previous next

CHAP. 33.—POTAMOGITON: EIGHT REMEDIES. THE STATICE: THREE REMEDIES.

Potamogeton,1 too, taken in wine, is useful for dysentery and cœliac affections: it is a plant similar to beet in the leaves, but smaller and more hairy, and rising but little above the surface of the water. It is the leaves that are used, being of a refreshing, astringent nature, and particularly good for diseases of the legs, and, with honey or vinegar, for corrosive ulcers.

Castor has given a different description of this plant. According to him, it has a smaller leaf,2 like horse-hair,3 with a long, smooth, stem, and grows in watery localities. With the root of it he used to treat scrofulous sores and indurations. Potamogiton neutralizes the effects of the bite of the crocodile; hence it is that those who go in pursuit of that animal, are in the habit of carrying it about them.

Achillea4 also arrests looseness of the bowels; an effect equally produced by the statice,5 a plant with seven heads, like those of the rose, upon as many stems.

1 Probably the Potamogiton natans of Linnæus, Broad-leaved pondweed, or some kindred plant. Its name signifies "the neighbour of rivers."

2 C. Bauhin and Sprengel identify the plant here described with the Potamogeton pusillum of Linnæus; but Fée considers it extremely doubtful.

3 A species of Equisetum would seem to be meant; indeed, Littré gives the Equisetum telmateia.

4 See B. xxv. c. 19.

5 Fée thinks that this may possibly be the Statice Armeria of Linnæus, Sea thrift, or Sea gilly-flower.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Latin (Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff, 1906)
hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

hide References (5 total)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: