I^oz 
Of che Hilloric o f Plants. 
L 
! B. 
Chamel/ea Arabum Tricoecos . 
Widow- Waile. 
QyOt 0 L/L-litS CCaavi^ 
The Temperature. 
Both the leaues and fruitof Spurge-01iue,as 
we haue laid, are of a burning and ext rme hot 
temperature. e 
The Vcrtues. 
The leaues , faith Diofcondes, purge both 
fiegme and cho'er,efpecia!ly taken in pills, fo 
that two parts of V\ onnevvood be mixed with 
one of Spurge 01iue,and made vpinto pils 
with Mede or homed water. They melt not in 
the belly, but as many as betaken are voided 
whole. 
iMefite likevvife hath a defeription of pills 
of the leaues of Mezereon, that is, Chamelta, or 
Spurge-Oliue (yet Sjluim expoundeth it Thy. 
meUa, or Spurge-Flax) but in ftead ofWorm- 
wood he taketh the outward fubftance of the 
yellow Mirobalans and Cepula Mirobalans, 
and makerh them vp with Tereniabin , that is 
to fay, with Manna and foure Dates, which 
they call Tamarinds, diffolued in Endiue wa- 
ter s and appointeth the fame leaues to be firft 
tempered with very ftrong vineger, and to be 
dried. 
Thefe pills are commended again!! the 
Dropfie,for they draw forth watery humours, 
but are violent to nature , therfore we muft vfe 
them as little as may be. Moreouer pDiofcorides 
addeth,tbat the leaues of Spurge Oliue beaten 
with hony doclenfe filthy or crufted vlcers. 
CHAP. 6$. 
OfCjermane Oliue Spurge. 
The Defeription. 
T Hedwarfe Bay tree, called of Dutch men 
Me\creon, is a final fhrub two cubits high: 
the branches be tough, limber, & eafie to bend, 
very foft to be cut ; whereon grow long leaues 
like thofeof Priuet, but thicker and fatter The 
floures appeare before the leaues, oft times in 
Ianuarie,cluftring together about the ftalks at 
certain diftances, of a whitifh colour rending 
to purple, and of a mod fragrant and pleafant 
fweet fmel : after come the fmall berries, green 
at the firft, but being ripe, of a fhining red co- 
lour, and afterward wax ofa dark black colour, 
ofavery hot and burning tafte, inflaming the 
mouth and throat, being tafted, with danger 
of choking. The root is wooddy. 
The Place and Time. 
This plant grows naturally in the moiftand 
fhadowy woods of mod of the Eaft countries, 
efpecially about Meluin in Poland , from 
whence I haue had great plenty thereof for my 
garden, where they floure in the firft of the 
Spring, and ripen their fruit in Auguft. 
tf The Names. 
It isvfually called inhigh-Dutch.^Ctlfitlt, 
^etDelbatt,ftwf2feraut,ana ftelletljalsi : the 
Apothecaries 
ChameUa Germanica,(iue Me\creefi. 
Spurge flax, or the dwarfe Bay . 
U i> 
