Chap. 60.] 
OMPHACIUM. 
153 
made in the stalk at harvest- time, and in the root in autumn. 
"When in a coagulated state, it is esteemed according to its 
whiteness. The next in value is that of a pallid colour, while , 
the black is held in no esteem. The price of that of the best 
quality is two denarii per pound. 
CHAP. 58. SPONDYLIUlVr. 
The difference between this kind of giant-fennel and that 
known as spondylium,^ consists only in the leaf, which is 
smaller, and divided like that of the plane tree. It grows in 
shady places only. The feeed bears the same name as the plant, 
and has a strong resemblance to that of hart- wort : it is only 
employed in medicine. 
CHAP. 59. MALOBATHRTIM, 
Syria produces the malobathrum^^ also, a tree which bears a 
folded leaf, with just the colour of a leaf when dried. From 
this plant an oil is extracted for unguents. Egypt produces it 
in still greater abundance ; but that which is the most esteemed 
of all comes from India, where it is said to grow in the marshes 
like the lentil. It has a more powerful odour than saffron, 
and has a black, rough appearance, wdth k sort of brackish 
taste. The white is the least approved of all, and it very soon 
turns musty when old. In taste it ought to be similar to 
nard, when placed under the tongue. When made luke-warra 
in wine, the odour which it emits is superior to any other. 
The prices at which this drug ranges are something quite 
marvellous, being from one denarius to four hundred per pound ; 
as for the leaf, it generally sells at sixty denarii per pound. 
CHAP. 60. (27.) OMPHACITJM. 
Omphacium^ is also a kind of oil, which is obtained from 
55 The umbelliferous plant known as the Heracleum spondylium of Lin- 
naeus. It is commonly found in France, where it is called Berce-branc- 
ursine. It received its name from the resemblance of its smell to that of 
the sphondyle, a fetid kind of wood- beetle. 
^ Some suppose this tree to be the Laurus cassia of Linnaeus, or wild 
cinnamon ; others take it for the betel, the Pip^er betel of Linnaeus. Clu- 
sius thinks that the name is derived from the Indian Tamalpatra, the name 
given from time immemorial to the leaf of a tree known by the Arabs as 
the Cadegl-indi, possibly the same as the Katou-carua of the Malabars. 
From the Greek ofxcpaKiov, being made of unripe grapes. As Fee 
