Lib. 2. 
Of the Hiflory of Plants. 
xo 97 
or pefants Wormewood : we haue named it Abfwthium lati folium, broad leafed Wormewood that 
it may differ from the reff : the interpreters of the Arabians ca 11 the better fort,which D lofcmdes 
nameth Ponticke Wormwood, Romannm Abfinthium , Roman Wormwood : and ait ,-r thole the bar- 
barous Phyfrtions of the later age: the Italians name Wormwood Affo.-fi • the Sraniards,/f.w»- 
xtos,A(fenftos, moft of them Dtmzett : the Portingales, Alofnt: ill high Dtuch^ritminut v'i'i’P 
in French, ALuyne: inEnglilli, common Wormwood. 
Victor TnncauilU, a Angular Phyfition,in his praAife tooke it for Abfinthium ■■’■him. 
2 This is commonly called Abfinthium Rowanum-.and in low Dutcbj&OMlfClje -riiiCtieiby which 
name it is knowne to very many Phy fitions and Apothecaries, who vie this in dead of Ponticke 
wormwoodffurthermore it hath a leafe and floure far leife than the other worimvoodsdikewife the 
fmell ofthis is not onely pleafant,but it yeeldeth alfoa fpicie fent,wheras all the reft bane a ffrono- 
and lothfome fmel 1 : and this Ponticke Wormwood doth differ from that which Diofcoridcs conf , 
, mendeth : for Diofcondes !i is Pontick wormwood is accounted among them of the firfr kinde,orof 
•broad leafed wormwood ; which thing alfoGa/en affirmeth in his fixt booke of the Faculties ofme- 
d eines,in the chapter of Sothermvood.There be three kinds of Wormwood(faith he)wherofthey 
vie to call one by the generall name, and that is efpecially Pontickavhereby it is manifeft that Ga- 
Icn in this place hath referred Ponticke to no other than to the firft wormwood ; and therefore ma- 
nv not without caufe maruell,that Galen hath written in his booke of the Method of curing;, how 
Pontick wormwood is leflein flonre and leafe : many excufe him, and lay the fault vpon the cor- 
ruption of the booke, and in his <? .booke of Method , the leffer they would haue the longer: there- 
fore this wormwood with the leffer leafe is not the right Pontick wormewood, neither aiiaine the 
Arabians Romane wormewood, who haue no other Romane than Ponticke of the Grecians . Alfo 
many beleeue that this is called Smomcnm , but this is not to be fought for in Myfia, Thracia, or 
other countries Eaftward,but in France beyond the Alps, if we may beleeue Diofcoridcs his cop’ies 
there be that would haue it grow not beyond the Alps ofItaIy,but in Galatia a countrie in Afia & 
in the region of the Sardines, which isinthg leffer Afia- whereupon it was called in Greeke L«, 
which was changed into the name Santonicim through the errourof the tranflators : Diofcoridcs his 
copies keep the word Sardonium , & Galenscofies Santonicum, which came to pofterity as it iccmeth. 
iscalled in Englifh, Romane Wormewood, garden or Cypres Wormewood, and French Worm- 
wood. 
The Temperature. 
W' ormewood is of temperature hot and drie,hot in the fecond degree, and drie in the third.it is 
bitter and clenfing, and likewife hath powertobindeor ftrengthen. 
The Vert ues. 
It is very profitable toa weake ilomaeke that is troubled vvithcholev, for it clenfeth it through A 
his bitterneffe,purgetb by fiegeand vrine : by reafon off the binding qualitie, it ftrengthneth and 
comforteth the ftomacke,but helpeth nothing at all to remoue flegme contained inthe ftomacke, 
as Galen addetb. 
1 1 it be taken before a furfeit it keepeth it off, and remoucth lothfomeneffe, faith Diofcoridcs ,md ® 
it helpeth not only before a furfeit, but alio it quickly refrelheth the ftomackand belly after large 
eatmg and drinking. 
it is oftentimes a good re me d if againft long and lingring agues, efpecially tertians : for it doth G 
nor onely ftrengthen the ftomacke and make an appetite tomear,but it yeeldeth ftrength to the 11- 
ucra fo,and riddeth itoi.pbftruAions or Hoppings, clenfing by vrinenaughtie humours. 
Furthermore, W ormewood ^excellent good for them that vomiteb loud from the fpleene, the J) 
which bapneth when the fpleene being ouercharged and filled vp with groffe blond doth vnburden ■ 
it felfe,and then great plenty of blond is oftentimes caft vp by vomite.lt happeneth likewile that 
ftore ofblacke and corrupt blond mixed with excrements paffeth downewards by the floole,and it 
oftentimes hapneth that with violent and large vomiting theficke man fainteth or fwounerh, or 
when he is retimed doth fall into a difficult and almoft incureable tympanic, efpecially when the 
difeafe doth often happen ; but from thefe dangers Wormewood can deliuerhim, if when he is re- 
frefhed after \ omite,and his ftrength any way recouered,he (hall a good while vfe it, in what man- 
ner Ibeuer he himfelfe Hi all thinke good. 
Againe, Wormewood voideth away the wormes of the guts, not onely -taken inwardly , but ap- E 
plied outwardly : it withftandeth all putrifadtions ; it is good againft a (linking breath ; itkeepeth 
garments alfo from the Mothes ; it driueth away gnats, the bodie being annointed with the oile 
thereof. 
Likewife it is fingular good in pulteffes and fomentations to binde and to drie. 
Befides all this Diofcondes declareth,that it is good alfo againft windinefle and griping pains of 
the ftomacke and belly, with Sefeli and French Spikenard : the decodlioncureth the yellow iaun- 
dies or the infufion,if it be drunke thrife a day fome ten or twclue fpoonfuls at a time, 
Zzzz It : 
O 
