Plinies Natural! Hiftorie, 



A and braunches like to the Afli, but Pcare- tree leaves, ftve that they be fbmewha t Ion ger&^fhic:- 

 fcer, with long cuts or lines wrinkled and riveled throughout : and the leedin forme and colour 

 is like to barley. The wood of it is hard and ftrong; and Ibme fay if anypeece therof be bnkight 

 into an houfe where a woman is intravailcof child-birth, ("heelliall have difficult labour, and 

 hardly be delivered ; and whofoever lyeth ficke there, (hall die a miferable death. 



^ OfEmn^mti^ or the Spindle tree of Adrachne^ Con^jgria^ 

 andThapJia. 



B TN the Hand Lesbos, there groweth a tree named Euonymos, no better nor more luckie than 

 i Oftrya beforefaid.Much unlike it is not to the Pomegranate tree. As for the leafc th at it bea- 

 reth,it is of a middle fee betweene that of the Pomegranat and the Bay ^ otherwife for lliape 

 andfoftnefle,it refembleth that ofth€Pomegranat:theflowcriswhiter5thefmell& taftwhere- 

 of ispeftiferous and menaceth prclent death :itbeareth cods like to Sefama , within which be 

 graines or feeds fourefquare and thicke,but deadly unto all creatures that eat them. The Icafe 

 alfo is as venimous as the graine, yet otherwhilcs there enfuetb thereof a fiuxe and gurric of the 

 belly, which faveth their life, or elfe there were no way but one. 



^i/Vx4«<a^?r Ctf;w///^ called that tree ^Eone, whereof the famous fhip Argowas made -and * 

 like it was (by his laying) to the Oke that carrieth Miifeko, the timber whereof neither water will 



C putrifie,nor fire confume,no more than theMiffeko it felfe.Butfofarre as ever I could kame,no 

 man knew that tree but himfelfe. 



As for the tree Adrachne, all the Grcekes in manner take Porcellaihe for it 5 whereas indeed 

 Porcellaine is an hearb, called in Greeke Andrdchrk -^{o as they differ in one letter: but Adrach- 

 ne is a tree of the wild forrefts growing upon mountaines, and never in the piaines beneatli ; re- 

 femblmg the Arbut or Strawberrie tree, fave that the leaves be lcl]e,and never fade nor f?.llAnd 

 for the barke, rough and rugged indeed it is not, buta man would fay it were frozen andail«n 

 yce round about, fo unpleafantit is to the eye. 



Like in leafe to Adrachne,is the tree Congygria, but otherwife it is lefTe and lower. Thispro^ 

 pertie it hath. To loofe the fruit wholly, togither with the fofc downe that itbearethjwhich they 



D call Pappus - a qualirie that no other tree hath, befideic. Like to Adrachne alio is Apharce,. and 

 bearerii fruit twice in one yeere, as well as it. The former is ripe, when the grape bcginncth to 

 bud and bloom ; the latter, in the beginning of winter : but what manner of fruit this iliould be, 

 I have not found written. 



As touching the Ferula, it will notbeamifle to fpeake thereof among forreinplants,yeaand 

 to raunge it among trees; for(as hereafter we will diftinguifh in the divifion of trees^Monie plants 

 are of this nature,'^ fhe wall the wood they havCjwhere thebarke A^ould be; that is tofay,with- 

 out.forth : and whjg;the heart of the wood ought to be,tliey have nought but a light and fpon- 

 geouspith,asthe9i4lerj or els nothing at alljas Canes and Reeds.But tocome toour terula 

 before-named,it groweth in hot countries beyond-feajwith a ftalke or fiemfull of knottie joints. 



E Two kinds be knowne of them r for that which the Greeks call Narthex, groweth tail j but Nar- 

 thecia is alwaies low.The leaves that putforth at the joynts,be ever Biggeft toward the ground : 

 this plant otherwife is of the nature of Dill, and the fruit is not unlike. There is not a plant in the 

 worldlighter than it for the bignefle : bein^ eafie therefore to weld and carrie, the '^%m thereof 

 ferveth old men infteadof Ibves, to reft upon. The feedoi this Ferula or Pencil- gyanr,fome 

 havccalled Thapfia, b.utherein they be deceived,for that Thapfia doubtleile is akind of Ferula 

 by it (elfe, leafed like Fenell, with an hollow ftalke,and never exceedeth in height the length of a 

 ivalking-If affe : the'feed is like tOthatof the Ferula, and the root white : cut it^ there ifliieth forth 

 ^ milkejftampe it,y oufhall fee it yceldplentie of juice. Neither is the barke of the root rcjedted 

 and cattafide, although bothit,themilke3and the juice, be very poifbns: for furely the toot is 



F hurifuii to them that digge it up ; and if never fO little of the aire thereof breath upon thei:^ (fo 

 venomous it is) their bodies wiilbolne and fwell^ their faces will be all overrun wjth a wild-fire % 

 to prev^sut which mifchiefes, they are forced to annoint their bodies with a Howb^eit as 

 dangerous as they be^pi^yiicians make ufe therof in the cure of many inward difeafes,fo they be 

 well cof reifted and tempered with other fafe medicines. In like manner they fay, that the juice of 



M m ij Thapfia 



