BOOK XXV. Lxxiii. I20-LXXVI. 123 



are broader than those of cabbage, and hairy ; the 



stem is upright, and more than a cubit high. The 



seed is black and of no use. The root is single, and of 



the thickness of a finger. The plants also grow in 



flat country. Wild verbascum has leaves Uke 



those of eleUsphacus and tall, while the branehes are 



of a woody texture. LXXIV. There are also two puomis. 



sorts of phlomis, both shaggy and with round leaves, 



growing near the ground. A third is called 



lychnitis," by some thryaUis ^ ; it has three or at 



most four leaves, which are thick and fleshy, and 



suitable for lamp wicks. It is said that, placed in 



the leaves of the kind we have called female, a fig does 



not even begin to go bad. It is almost superfluous 1 



to distinguish these various kinds, because they all - I 



have the same properties. A draught for the sting 



of scorpions is made from the root and rue in water, 



which is as efficacious as it is bitter. 



LXXV. Thelyphonon is a plant called scorpion Theiypho 

 by some because its root has the shape of one. A 

 mere touch of it kills scorpions, and so it is taken in 

 drink for their stings. It is said that a dead scorpion, 

 if smeared with white hellebore, comes to Ufe again. 

 Thelyphonon kiUs every kind of quadruped if its ] 



root be appUed to the genitals, the leaf indeed, which ' 



is Uke that of cyclamen, does so before the end of the 

 same day. The plant itself is jointed, and grows in 

 shaded places. Good for scorpion bite is the juice of 

 betony or <^ plantain. 



LXXVI. Frogs too have their poisons, bramble- Remedies /11 

 toads a virulent one, and I have seen PsyUi putting Jrogs^and 

 them to a contest loosed from heated pans,*^ and '"'"^*- 



My addition of eas imjjlies that candefactis eas has been 

 " telescoped " by a scribe into candefactas. 



225 

 VOL. VII. 1 



