BOOK XXV. XIX. 42-xx. 45 



XIX. Achilles too, the pupil of Chiron, discovered " Achuieos. 

 a plant to heal wounds, which is therefore called 

 achilleos, and by it he is said to have cured Telephus. 

 Some have it that he was the first to find out that 

 copper-rust is a most useful ingredient of plasters, for 

 which reason he is represented in paintings as 

 scraping it with his sword from his spear on to the 

 wound of Telephus, while others hold that he used 



both remedies. This plant is also called by some 

 Heraclean panaces, by others siderites, and by us 

 millefoHa ; the stalk is a cubit high, and the plant 

 branchy, covered from the bottom with leaves smaller 

 than those of fennel. Others admit that this plant is 

 good for wounds, but say that the real achilleos has a 

 bkie stalk a foot long and without branches, grace- 

 fully covered all over with separate, rounded leaves. 

 Others describe achilleos as having a square stem, 

 heads hke those of horehound, and leaves hke those 

 of the oak ; they claim that it even unites severed 

 sinews. Some give the name sideritis to another 

 plant, which grows on boundary walls and has a foul 

 smell when crushed, and also to yet another, Hke 

 this but with paler and more fleshy leaves, and with 

 more tender stalks, growing in vineyards ; finally to 

 a third, two cubits high, with thin, triangular twigs, 

 lcaves Hke those of the fern, a long foot-stalk and 

 seed Hke that of beet. All are said to be excellent 

 for wounds. Roman authorities call the one with 

 the broadest leaf i*oyal broom ; it cures quinsy in 

 pigs. ^ 



XX. Teucer too in the same age discovered Teucnm. 

 teucrion, called by some hemionion ; it spreads out 



" By " discovering " a plant Pliny seems to mean discovering 

 its value iu medicine. 



169 



