96 
PLINl's NATTJEAL HISTOET. [Book XXY. 
property to wliich it is indebted for the name of splenion," 
given to it by some. It is said too, tbat swine which have fed 
upon the root of this plant are found to have no milt. 
Some authors give this name also to a ligneous plant,^^ with I 
branches like those of hyssop, and a leaf resembling that of ; 
the bean ; they say too, that it should be gathered while in 
blossom, from which we may conclude that they entertain no • 
doubt that it does blossom. That which grows on the moun- 
tains of Cilicia and Pisidia is more particularly praised by them. 
CHAP. 21. MELAMPODIUM, HELLEBOEE, OR VERATRUM : THREE 
VARIETIES OF IT. THE WAY IN WHICH IT IS GATHERED, AND 
HOW THE QUALITY OE IT IS TESTED. - 
The repute of Melampus, as being highly skilled in the arts of 
divination, is universally known. This personage has given a 
name to one species of hellebore, known as the melampodion." ! 
Some persons, however, attribute the discovery of this plant 
to a shepherd of that name, who remarked that his she-goats , 
were violentlj^ purged after browsing upon it, and afterwards || 
cured the daughters of Proetus of madness, by giving them ' 
the milk of these goats. It will be the best plan, therefore, to 
take this opportunity of treating of the several varieties of i 
hellebore. The two principal kinds are the white and the 
black though, according to most authorities, this difference 
exists in the root only. There are some authors, however, 
who assure us that the leaves of the black hellebore are similar 
to those of the plane-tree, only darker, more diminutive, and 
more jagged at the edges : and who say, that the white hel- 
lebore has leaves like those of beet when first shooting, 
though at the same time of a more swarthy colour, with reddish 
veins on the under side. The stem, in both kinds, is feru- 
laceous, a palm^^ in height, and covered with coats like those 
of the bulbs, the root, too, being fibrous like that of the onion. ^ 
The Teucrium hicidum of Linnaeus : tbougb, as Fee says, there is 
little similarity between it and hyssop, or between its leaves and those of ] 
the bean. See B. xxiv. c. 80. 
9' Identified by F^e with the Veratrum album and Yeratrum nigrum of 
Linnaeus, species between which there is little difi'erence. 
98 Identified by Tournefort with the Helleborus niger of Lamarck. 
I^ttre mentions the Helleborus orientalis of Linnteus. 
The stem of white hellebore is much longer than this. 
1 This comparison with the onion, Fee says, is altogether inexact. 
