BOOK XXIV. Lxxxvi. 136-Lxxxvni. 138 



LXXX\'I. The chamaepeuce (" ground larch ") has chamae- 

 a leaf resembling that of the larch and is specific for ^^'^^' 

 lumbago and pains in the spine. The chamaecyparis- Chamaecy- 

 sos ("ground cypress") taken in wine is a powerful ^**"''*''''' 

 antidote to the poisons of all serpents and scorpions. 

 The ampeloprason ("vine leek") grows in vineyards, £.'^^°' 

 has the leaves of a leek, causes violent belching, but 

 is an antidote for the bites of serpents. It promotes 

 urine and menstruation. Taken in drink and 

 applied externally it checks discharges of blood from 

 the genital organ. It is also administered to women 

 after child-birth and for the bites of dogs. That plant 

 also which is called stachys bears a resemlilance 

 to the leek, but has longer and more numerous 

 leaves, a pleasant smell and a colour verging on 

 saffron yellow, It is a powerful emmenagogue. 



LXXXVH. CUnopodium also called cleopiceton, cunopodi 

 zopyrontion or ocimoides, is hke wild thyme, hgneous, 

 a span high, and found on rocky soils ; the flowers 

 are arranged in a round circuit,*^ giving the appear- 

 ance of the feet of a couch. It is taken in drink for 

 sprains, ruptures, strangury and the bites of 

 serpents ; the juice of a decoction is hkewise em- 

 ployed. 



LXXXVIII. I shall now append some plants, 

 wonderful indeed but not so weU known, postponing 

 more famous ones for succeeding books. 



Roman authorities give the name centunculus to a ^pedcs of 

 plant with leaves resembhng the hood of a mantle, 

 found lying on the ground in cultivated fields, and 

 called by the Greeks clematis.*' Taken in a dry 

 wine it is very good for arresting looseness of the 

 bowels. Bleeding too is arrested by this plant 



' Not our clematis. See Index of Plants. 



99 



