i  56  Medicinal  and  other  Useful  Plants.  {^°™;^rm' 
names  of  kry$anthe?non,  or  gold  flower  ;  chalk  anthemon,  or  copper 
$ower,  and  heliochrysos,  or  sungold — the  names  having  reference  to  the 
color  of  the  flower-heads.  At  present  it  has  various  popular  names, 
which  are  the  equivalent  of  the  English  oxeye  daisy. 
Alhagi  manna  is  the  saccharine  exudation  of  Hedysarum  Alhagi 
s.  Alhagi  maurorum.  Camel  drivers  state  that  camels  like  the  plant 
and  eat  the  tops  of  it,  and  that  the  excretion  of  this  manna  is  thereby 
increased.  The  substance  has  been  described  by  the  older  writers 
under  various  names,  such  as  'aepopeXc,  mel  aere,  man  arabum,  mana 
•hebraica,  honey  of  John  the  Baptist,  etc. 
Tamarisk  manna  has  some  resemblance  to  the  preceding.  It  is 
eaten  with  bread,  and  is  produced  by  the  puncture  of  an  insect,  Coccus 
manniparus,  upon  the  branches  of  Tamarix  mannifera,  which  grows  in 
the  peninsula  of  Sinai.  It  is  principally  collected  by  the  monks  of  a 
■monastery,  who  distribute  it  to  the  pilgrim  visitors. 
Use  of  Fennel. — The  fruit  of  fennel,  called  marathron,  has  been 
always  highly  esteemed  in  Oriental  countries  as  a  remedy  for  sore  eyes, 
and  to  the  present  time  is  employed  by  the  people  for  that  purpose  in 
the  form  of  infusions  and  cataplasms  applied  to  the  eyes. 
Caraway,  which  appears  to  be  the  kyminon  of  old,  and  the  karos  of 
later  writers,  has  also  enjoyed  great  reputation.  Among  the  pre- 
parations formerly  employed  was  particularly  a  mixture  with  salt  and  a 
kind  of  sauce,  to  prepare  which  special  servants  were  kept  by  the  rich. 
At  present  caraway  is  used  like  other  common  aromatic  plants. 
Equisetum. — The  plants  of  this  genus  were  formerly  called  hip- 
puris,  meaning  horsetail,  from  ?7r;roc,  a  horse,  and  'oupa,  tail,  and  has, 
therefore,  the  same  signification  as  the  present  botanical  name  which 
is  derived  from  equus,  horse,  and  seta,  bristle.  As  in  olden  times, 
several  plants  of  this  genus  still  enjoy  a  popular  reputation  in  dropsy 
and  various  nephritic  diseases.  I  have  known  them,  more  particularly 
Eq.  hyemale  and  palustre,  to  be  employed  by  old  physicians  in  connec- 
tion with  the  herb  of 
Parietaria  officinalis,  the  helxine  of  the  old  authors,  and  which 
was  also  called  parthenion  or  virgin's  plant,  perdinion  or  partridge  herb, 
because  partridges  were  supposed  to  like  it,  and  sometimes  urceolaria^ 
from  its  use  for  the  cleaning  of  glass  vessels.  The  two  plants  com- 
bined were  used,  with  supposed  good  results,  in  dropsical,  phthisical, 
