Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXI. AN ACCOUNT OF FLOWERS. AND THOSE USED FOR CHAPLETS MORE PARTICULARLY., CHAP. 52.—THE CICHORIUM. THE ANTHALIUM OR ANTICELLIUM, OR ANTHYLLUM. THE ŒTUM. THE ARACHIDNA. THE ARACOS. THE CANDRYALA. THE HYPOCHŒRIS. THE CAUCALIS. THE ANTHRISCUM. THE SCANDIX. THE TRAGOPOGON. THE PAR- THENIUM OR LEUCANTHES, AMARACUS, PERDICIUM, OR MURALIS. THE TRYCHNUM OR STRYCHNUM, HALICACABUM, CALLIAS, DOR- YCNION, MANICON, PERITTON, NEURAS, MORIO, OR MOLY. THE CORCHORUS. THE APHACE. THE ACYNOPOS. THE EPIPETRON. PLANTS WHICH NEVER FLOWER. PLANTS WHICH ARE ALWAYS IN FLOWER.

In Egypt, next to the colocasia, it is the cichorium that is held in the highest esteem, a plant which we have already spoken¹ of under the name of wild endive.² It springs up after the rising of the Vergiliæ, and the various portions of it blossom in succession: the root is supple, and hence is used for making withes even. The anthalium³ grows at a greater distance⁴ from the river; the fruit of it is round,⁵ and about the size of a medlar, but without either kernel or rind; the leaves of the plant are similar to those of the cyperus. The people there eat the fruit of it cooked upon the fire, as also of the œtum,⁶ a plant which has a few leaves only, and those extremely diminutive, though the root is large in proportion.⁷ The arachidna,⁸ again, and the aracos have numerous branchy roots, but neither leaves nor any herbaceous parts, nor, indeed, anything that makes its appearance above ground.

The other plants that are commonly eaten in Egypt are the chondrylla,⁹ the hypochœris,¹⁰ the caucalis,¹¹ the anthriscum¹² the scandix, the come, by some persons known as the tragopogon,¹³ with leaves very similar to those of saffron, the par- thenium,¹⁴ the trychnum,¹⁵ and the corchorus;¹⁶ with the aphace¹⁷ and acynopos,¹⁸ which make their appearance at the equinox. There is a plant also, called the epipetron,¹⁹ which never blossoms;²⁰ while the aphace, on the other hand, as its flowers die, from time to time puts forth fresh ones, and remains²¹ in blossom throughout the winter and the spring, until the following summer.

1 See B. xx. c. 29.

2 "Intubum cranium."

3 The Cyperus Esculentus of Linnæus.

4 Theophrastus, B. iv. c. 10, says that it grows in the sandy soil in the vicinity of the river.

5 It is similar in appearance to the papyrus, and its tubercles are oblong, or round and fleshy, with an agreeable flavour.

6 The Arachis hypogæa of Linnæus, the earth pistachio.

7 The root is not large; but the fruit is so close to the earth that Pliny may have confounded it with the real root of the plant.

8 Sprengel identifies this with the Lathyrus amphicarpos, and the aracos with the Lathyrus tuberosus, varieties of the chicheling vetch. Columna thinks that this last was the arachidna. Fée says that the data are altogether insufficient to enable us to form an opinion.

9 The Chondrylla juncea of Linnæus, according to Fée; but Desfontaines identifies it with the Lactuca perennis.

10 Desfontaines identifies it with the Hyoseris lucida. Fée says that the opinion is equally as difficult to combat as to support.

11 Fée identifies it with the Caucalis grandiflora of Linnæus, a native of Greece. Desfontaines mentions the Caucalis Orientalis, an Eastern plant.

12 For this and the Scandix, see B. xxii. c. 38.

13 A chicoraceous plant: the Tragopogon crocifolius of Linnæus.

14 See c. 104 of this Book.

15 See cc. 35 and 105 of this Book.

16 The Corchorus olitorius of Linnæus: still cultivated in Egypt.

17 Identified by some, but it is doubtful if with any good reason, with the Leontodon taraxacum of Linnæus: our dandelion.

18 The reading is doubtful, and it does not appear to have been identified.

19 Or "stone-plant:" identified with the Sedum anacampseros of Linnæus: a variety of house-leek.

20 On the contrary, it has a purple flower.

21 It is this, probably, that has caused it to be identified with the Leontodon taraxacum.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.