50 
Pliny's natural history. 
[Book XXIV. 
CHAP. 75. THE ID^AN BRAMBLE. 
The Idaean bramble^ is so called from the fact that it is the 
only plant of the kind found growing upon Mount Ida. It is 
of a more delicate nature than the others, and smaller ; the 
canes too are thinner, and not' so prickly : it mostly grows 
beneath the shade of trees. The blossom of it, mixed with 
honey, is applied topically for defluxions of the eyes, and is 
administered in water for erysipelas and affections of the* 
stomach.^ In other respects, it has properties similar to those 
of the plants^ already mentioned. 
CHAP. 76. THE RHAMNOS; TWO VARIETIES OF IT: FIVE REMEDIES. 
Among the several kinds^^ of bramble is reckoned the plant 
called rhamnos" by the Greeks. One variety of it is whiter^^ 
than the other, and has a more shrublike appearance, throwing 
out branches armed with straight thorns, and not hooked, like 
those of the other kinds; the leaves too are larger. The other 
kind,^^ which is found growing wild, is of a more swarthy hue, 
in some measure inclining to red ; it bears too a sort^^ of pod. 
"With the root of it boiled in water a medicament is made, 
known as *4ycium : ''^'^ the seed of it is useful for bringing 
away the after-birth. The white kind, however, is of a more 
astringent and cooling nature, and better adapted for the treat- 
ment of gatherings and wounds. The leaves of both kinds, 
' either raw or boiled, are employed topically with oil. 
6 The raspberry; see B. xvi. c. 71. 
There is one variety which is very diminutive, and entirely destitute 
of thorns, the Eubus Idaeus Itevis of C. Bauhin, the Eubus Ideeus non 
spinosus of J. Bauhin. ^ See B. xvi. c. 71. 
^ Of the bramble genus. 
^0 In reality, as Fee says, there is no botanical affinity between the 
Eubus, or bramble, and the Ehamnus. 
11 Sprengel identifies this plant with the Zizyphus vulgaris of Linnaeus, 
the jujube, and Desfontaines is of the same opinion. Fee, however, takes 
it to be the Ehamnus saxatilis of Linnaeus, the rock buckthorn. 
1- Identified by some authorities with the Paliurus aculeatus of Decan- 
dolles, mentioned in c. 71. Sprengel is in doubt whether it may not be 
the Ehamnus lycioides of Linnaeus. 
13 Not a characteristic, Fee says, of the genus Ehamnus of modern Botany. 
1^ Or ^'Lycian" extract. See B. xii, c. 15. 
