CHAP. 43.—THE CHRYSOLACHANUM; TWO VARIETIES OF IT:
THREE REMEDIES. COAGULUM: TERAÆ: TWO REMEDIES.
The chrysolachanum [Note] grows in pine plantations, and is
similar to the lettuce in appearance. It heals wounds of the
sinews, if applied without delay. There is another kind [Note] of
chrysolachanum mentioned, with a golden flower, and a leaf
like that of the cabbage: it is boiled and eaten as a laxative
vegetable. This plant, worn as an amulet by a patient suffering from jaundice, provided it be always kept in sight, is a cure
for that disease, it is said. I art not certain whether this is
all that might be said about the chrysolachanum, but, at
all events, it is all that I have found respecting it; for it is
a very general fault on the part of our more recent herbalists,
to confine their account of plants to the mere name, with a
very meagre description of the peculiar features of the plant,
—just as though, forsooth, they were universally known. Thus,
they tell us, for instance, that a plant known as "coagulum [Note]
terræ," acts astringently upon the bowels, and that it dispels
strangury, taken in water or in wine.
