56 ASTER HIstTory 
Princess,” upon which she slept during a long journey to his own 
country. 
Rodd, 165, describes the ‘“ beautiful-sleep bringer”’ of the 
Cretans : “In the island of Crete a plant which is common by the 
roadside, with whose botanical name I am not familiar, but which 
is known in the island as zahoxorpybeca, * the giver of good sleep, 
was pointed out as largely used by the good wives of the villages 
‘as a household remedy for indigestion and sleeplessness, and many 
were the stories told of its wonderful efficacy on patients whose 
maladies had defied the usual medical remedies.” 
elenium or elecampane, the Aster officinale of some later 
botanists, was credited, says Pliny, with similar power when taken 
with wine, ‘“ having in fact a similar effect to the nepenthes, which 
has been so much vaunted by Homer as producing forgetfulness of 
all sorrow.” —Piiny, 21, gt. 
Perhaps it was from some tradition of Aster as a sleep-producer 
that Bock, 1536, attributes to his “Uva lupina seu Astera’’ power 
“to produce sleep if eaten.” 
Parts Usep 
The whole plant, green and fresh, bypov, for buboes, D., Aetios ; 
recens, Ortus ; verte, Matthioli ; fresh, Parkinson ; so the whole 
plant, for the mad-dog’s bite and for goitre, using it green and 
fresh, ylwod, Cratevas, recens, Matthioli, Ruel. 
The whole plant, dry, as an amulet, D., etc. 
The leaves, for buboes, Salmon. 
The root, for bees, V., Columella; for swine, Pliny, and for 
human use, for ulcers, Pliny, under name Argemon. 
In early days the whole plant, “kraut,” and root, — 
“wurzel,”’ were kept in stock by the apothecaries under the name 
Herba et Radix Aster Atticis—Flora Deutschland. 
cients laid it among garments to keep moths away (and to impart its pleasant odor, 
Pliny, 21, 96) ; and says, as in case of its relative Aster, it was used to drink in wine 
; : - With it, he adds, they crown the shrines of the 
gods 5 Pliny reminds us how faithfully this custom was followed by one of the Ptolemies 
in Egypt. 
