Latin Texts & Translations

It is a well-known fact that trees are killed by ivy. ^[Note] The mistletoe also has a similar influence, although it is generally thought that its injurious effects are not so soon perceptible: and, indeed, this plant, apart from the fruit that it bears, is looked upon as by no means the least remarkable. There are certain vegetable productions which cannot be propagated in the ground, and which grow nowhere but on trees; having no domicile of their own, they live upon others; such, for instance, is the case with the mistletoe, and a herb that grows in Syria, and is known as the " cadytas." ^[Note] This last entwines around not only trees, but brambles even; in the neighbourhood of Tempe, too, in Thessaly, there is found a plant which is called "polypodion; ^[Note] the dolichos ^[Note] is found also, and wild thyme. ^[Note] After the wild olive has been pruned there springs up a plant that is known as "phaulias; ^[Note] while one that grows upon the

fuller's thistle is called the "hippophæston;" ^[Note] it has a thin, hollow stem, a small leaf, and a white root, the juice of which is considered extremely beneficial as a purgative in epilepsy.