Chap. 38.] 
EUPHORBIA. 
107 
Some persons again, give this name to a plant^^ which grows 
more inland, with a single stem, extremely diminutive leaves, 
and numerous blossoms which open at the ripening of the 
grape, and the odour of which is far from unpleasant. In addi- 
tion to this name, this last plant is known as *'botrys " to some 
persons, and ambrosia" to others it grows in Cappadocia. 
CHAP. 37. — NTMPHtEA, HEEACLEON, BHOPALON, or MADON ; TWO 
VARIETIES OF IT : FOUR REMEDIES. 
The plant called " nymphssa," owes its name, they say, to a 
Js^ymph who diedof jealousy conceived on account of Hercules, 
for which reason it is also known as heracleon'^ by some. By 
other persons, again, it is called " rhopalon," from the resem- 
blance of its root to a club.^* ^ * * -j^ and hence it is that 
those who take it in drink become impotent for some twelve 
days, and incapacitated for procreation. That of the first 
quality is found in Orchomenia and at Marathon : the people of 
Bceotia call it madon, and use the seed for food. It grows 
in spots covered with water ; the leaves^ of it are large, and 
float upoti the surface, while others are to be seen springing 
from the roots below. The flower is very similar to a lily 
in appearance, and after the plant has shed its blossom, the 
place of the flower is occupied by a head like that of the 
poppy. The stem is slender, and the plant is usually cut in 
autumn. The root, of a swarthy hue, is dried in the sun; 
garlic^ manifests a peculiar antipathy to it. 
There is another^^ nymphsea also, which grows in the river 
Peneus, in Thessaly : the root of it is white, and the head 
yellow, about the size of a rose. 
€HAP. 38. TWO VARIETIES OF EUPHORBIA: FOUR REMEDIES. 
THE CHAMELjEA. 
In the time, too, of our fathers. King Juba discovered^ a 
^'^ Identified with the Artemisia camphorata of Linnaeus, Camphorated 
mug wort. 53 Quite a different plant. See B. xxvii. c. 11. 
Judging from the text of Dioscorides, a passage has been probably 
lost here, to the effect that "it is taken in drink by persons troubled with 
lascivious dreams." 
^5 Identified with the Nymphaea alba of Linnaeus, the White-flowered 
nymphaea. 
56 <t Adversatur ei allium/' A corrupt reading, in all probability. 
5' The Nuphar lutea of Sibthorp ; the Yellow-flowered nymphjea, or 
Nenuphar. g^g ^ 
