BOOK XXVII. XL. 63-xLiii. 66 



the breasts. By crataegos or crataegon Theo- 

 phrastus " would have us understand the tree which in 

 Italy is called aquifoHum. 



XLI. Crocodileon is Uke black chamaeleon in CrocodiUon. 

 shape, with a long root uniformly thick, and a pun- 

 gent smell. It grows in sandy places. Taken in 

 drink it causes copious epistaxis of thick blood ; it is 

 also ^ said to reduce the spleen. 



XLII. Cynosorchis, called by some orchis, has CynosorcMs. 

 leaves like oUve leaves, soft, three <^ in number and 

 lying on the ground to the length of half a foot. 

 The root is bulbous, longish, and in two parts, the 

 upper being harder and the lower softer. Found 

 generally in vineyards these are boiled and eaten as 

 are bulbs. If men eat the larger of these roots, 

 male children are said to be conceived, but female if 

 the smaUer is eaten by women. In Thessaly men 

 take in goat's milk the softer root as an aphrodisiac, 

 but the harder as an antaphrodisiac. The one part 

 neutraUzes the other. 



XLIII. Chrysolachanum, growing in pine woods, is chryso- 

 Uke lettuce. If appUed at once it heals cut sinews. andother 

 Elsewhere too is said to grow a kind of chrysola- ?>''""*• 

 chanum \vith a golden flower and leaves Uke those of 

 cabbage. It is eaten boiled as a soft '^ vegetable. 

 This plant, tied on as an amulet so that the patient 

 can look at it, is said to cure jaundice. I know that 



' Parts of the description are notin Dioscorides (III 126), but 

 the two authorities in this chapter are remarkably ahke, 

 though with starthng diiTerences. E.g., Dioscorides has : 

 TTpocriaTopelTai 8' Iti Kal ra? «V QecraaXla yvvalKas rov piev 

 oLTTaXov K.T.X., where Pliny has viri. 



^ So Littre. The Bohn translators say " laxative " ; but I 

 can find only one instance oimollis in (almost) that sense, being 

 used however as an epithet oialvus, i.e., "relaxed bowels." 



429 



