Latin Texts & Translations

In Egypt, next to the colocasia, it is the cichorium that is held in the highest esteem, a plant which we have already spoken ^[Note] of under the name of wild endive. ^[Note] 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 anthalium ^[Note] grows at a greater

distance ^[Note] from the river; the fruit of it is round, ^[Note] 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, ^[Note] a plant which has a few leaves only, and those extremely diminutive, though the root is large in proportion. ^[Note] The arachidna, ^[Note] 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, ^[Note] the hypochœris, ^[Note] the caucalis, ^[Note] the anthriscum ^[Note] the scandix, the come, by some persons known as the tragopogon, ^[Note] with leaves very similar to those of saffron, the par- thenium, ^[Note] the trychnum, ^[Note] and the corchorus; ^[Note] with the aphace ^[Note] and acynopos, ^[Note] which make their appearance at the equinox. There is a plant also, called the epipetron, ^[Note] which

never blossoms; ^[Note] while the aphace, on the other hand, as its flowers die, from time to time puts forth fresh ones, and remains ^[Note] in blossom throughout the winter and the spring, until the following summer.