BOOK XXIV. Lx\'ni. iii-lxxi. 115 



There is without doubt, as I have said,'' a wild thorn 

 of this name in the East, white, and as big as an 

 ordinary tree, (LXIX) but it is also the name of a 

 shrub, lower in height but equally thorny, that grows 

 in the islands Nisyrus and Rhodes, called by some 

 erysisceptrum, by others sphagnos, and by the 

 Syi-ians diaxylon. The best is that least Hke fennel- 

 giant, of a red colour or inclining to purple when the 

 bark has been removed. It grows in several regions, 

 but not everywhere has it a perfume. I have de- 

 scribed * its powerful scent when the rainbow rests 

 extended over the shrub. It cures foul ulcers in the 

 mouth, polypus, ulcerated genitals and those with 

 carbuncles, and also chaps ; taken in drink it clears 

 away flatulence and strangury. The bark is good 

 for those who bring up blood, and a decoction of it 

 checks looseness of the bowels. The wild shrub also 

 is thought to have similar properties. 



LXX. There is also a thorn with the name of 

 appendix, because the bright red berries hanging 

 from it are called appendixes. These, either raw by 

 themselves or dried and boiled down in wine, check 

 looseness of the bowels and colic. The berries of 

 pyracantha are taken in drink for the bites of 

 serpents. 



LXXI. PaUurus too is a species of thorn. Its 

 seed the Africans call zura ; it is very efficacious 

 for scorpion sting, and likewise for stone and cough. 

 The leaves have an astringent quality. The root dis- 



candida magnitudine arboris modicae, flore rosae. radix un- 

 gueniis expetifur, tradunt in quocumque frutice curvetiir arcus 

 caelestis, eandem quae sit aspalathi suavitatem odoris exsistere ; 

 sed si in aspalatho, inenarrabilem quandam. quam quidam ery- 

 sisceptrum vocant, alii sceptrum, See Index of Plants, s.v. 

 Aspalathus. 



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