For three and four times in each single year it produces fruit, and while one is ripening, another springs up. Hence too the dried figs ('caricae') are named from their abundance ('copia'). The Egyptian fig is reported to be more fruitful; its wood, cast into water, sinks at once, and when it has lain some while in the mud, then it is raised to the surface, by a reversal of nature, whereas soaked it ought to have settled by the weight of the moisture. In former times athletes were fed on figs, before Pythagoras the trainer transferred them to the use of flesh, which is a stronger food. Figs taken rather often in the food of old men are reported to stretch out their wrinkles. They say too that even the fiercest bulls, tied to a fig-tree, suddenly grow tame. The wild fig ('caprificus') is so called because it plucks apart ('carpit') the walls upon which it springs up;
for it bursts through and issues from the hidden places in which it was conceived. Others think the wild fig ('caprificus') is so called because the fig-tree is made fruitful by its remedy. The mulberry ('morus') is so named by the Greeks, which the Latins call 'rubus' (bramble), because its fruit or its sprigs redden ('rubet'). For it is a woodland berry ('mora'), bearing fruit by which in the desert the hunger and want of shepherds is relieved. Its leaves, thrown over a serpent, are said to kill it. The sycamore ('sycomorus'), like the mulberry ('morus'), is a Greek name. And it is called 'sycomorus' because it has leaves like the mulberry. This the Latins call 'celsa' (the lofty) from its height, because it is not low, like the mulberry. The nut-tree ('nux') is so called because its shade or the dripping ('stillicidium') of its leaves harms the neighbouring trees.
This the Latins by another name call 'iuglans,' as if 'the acorn of Jove' ('Iovis glans'); for this tree was consecrated to Jove. Its fruit has such power that, when placed among suspected foods of herbs or mushrooms, it strikes out, seizes, and extinguishes whatever is venomous in them. Now 'nuces' (nuts) are generally the name for all fruits covered with a harder hide; such as pine-nuts, hazelnuts, acorns, chestnuts, almonds. Hence too the kernels ('nuclei') are so called, because they are covered with a hard hide. But on the contrary all soft fruits are called 'mala' (apples), yet with the addition of the lands in which they were formerly born: as Persian, Punic, Matian, Cydonian, and the rest. The almond ('amygdala') is a Greek name, which in Latin is called 'nux longa' (the long nut). This others call 'nucicla,' as if a smaller nut. Of which Virgil says:
'When the most abundant nut clothes itself with blossom in the woods.' For before all trees it clothes itself first with blossom, and it forestalls the following orchard-trees in bringing forth fruit. The hazelnuts ('Abellanae') are named from Abellanum, a town of Campania, where they abound. These are called 'Ponticae' by the Greeks, because they abound around the Pontic sea. The chestnut ('castanea') the Latins name from a Greek word. For the Greeks call it 'kastania,' because its twin fruits are stored away in the manner of testicles within a husk ('folliculus'), which when they are cast out are as if castrated. This tree, as soon as it is cut down, is wont to sprout again like a forest. The holm-oak ('ilex') is named from the chosen ('electum'); for men first chose the fruit of this tree for their sustenance. Whence too the poet says:
'The first mortals used to belch acorns from their throats.' For before the use of grain existed, the ancient men lived on the acorn. The cork-tree ('suber') is a tree, from which is extracted a very strong bark, buoyant in water. And it is called 'suber' because swine ('sues') eat its fruit. For they are the nourishment of pigs, not of men; and it is called 'suber' as if 'sub-edies' (the under-food). The beech ('fagus') and the 'esculus' (a kind of oak) are believed to be called acorn-bearing trees because men of old lived on their fruits and took food and had sustenance from them. For 'esculus' is named from 'esca' (food); but 'fagus' drew its name from a Greek word: for 'phagein' in Greek means 'to eat.' The 'xyliglycon,' which the Latins corruptly call 'siliqua' (the carob), received such a name from the Greeks because the fruit of its wood is sweet.
For they call wood 'xylon,' and 'glyky' sweet. From the fruit of this tree a pressed-out sap is called 'acacia' by the Greeks. The 'pistacia' (pistachio) is so called because the rind of its fruit gives off the scent of the genuine spikenard ('nardum pisticum'). The pine ('pinus') is named from the picea (pitch-pine), from the sharpness ('acumen') of its leaves; for the ancients used to call the sharp 'pinnum.' One pine, moreover, the Greeks call 'pitys,' another 'peuke,' which we call 'picea' (pitch-pine), because it sweats out pitch ('pix'). For they also differ in appearance. In the islands of Germany, moreover, the tear of this tree begets amber ('electrum'). For the drop flowing down hardens by cold or warmth into solidity and makes a gem, taking its name too from its quality, that is, 'sucinum,' because it is the sap ('sucus') of the tree. The pine is believed to benefit all things that are sown beneath it, just as the fig harms all.
The fir ('abies') is so called because it goes far beyond ('prae... eat') the other trees and projects on high. Its nature is devoid of earthly moisture, and therefore it is held to be handy and light. Of which Virgil says: 'and destined to behold the perils of the sea'; because from it ships are made. This some call 'Gallic' on account of its whiteness. It is, moreover, without a knot. The cedar ('cedrus'), which the Greeks call 'kedros,' as if 'kaiomenes dryos hygron,' that is, 'the moisture of a burning tree,' whose leaves correspond to the likeness of the cypress. Its wood is of a pleasant scent and long-lasting, nor is it ever destroyed by the moth. Of which Persius says: 'and having spoken things worthy of the cedar'; namely on account of its durable perpetuity: whence too in temples, on account of its long endurance, the panelled ceilings are made of this wood.
The resin of this wood is called 'cedria,' which is so useful in preserving books that things smeared over with it suffer neither the moths nor grow old with time. It grows in Crete, Africa, and Syria. The cypress ('cyparissus') is so called in Greek because its top rises from a rounded shape into a point. Whence too it is called 'konos,' that is, 'lofty roundness.' Hence too its fruit is the cone ('conus'), because its roundness is such as to imitate a cone: whence too they are called 'cone-bearing cypresses' (by Virgil). Its wood has a power almost next to the cedar; it is also fit for the beams of temples, and with its impenetrable solidity it never yields to a burden, but persists with that firmness which it had at the first.
The ancients used to place cypress branches near the funeral pyre, so that they might suppress the smell of the corpses, while they were being burned, by the pleasantness of their own scent. The juniper ('iuniperus') is so called in Greek either because it ends from broad into narrow, like fire, or because it holds fire long once conceived; so much so that if live coals be covered with its ash, they last up to a year; for among the Greeks 'pyr' means fire. One juniper, moreover, is small, another large. Ebony ('ebenus') grows in India and Ethiopia, which when cut hardens into stone. Its wood is black and its bark smooth, like the laurel's; but the Indian is spotted with tiny distinctions of white and tawny; the Ethiopian, however, which is accounted more excellent, is spotted in nothing, but is black, smooth, and horn-like.
There is, moreover, the Mareotic marsh in India, whence ebony comes. Lucan says: 'Mareotic ebony.' Ebony, moreover, is tied to babies' rattles, so that its blackness may not terrify the infant by the sight. The plane ('platanus') is so called from the breadth ('latitudo') of its leaves, or because the tree itself is spreading and ample; for the Greeks call the broad 'platys.' Scripture has expressed both the name and form of this tree, saying: 'I was raised up like a plane-tree in the streets.' It is, moreover, of very tender and soft leaves, similar to the vine's. The oak ('quercus'), or 'quernus,' because upon it the gods of the nations were wont to foretell responses to those who sought them ('quaerentibus'), a tree very aged;
as one reads of the oak of Mamre, under which Abraham dwelt, which is reported to have endured through many ages up to the reign of the emperor Constantius. Its fruit is called the gall ('galla'). Of these one, the wild, is called 'omphakitis,' small in form but firm and knotty in body, which is employed for medicaments and inks; the other, 'balanos,' gentle and light and much perforated, is necessary only for the uses of lamps. The ash ('fraxinus') is said to be so named because it grows rather in rough and mountainous crags ('fraga'). Hence by derivation 'fraxinus,' just as 'montanus' (mountain-dweller) from 'mons' (mountain). Of which Ovid says: 'and the ash useful for spears.' The yew ('taxus') is a poisonous tree, from which too poisons ('toxica') are extracted. From it the Parthians and other nations make bows: whence too the poet (Virgil) says:
'The Ityraean yews are twisted into bows.' He calls the Ityraeans 'Parthian.' The maple ('acer') is uneven in its colours. But 'robur' (hardwood, oak) is generally said of whatever is firmest of every material. The alder ('alnus') is so called because it is nourished ('alatur') by the river ('amnis'); for it grows very close to water, nor does it easily live away from the waves. Hence it is tender and soft, because it is nourished in a moist place. The elm ('ulmus') took its name because it thrives better in oozy and moist ('uliginosus') places; for in mountainous and rough places it is less flourishing. The larch ('larix'), to which this name was given from the fortress Laricinum, from which boards fastened to the roof-tiles repel the flame, nor when burnt do they of themselves make charcoal. The poplar ('populus') is so called because from its heel-shoot a multitude ('multitudo') is born. Of which there is a twofold kind: for one is white, the other black.
The white poplar, moreover, is so called because its leaves are white on one side, green on the other. This therefore is two-coloured, having as it were the marks of night and day, which times are constituted by the rising and setting of the sun. It also produces resin around the river Eridanus or, as others record, in the borders of Syria. The linden ('tilia') they say is so called because it is useful ('utilis') for the use of javelins ('tela') by the brightness and lightness of its hurling: for it is a kind of very light material. The willow ('salix') is so called because it leaps ('saliat') quickly, that is, grows swiftly, a pliant tree, handy for tying up vines. Of its seed they say this is the nature, that if anyone drink it in a cup, he is deprived of offspring; and it also renders women barren. The poplar, moreover, and the willow and the linden are of soft material and fit for carving.
The osier ('vimen') is so called because it has much force ('vis') of greenness ('viror'). For its nature is such that even when dried it is washed and grows green again; then, cut off and fixed in the ground, it plunges itself down by its roots. The tamarisk ('myrice'), which the Latins call 'tamaricum,' is named from bitterness ('amaritudo'); for its taste is exceedingly bitter. This tree grows in the wilderness and on rocky ground; from which tree also, by maleficent arts, 'misethra,' that is, hatreds, are said to be stirred up. The myrtle ('myrtus') is named from the sea ('mare'), because it is rather a shore-loving tree. Whence too Virgil says: 'the shores most gladdened by myrtle-groves,' and 'the myrtles that love the shores.' Hence it is that it is called 'myrine' by the Greeks too. The books of the physicians, moreover, write that this tree is fit for very many of women's needs.
The mastic tree (lentiscus) is so called because its shoot is pliant (lentus) and soft; for we call 'pliant' whatever is flexible, whence also the pliant osier and the vines. Virgil says: 'And the pliant vines,' meaning flexible. The fruit of this tree exudes an oil, and its bark a resin which is called mastic; the most abundant and best is produced on the island of Chios. The terebinth is a tree with a Greek name, producing a resin superior to all other resins. Box (buxus) is a Greek name, in part corrupted by the Latins; for among the Greeks it is called PYXOS. It is an evergreen tree, and because of the lightness of its wood well suited for the tips of writing styluses. Whence also Scripture says:
'Write it upon box.' The rhododendron, which in corrupted popular speech is called 'lorandrum,' is so named because it has leaves like the laurel and a flower like the rose; it is a poisonous tree. For it kills animals, yet it heals the injuries caused by serpents. Shepherds have called it 'herbitum' because it is offered to cattle in place of grass (herba) where pasture is lacking. The 'turbiscus' is so called because from a single clump of it many shoots spring up, as it were in a throng (turba). Broom-straw (stipa) is so named because roofs are thatched (stipentur) with it; hence too 'stipula,' stubble, by diminutive. The reed (arundo) is so called because it quickly dries up (arescat). The ancients called this 'canna'; Varro afterward called it 'arundo.' It should indeed be noted that Latin took 'canna' from the Hebrew tongue; for among them a reed is called 'canna.' The hemlock (cicuta), moreover, is what lies between the joints of the reeds; it is so called because it lies hidden (lateat).
In the pools of India are said to grow reeds and canes, from whose roots is pressed out a most delicious juice which they drink; whence Varro too says: 'In India a reed grows upon a tree of no great size; from its roots a pliant moisture is pressed, with whose sweet juice honeys cannot contend.' The elder (sabucus) is a soft and porous tree. The buckthorn (rhamnus) is a kind of bramble, which the common people call 'bear's briar,' exceedingly rough and thorny. The bramble-thicket (sentix) is named from a place lying waste (situ), that is, uncultivated land in which briars (sentices) and thorns grow. Our ancestors called every thorny tree a 'brier' (vepres) because it seizes (prendat) with force (vi). The wild olive (oleaster) is so called because it has leaves like the olive but broader; it is an uncultivated and woodland tree, bitter and unfruitful;
but when a branch of the cultivated olive is grafted into it, the graft changes the force of the root and turns it to its own proper quality. The tear-gum of the wild olive is twofold: for one kind imitates ordinary gum without any sharpness of quality, while the other resembles a drop of ammoniacum gathered by distillation and biting to the taste. The olive is called in Greek ELAION, from which it was carried over into Latin so that it is called 'oliva.' The 'olea' is the tree itself; the fruit is 'oliva'; the juice is oil (oleum). It is moreover a tree renowned as a sign of peace, whose fruit is called by various names. The 'orchades' olives are named by a Greek etymology from their likeness to testicles, which the Greeks call ORCHEIS. The 'radiolae' are so named because they are oblong in the manner of spokes (radii). The 'Paphiae' are named from the island of Paphos, whence they were first brought. The 'Lyciniae' are so called because they give the best light;
for LYCHNOS means 'light.' Whence the wood too took its name, because it is suited for flames and lamps. The 'pausia,' which in corrupted rustic speech is called 'pusia,' is suited for green and sweet oil. And it is called 'pausia' because it is beaten down (paviatur), that is, pounded; whence also 'pavimentum,' pavement. The 'Syria' is so named because it was brought from Syria, or because it is black. The 'Crustumia,' also called 'volemis,' is so named because it fills the palm (vola) with its size, that is, the hollow of the hand; whence too we say 'involare,' to snatch away. Some, however, understand 'volemum' in the Gaulish tongue to mean 'good and great.' The 'colymbades' olives are so named. Oil (oleum), moreover, is named from the olive (olea): for, as we have said, the 'olea' is the tree, from which by derivation comes 'oleum.' But that which is pressed from white olives is called 'Spanish,' called by the Greeks OMPHAKION;
but that which is pressed from tawny and not yet ripe olives is called 'green'; while that from over-ripe olives is called 'common.' Of these, the first in use for life is the Spanish, the second the green, the third the common. The lees of oil (amurca), the watery part, is so called from emerging (emergendo), that is, because it separates itself from the oil and is its dregs. The Greeks call this AMORGE, deriving the word from the Latin tongue. Gum is a Greek name; for they call it KOMMI. Resin the Greeks call RHETINE; for whatever flows is called in Greek REIN. For it is a tear exhaled by the sweat of woods, as of the cherry, the mastic, the balsam, or the other trees or shrubs that are said to sweat;
just as also the fragrant woods of the East, such as the drop of balsam and of the giant fennels or of the amber-trees, whose tear hardens into a gem. First is terebinth resin, superior to all: it is brought from Arabia Petraea and from Judaea and Syria, from Cyprus and Africa, and also from the Cyclades islands. Second is mastic resin, which is called mastix; this is carried from the island of Chios. Third is pine resin, of which one kind is PITYINE, another PEUKINE, one liquid, one dry: and they are brought from Tyrrhenian Colophon. Whence also Colophonian resin took its name. Pitch (pix) is a Greek name, which they call PISSA. Others hold that pitch (pix) is named from the pine (pinus). This kind is called by the Greeks KLONIA: we may call it 'branch-pitch' (ramale). The best of it is shining, smooth, and clean.
There are naturally three kinds of tree-generation: for they either grow of their own accord; or they spring up from seeds fallen by chance; or they sprout from roots. For the rest human use has discovered, nature favoring. Almost all fruits in Latin are of the feminine gender, with a few exceptions, such as 'hic oleaster' (the wild olive) and 'hoc siler,' as Virgil says: 'the soft osier (molle siler).' Likewise 'hoc buxum,' although it is also called 'haec buxus.' For some wish to make a superfluous distinction, so that we call it 'haec buxus' of the tree, but 'buxum' of the wood when worked. VIII. ON AROMATIC TREES. Aromatics (aromata) are all the things of fragrant odor that India or Arabia, or other regions, send forth.
They seem to have taken the name 'aromata' either because, placed upon altars (aris), they appear suited to the invocations of the gods, or because they are found to insert and mingle themselves with the air (aer). For what is an odor but air brought into contact? Frankincense (tus) is an immense and branching tree of Arabia, of very smooth bark, with branches of the quality of the maple, pouring forth an aromatic juice in the manner of the almond, white and, when chewed, as if dissolved into powder, and when it is broken, within it is oily and, when set to the fire, easily kindles. Among us it is called 'masculine' because it is round in nature in the manner of testicles. The rest, flat and almost scaly, is less excellent. It is adulterated by mixing in resin or gum, but it is distinguished by its own property.
For frankincense placed on the fire kindles, resin smokes, but gum melts when heated. Frankincense (tus) is so called from pounding (tundendo). It is also called 'libanum' from a mountain of Arabia, where the Sabaeans are. For their mountain is called Libanos, where the incense is gathered. Myrrh is an Arabian tree five cubits tall, like the thorn which they call AKANTHON: its drop is green and bitter; whence too it received the name 'myrrh.' Its drop, flowing spontaneously, is more precious; that drawn out by wounding the bark is judged more worthless. The Arabs feed their fires with its twigs, from whose smoke, quite harmful, unless they come to the odor of storax, they mostly contract incurable diseases. Myrrh, moreover, is called 'Trogodyte' from an island of Arabia, where the better and purer is collected.
Storax is an Arabian tree, like the quince, whose twigs pour forth a tear in hollow drops at the rising of the Dog-star. Its distillation falling to the earth is not clean, but is kept together with the scraping of its own bark. But that which adheres to twigs and reeds is clean and whitish, and afterward becomes tawny because of the sun. And this reed-storax (storax calamites) is oily, resinous, of pleasant odor, moist and emitting as it were a honeyed liquid. Storax is so called because it is a drop of the tree flowing forth and congealed. For the Greeks call a drop 'stiria,' and in Greek it is STYRAX, in Latin 'storax.' Bdellium is a tree of India and Arabia, whose tear from Arabia is better.
For it is clear, whitish, smooth, oily, evenly waxy, and such as is easily softened, neither mixed with wood nor earth, bitter, of good odor. For that from India is dirty and black and in a larger lump. It is adulterated by mixing in gum, which does not so embitter the taste. Mastic is the drop of the mastic tree (lentiscus). This is called 'granomastix' because it is in the manner of grains (grana). The better is produced on the island of Chios, of good odor, of the whiteness of Punic wax. Whence it also beautifies the brightness of the skin. It is sometimes adulterated with resin or frankincense. The pepper tree grows in India, on the side of Mount Caucasus which is turned toward the sun, with leaves like the juniper.
Serpents guard its groves, but the inhabitants of that region, when the fruits are ripe, set them on fire, and the serpents are put to flight by the fire; and thence from the flame black pepper is produced. For the nature of pepper is white, of which indeed the fruit is various. For that which is unripe is called long pepper; that which is uncorrupted by the fire, white pepper; but that which is of wrinkled and rough skin draws both its color and its name from the heat of the fire. If pepper is light, it is old; if heavy, it is fresh. But the fraud of merchants must be avoided; for they are wont to sprinkle very old, moistened pepper with litharge of silver or with lead, so that it may become heavy. Aloe-wood (aloa) grows in India and Arabia, a tree of most sweet and supreme odor.
Indeed its wood is burned upon altars in place of incense; whence too it is believed to have drawn its name. Cinnamon (cinnamomum) is so called because its bark is round and slender in the manner of a reed (canna). It grows in the regions of India and Ethiopia, in a low shrub of only two cubits, of blackish or ashen color, of very thin twigs. For that which extends into thickness is despised; but that which comes forth more slender is choice. When it is broken, it emits a visible breath in the likeness of mist or dust. Amomum is so called because it recalls as it were the odor of cinnamon. It grows in Syria and Armenia, a shrub yielding a clustered seed joined to itself, with a white flower like the violet, with leaves like the bryony, and of good odor as well;
it makes sleep sweet. Cassia grows in Arabia, a rod of sturdy bark, and with purple leaves like the pepper. Its virtue is like that of cinnamon, but inferior in potency; whence in place of cinnamon a double weight of it is mixed into medicines. Aromatic calamus (calamus aromaticus) is so named from its likeness to the ordinary reed (calamus). It grows in India, jointed with many knots, tawny, fragrant with the sweetness of its breath. When it is broken, it splits into many parts, resembling cassia in taste with a slight biting sharpness. The balsam tree was in Judaea only within the bounds of twenty acres.
After the Romans took possession of that same region, it was propagated even over the broadest hills, in stock like the vine, in leaves like the rue, but whiter and always remaining. The tree, moreover, is 'balsamum'; its wood is called 'xylobalsamum,' its fruit or seed 'carpobalsamum,' its juice 'opobalsamum.' Which is therefore signified with an addition, because when the bark of the wood is struck with iron claws, it distills through the cavities a drop of surpassing odor; for a cavity is called in the Greek tongue OPE. They adulterate its drop by mixing in oil of Cyprus or honey. But the pure is proved: if it curdles with milk; if, distilled into water, or mixed, it is easily dissolved; and moreover if woolen garments soiled with it are not stained.
The adulterated indeed neither curdles with milk, and like oil floats on the surface of the water, and stains a garment. But if balsams are pure, they have such power that, if the sun grows hot, they cannot be held in the hand. IX. ON AROMATIC OR COMMON HERBS. There exist the names of certain herbs as well, which resound from some cause of their own, having an explanation of their names. Yet you will not find the etymology of all herbs. For according to places the names too are changed. The 'folium' (malabathrum leaf) is so called because it is gathered floating without any root on the shores of India. The Indians dry it, pierced with a thread, and store it up. It is said, moreover, to be an herb of Paradise, recalling nard in taste. Nard is a spiky herb, whence too it is called by the Greeks NARDOSTACHYS;
of which one kind is called Indian, another Syrian; not because it grows in Syria, but because the mountain on which it is found looks on one side toward India, on the other toward Syria. The Indian is manifold, but the Syrian is better: light, tawny, tufted, small in spike, most fragrant, resembling cyperus. But if it lingers long in the mouth, it dries the tongue. Celtic nard drew its name from the region of Gaul; for it grows more often in the Alps of Liguria and in Syria, a small shrub, its roots gathered into a handful with bindings. Its flower alone is good for its odor; its stalks and rootlets are proved useful for our purposes. Costus is the root of an herb growing in India, Arabia, and Syria; but the Arabian is better.
For it is white and light, sweet, of pleasant odor; the Indian is of dark color and light, like the giant fennel; but the Syrian is heavy in weight, of boxwood color, of sharp odor; the finest, however, is white, light, dry, burning to the taste. Saffron (crocum) is named from a town of Cilicia which is called Corycium, although it grows elsewhere too, but not in such quantity or of such quality as in Cilicia: whence it received its name from the more important part. For many things have taken their names from the places where something appears more abundantly and better. The best, moreover, is that which is fresh, of good odor, of little whiteness, of extended length, whole and not broken into fragments, of good scent, and which, when plucked, stains the hand and is slightly sharp.
But if it is not of this kind, it is recognized as either old or soaked. It is adulterated, moreover, by mixing in 'crocomagma'; and for the sake of increasing the weight, ground litharge of silver is also added. This is betrayed if it is found dusty and, when boiled, has lost its proper odor. 'Crocomagma' is made from the aromatics of saffron ointment when they have been pressed out, and from the sediment formed into little cakes; and so it is thus named. Asarabacca (asarum) grows on shady mountains, with flowers like cassia; among which is a purple flower near the root, in which is contained a seed like grapes, with many very fine and well-scented roots, and it is like nard in virtue. Valerian (phu) grows in Pontus, with leaves like the wild olive.
Cyperus is so called by the Greeks because it has a burning virtue. It is the root of a triangular rush, with leaves like the leek, with roots black or contiguous in the likeness of olives, most fragrant and most sharp. It grows in marshes and in empty places. There is also handed down another species of cyperus, which grows in India and is called in their tongue 'zinziber' (ginger). Illyrian iris took its name from its likeness to the celestial Iris (rainbow). Whence too it is called by the Latins 'arcumen,' because its flower by the variety of its color imitates that same celestial arc. It is called 'Illyrian' because in Illyricum it is most abundant and most fragrant. Its species has leaves like the gladiolus, an aromatic root, of good odor. The sweet flag (acorum) has leaves like the iris;
with roots of most sharp odor, but pleasant; on account of which it is also aromatic. Meum. Cardamom. Camel's-hay (squinum) is better which grows on the Euphrates than that which grows in Arabia: tawny, many-flowered, purple, slender, of a rosy odor when it is rubbed with the hand, in taste it much burns the tongue and bites. Its flower is called SCHOINOU ANTHOS; for ANTHOS in Greek means 'flower.' Thyme (thymum) is so named because its flower recalls the odor. Of which Virgil says: 'And the fragrant honeys are redolent of thyme.' Epithymum is a Greek name, which in Latin is called 'the flower of thyme'; for a flower in Greek is called THYMON: it is, moreover, a flower like the savory. Sampsuchus, which the Latins call 'amaracus' (marjoram). The use of which name Virgil, referring it even to Venus, says: