CHAP. 48.—THE CISTHOS: FIVE REMEDIES.
The Greeks give the name of "cisthos"—a word very
similar to "cissos," the Greek name of the ivy—to a plant
which is somewhat larger than thyme, and has a leaf like that
of ocimum. There are two varieties of this plant; the male, [Note]
which has a rose-coloured blossom, and the female, [Note] with a
white one. The blossom of either kind, taken in astringent
wine, a pinch in three fingers at a time, is good for dysentery
and looseness of the bowels. Taken in a similar manner
twice a day, it is curative of inveterate ulcers: used with
wax, it heals burns, and employed by itself it cures ulcer.
ations of the mouth. It is beneath these plants more particularly that the hypocisthis grows, of which we shall have
occasion [Note] to speak when treating of the herbs.
