BOOK XXII. XXXVIII. 80-xL. 83 



bowels, its seed in vinegar immediately checks 

 hiccough. It is applied to burns and is diuretic. 

 The juice of the decoction is good for stomach, Hver, 

 kidneys, and bladder. This is the plant that Aristo- 

 phanes" uses to poke fun at the poet Euripides, 

 implving that his mother had not been a seller of 

 even proper vegetables, but only of scandix. It would 

 be the same sort of plant as enthryscum,^ were its 

 leaves thinner and more fragrant. Its special merit is 

 that it gives strength to a body exhausted by sexual 

 indulgence, and revives sexual virihty when flagging 

 through okl age. It checks leucorrhoea in women. 



XXXIX. lasine (bindweed ?) too is considered to lasiTie. 

 be a wikl vegetable. It creeps on the ground, is 

 full of milky juice, and bears a white flower called 

 conchvHum. This pkant too has the same merit of 

 exciting to sexual intercourse. Eaten raw in vinegar 

 with food it brings also a rich supply of milk to nursing 

 mothers. It is health-giving to those suffering from 

 consumption. AppHed to the head of babies it makes 

 the hair grow, and the scalp more retentive of it. 



XL. Caucalis too is edible, a plant like fennel, cavcaiis 

 with a short stem and a white flower. It is good for 'fJ'jfu,n^'" 

 the heart ; its juice too is taken as a draught, being 

 especially good for the stomach and urine, for ex- 

 pelhng stone and gravel, and for irritation of the 

 bkadder. It alleviates also catarrhs of the spleen, 

 hver and kidneys. The seed promotes menstruation, 

 and dries up biUous secretions after childbirth. It 

 is also prescribed for seminal fluxes in men. Chry- 

 sippus is also of opinion that it greatly helps 

 conception. It is taken in wine fasting. It is also 

 appUed to the wounds caused by poisonous sea 

 creatures, as Petrichus points out in his poem. 



351 



