards dried in the sun and 

 divided up into lozenges. 



LXI. To the same family also belongs bryon,'* ob- 

 tained from the catkins of the white poplar. The 

 best kind grows in the neighbourhood of Cnidus or 

 Caria, in waterless districts or on dry rough ground, 

 and a second best quahty grows on the cedar in 

 Lycia. To the same group also belongs oenanthe, 

 obtained from the cluster of the wild vine. It is 

 picked when it flowers, which is the time when it 

 has the best scent, and it is dried in the shade on 

 a Hnen sheet spread out for the purpose, and then 

 put into casks to store. The best kind comes 

 from Parapotamia, the second best from Antiochia 

 and Laodicea in Syria, and the third best from 

 the mountains in Media ; the last kind is more 

 useful for medicines. Some people prefer the kind 

 that grows in the island of C}^rus to all of these. As 

 for the oenanthe produced in Africa it is only used 

 by the doctors, and is called massaris. But all the 

 oenanthe obtained from the white wild vine is 

 superior to that from the black. 



LXII, There is also another tree that likewise 

 serves for producing unguents, which is called by 

 some people an elate — the Latin for which is ' fir ' 

 — and by others a palm and by others again a spatha. 

 That of Hammonium is most highly spoken of, next 

 the Egyptian variety, and then the Scythian. It only 

 has a scent if it grows in regions devoid of water ; 

 it has tears of a greasy consistency, which are added 

 to unguents to overcome the hardness of the oil. 



93 



