BOOK XXV. XI. 31-XIV. s^ 



described" in my account of exotic plants. The 

 kind imported out of Macedonia they call buco- 

 licon,^ because herdsmen collect the sap as it exudes 

 of its own accord ; this evaporates very rapidly. As 

 to the other kinds, the least popular is the dark 

 and soft, for these quaHties are signs of adulteration 

 with wax. 



XII. A second kind they call heracleon, and say neradeon. 

 that it was discovered by Hercules ; others call it 

 Heracleotic or wild origanum, because it is hke the 

 origanum I have already described ; " the root is of 



no value.** 



XIII. A third kind of panaces has the surname chironium. 

 chironium from Chiron the centaur who discovered 



it. Its leaf is Hke that of lapathum, but larger and 

 more hairy. The blossom is golden and the root 

 small. It grows in rich soils. The blossom of 

 this kind is very efficacious, and therefore has a 

 wider range of usefulness than that of the kinds 

 mentioned above. 



XIV. The fourth kind is the panaces discovered by Centaurion. 

 the same Chiron and surnamed centaurion, but also 

 pharnaceon, a name derived from king Pharnaces, 



as there is a controversy whether he was, or was not, 

 the discoverer. This kind is grown from seed, 

 having longer leaves than the other kinds, and 

 with serrated edges. Its scented root is dried in the 



candor eius coacti ; sequens pallido statera, niger colos inpro- 

 batur. 



* " Biicolic," " pastoral," " pertaining to oxen." 



" See XX. § 170. 



^ I think that a semicolon should be put at iimtili. If with 

 Detlefsen and Mayhoff we put a comma only, we get the sense : 

 " the origanum I have ah-eady described, whose root is of no 

 value." 



