BOOK XXVI. XXXII. 5o-x\xiv. 53 



XXXII. Laver also, which grows in streams, when 

 preserved and boiled cures gripings, XXXIII. 

 potamogiton, however, taken in wine, cures dysentery 

 as well and coehac affections. The latter is a plant 

 with leaves Uke those of beet, only it is a smaller and 

 more haiiy plant, never rising more than a httle above 

 the surface of the water. Only the leaves are used. 

 which have a cooHng and bracing quaUty, being 

 especially useful for bad legs, and, with honey or 

 vinegar, for corroding ulcers. The plant known to 

 Castor under this name was diffcrent ; it had slender 

 leaves Uke horse-hair, a long, smooth stem, and 

 grew in mai-shy districts. With its root Castor used 

 to cure scrofulous sores and indurations. The 

 crocodile has an antipathy " to potamogiton, so that 

 crocodile hunters carry some of it on their persons. 

 Achillea too checks looseness of the bowels. Statice 

 also has the same properties, a plant that bears 

 seven heads, Uke the heads of a rose, upon seven 

 stems. 



XXXIV. Ceratia, a plant with one leaf, and a large, 

 knotted root, taken in food cures sufferers from 

 coeUac disease and dysentery. Leontopodium, 

 called by some leuceoron, by others dorypetron, by 

 others thorybethron, is a plant the root of which, in 

 doses of two denarii by weight added to hydromel, 

 checks looseness of the bowels and cames off bile. 

 It grows on flat land with a thin soil. Its seed, 

 taken in drink, is said to cause nightmares.* Lagopus 

 taken in wine, or in water if there is fever, checks 

 looseness of the bowels. It is also attached to the 

 groin when there is swelUng there. It grows in 

 cornfields. Many recommend above all else for 

 desperate cases of dysentery doses of a decoction 



303 



