The carduus[2199] has leaves and a stem covered with a prickly down; the same is the case, too, with the acorna,[2200] the leucacanthos,[2201] the chalceos,[2202] the cnecos,[2203] the polyacanthos,[2204] the onopyxos,[2205] the helxine,[2206] and the scolymos;[2207] the chamæleon,[2208] however, has no prickles upon the leaves. There is, however, this difference among these plants, that some of them have numerous stems and branches, such as the carduus, for instance; while others, again, have a single stem and no branches, the cnecos, for example. Some, again, such as the erynge,[2209] are prickly at the head only; and some blossom in the summer, the tetralix and the helxine, for instance. The scolymos blossoms late, and remains a considerable period in flower: the acorna being distinguished only for its red colour and its unctuous juice. The atractylis would be similar in every respect to the last, were it not that it is somewhat whiter, and produces a juice the colour of blood, a circumstance to which it owes the name of “phonos,”[2210] given to it by some. The smell of this plant is powerful, and the seed only ripens at a late period, and never before autumn, although the same may be said of all the prickly plants, in fact. All of them are capable, however, of being reproduced from either seed or root. The scolymos, which belongs to the thistle[2211] genus, differs from the rest of them in the circumstance that the root of it is boiled and eaten. It is a singular fact that this genus of plants bears blossoms, buds, and fruit the whole of the summer through, without any interruption: when the leaf is dried, the prickles lose their pungency. The helxine is a plant but rarely seen, and in some countries only. It throws out leaves at the root, from the middle of which there is a protuberance in the shape of an apple, covered with leaves of its own: the head of it contains a thick juice of a sweet flavour, the name given to which is “acanthice mastiche.”[2212] CHAP. 57.—THE CACTOS; THE PTERNIX, PAPPUS, AND ASCALIAS. The cactos,[2213] too, is a plant that grows only in Sicily, having peculiar characteristics of its own: the root throws out stalks which creep along the ground, the leaves being broad and thorny. The name given to these stalks is “cactos,” and they are not disliked as an article of food,[2214] even when old. The plant, however, has one stem which grows upright, and is known by the name of “pternix;” it has the same sweet flavour as the other parts, though it will not keep. The seed of it is covered with a kind of down, known as “pappus:”[2215] when this is removed, as well as the rind[2216] of the fruit, it is tender, and like the pith of the palm: the name given to it is “ascalias.” CHAP. 58.—THE TRIBULUS: THE ANONIS.