The catanance[1824] is a Thessalian plant, which it would be a mere loss of time to describe, seeing that it is only used as an ingredient in philtres. In order, however, to expose the follies of the magical art, it may not be out of place to remark that this plant has been selected for the above-named purpose, from the fact that, as it withers, it gradually contracts and assumes the shape of the claws of a dead kite.[1825] For a similar reason we shall give no description of the plant called “cemos.”[1826] CHAP. 36.—THE CALYX: THREE REMEDIES. Of the calyx[1827] there are two kinds. One of these resembles arum, and is found growing in ploughed soils; the proper time for gathering it being before it begins to wither. It is employed for the same purposes as arum;[1828] and an infusion of the root is taken as a purgative and as an emmenagogue. The stalks, boiled with the leaves and some pulse, are curative of tenesmus. CHAP. 37.—THE CALYX, KNOWN ALSO AS ANCHUSA OK ONOCLÏA: TWO REMEDIES. The other[1829] kind of calyx is known by some persons as “anchusa,” and by others as “onoclia.” The leaves are like those of the lettuce, but longer, and with a downy surface. The root is red, and is employed topically, in combination with fine polenta,[1830] for the cure of erysipelas: taken internally with white wine, it is good for affections of the liver. CHAP. 38.—THE CIRCÆA: THREE REMEDIES. The circæa[1831] resembles the cultivated trychnon[1832] in appearance. It has a small swarthy flower, a diminutive seed, like millet, growing in small horn-shaped pods, and a root half a foot in length, generally triple or fourfold, white, odoriferous, and hot in the mouth. It is found growing upon rocks exposed to the sun. An infusion of it is prepared with wine, and administered for pains and affections of the uterus: to make it, three ounces of the pounded root should be steeped in three sextarii of wine a day and a night. This potion is effectual also for bringing away the after-birth. The seed of this plant, taken in wine or hydromel, diminishes the milk in nursing women. CHAP. 39.—THE CIRSION: ONE REMEDY. The cirsion[1833] is a plant consisting of a diminutive and delicate stem, two cubits in height, of a triangular form, and covered with prickly leaves. The prickles on the leaves are downy, and the leaves themselves resemble those of buglossos[1834] in shape, but are smaller, and of a whitish colour. At the summit of the plant there are small purple heads, which fall off in the shape of down. This plant or the root of it, worn as an amulet, it is said, is curative of the pains attendant upon varicose veins. CHAP. 40.—THE CRATÆGONON; TWO KINDS OF IT: EIGHT REMEDIES.