There is another variety, again, known to our people as “cunila gallinacea,”[1599] and to the Greeks as Heracleotic origanum.[1600] Beaten up with salt, this plant is good for the eyes; and it is a remedy for cough and affections of the liver. Mixed with meal, and taken as a broth, with oil and vinegar, it is good for pains in the side, and the stings of serpents in particular. CHAP. 63.—CUNILAGO: EIGHT REMEDIES. There is a third species, also, known to the Greeks as “male cunila,” and to us as “cunilago.”[1601] This plant has a fœtid smell, a ligneous root, and a rough leaf. Of all the varieties of cunila, this one, it is said, is possessed of the most active properties. If a handful of it is thrown anywhere, all the beetles in the house, they say, will be attracted to it; and, taken in vinegar and water, it is good for the stings of scorpions more particularly. It is stated, also, that if a person is rubbed with three leaves of it, steeped in oil, it will have the effect of keeping all serpents at a distance. CHAP. 64.—SOFT CUNILA: THREE REMEDIES. LIBANOTIS: THREE REMEDIES. The variety, on the other hand, known as soft[1602] cunila, has a more velvety leaf, and branches covered with thorns; when rubbed it has just the smell of honey, and it adheres to the fingers when touched. There is another kind, again, known to us as “libanotis,”[1603] a name which it owes to the resemblance of its smell to that of frankincense. Both of these plants, taken in wine or vinegar, are antidotes for the stings of serpents. Beaten up in water, also, and sprinkled about a place, they kill fleas.[1604] CHAP. 65.—CULTIVATED CUNILA; THREE REMEDIES. MOUNTAIN CUNILA; SEVEN REMEDIES. Cultivated cunila[1605] has also its medicinal uses. The juice of it, in combination with rose oil, is good for the ears; and the plant itself is taken in drink, to counteract the effects of violent blows.[1606] A variety of this plant is the mountain cunila, similar to wild thyme in appearance, and particularly efficacious for the stings of serpents. This plant is diuretic, and promotes the lochial discharge: it aids the digestion, too, in a marvellous degree. Both varieties have a tendency to sharpen the appetite, even when persons are troubled with indigestion, if taken fasting in drink: they are good, too, for sprains, and, taken with barley-meal, and vinegar and water, they are extremely useful for stings inflicted by wasps and insects of a similar nature. We shall have occasion to speak of other varieties of libanotis[1607] in their appropriate places. CHAP. 66. (17.)—PIPERITIS, OR SILIQUASTRUM: FIVE REMEDIES.