BOOK XXII. XXI. 45-47 



from the varied colour of its leaves ; for it changes 

 its colour with the soil — dark here, green there, in 

 some places blue, in others saffron yellow, and of 

 other colours elsewhere. A decoction of the root of 

 the white variety cures dropsy, the dose being a 

 drachma taken in raisin wine. Intestinal parasites 

 also are expelled by a dose of an acetabulum of the 

 same juice taken in a harsh wine with sprigs of wild 

 marjoram. It is diuretic. Dogs too and pigs are 

 killed by this juice in pearl barley with water and 

 oil added. It attracts mice to itself, and kills them, 

 unless they swallow water at once. Some people 

 recommend that its root be cut up and kept sus- 

 pended by cords, and be boiled in food against 

 those fluxes which the Greeks call peu/xaTtcr/Ltot." 

 Of the dark variety that with a purple flower is said 

 by some to be the male plant, that with a violet 

 flower the female. They grow together,* with a 

 stem a cubit high and of the thickness of a finger. 

 Their roots, boiled with sulphur together with 

 bitumen, cure Hchen ; '^ chewed, moreover, or boiled 

 down in vinegar, they tighten loose teeth, and the 

 juice cures the scab in animals. It kills ticks on 

 dogs, as well as buUocks, choking them as a quinsy 

 does, for which reason some call it ulophonon,'^ and 

 it is also called, because of its offensive smell, cyno- 

 zolon.^ These plants too produce a viscous substance, 

 which is very good for sores. The roots too of all 



' A skin eruption, usuaily appearing on the face, when 

 it was called mentaqra (chin-disease). See Celsus VI. 3, 

 where it is also called avKioais, because the diseased area 

 resembled the inside of a ripe fig. 



** " The very deadly plant " (ovXo^ovov). 



' " Smelling like a dog " (Kvv6t,oXov). 



32.S 



