BOOK XXI. Lxix. 116-LXX. 118 



that to apply cypiros as a liniment with oil is a certain 

 cure for chafings, ofFensive armpits and abrasions." 



LXX. Cyperos ** is a rush such as I have ah-eady " ' 

 described, with three corners, white next the gi'Ound, 

 dark and fleshy at the head. The bottom leaves are 

 more slender than those of leeks, the top ones being 

 very small, with the seed between them. The root 

 resembles that of the dark olive, which when it is 

 oblong is called cyperis, being widely used in 

 medicine.*^ The most vahied cvperos comes from 

 the region round the temple of Hanmion, the second 

 in esteem from Rhodes, the third from Thera, the 

 last from Egypt ; as the cypiros also grows there, 

 some confusion of thought results. But cypiros has 

 a very hard root and scarcely any smell ; the species 

 of true cyperos *" have a smell that closely resembles 

 that of nard. There is also a separate Indian plant 

 called cypira, in shape resembHng ginger, which 

 when chewed tastes Uke safFron. The use of cyperos 

 in medicine is to act as a depilatory. It makes an 

 ointment for hang-nails, sores of the genitals and all 

 sores that are in moisture, such as those in the 

 mouth. Its root affords an effective remedy for the 

 bites of snakes and stings of scorpions. The root 

 taken in drink opens the passage of the uterus, but 

 if taken in too strong doses its potency is great 

 enough to cause prolapsus. It promotes urine and 

 the passing of stone, and therefore is most useful to 

 sufferers from dropsy. It is apphed to spreading 

 sores, but especially to those of the gullet, either in 

 wine or in vinegar. 



sentence result from the similarity of the word cyperos to 

 cypiros ; a difference between Egyptian cypiros and other 

 varieties of it is surely irrelevant. 



247 



