384 Aster History: MATTHIOLI 
y 
to the Emperor Ferdinand I,, and now to Maximilian II]. This plant [Padlenis 
spinosa? a figure of which Matthioli introduced as an after thought, by name of Aster 
name of Aster is not inappropriate to it. 
‘< Errore di Serapione.—Serapion is in manifest error in his third book in bis 
chapter on Iringo, in confusing Eryngium with Aster, deceived by the resemblance that 
their stellated flowers present. — 
‘ rs make question about the 4ygiunta, the added spurious part of Dioscorides’ 
chapter. I hold, with the more learned of our time, that this Aggiunta is the addition 
of some threadb dul iter. I the more believe so, because neither Serapion, 
Galen, Paolo Egineta, nor Oribasio, all imitators of Dioscorides, write any such addi- 
tional statements ; although I have found a part of it in Apuleius in his treatise on 
erbs, whence it may easily have been transferred [translation of which follows]. Of 
that Amello, which I have claimed is Aster Atticus, Vergil writes [translation fol- 
lows 
tuieaa 
«* But it is impossible not to marvel at the little discernment of those who make 
profession of reproving others, and who claim that the Amello of Vergil is none other 
than the common Chelidonia minore | Ficaria ‘ranunculoides, the lesser celandine]. 
‘ Sublucet purpura,’ because the purple color of these little leaflets is not equally 
shining and conspicuous as in the violets, but much more subdued and more clear. 
But nobody can claim that Che/idonia minore is purple. Besides, Chelidonia minore is 
almost always prone upon the earth, nor does it direct itself upward ; while the Amello 
grows directly straight up, as Vergil says. 
ae ue uno ingentem tollit de cespite sylvam, 
that is, it raises itself up from the sod and grows into a little forest, And this is to be 
added : that Chelidonia minore blooms at the wrong season, for no one sees it but 1n 
early spring (/a primavera); but Amello at the last of summer or beginning of autumn ; 
as Vergil indicates, saying Zonsis in vallibus, etc. : 
‘« For there is need to expose the poltroonery (fo%roneria), not to say the malig- 
nity (malignité), of the critics. 
‘In short, the Amello is an herb which makes its stalks straight up from the 
root, growing in the folds of the hills, and woody, of a color which is dark and 
purplish ; then it gives birth to branches almost at its summit. The flowers resemble @ 
star, like our Camamilla, and like Bellis the daisy with the middle yellow and the ont 
side clear purple. The leaves are longish, like an olive-leaf, but much smaller, bairys 
