There is a third kind, which grows on the mountains, and is known as “orios,”[1965] similar to a delicate reed in appearance, and having but a single stem, with numerous joints running into one another; the leaves of it are similar to those of the pitch-tree, and the root is never used. This variety, however, is not so efficacious as those already mentioned, and, indeed, is used exclusively for sciatica. A fourth kind is known as the wild[1966] polygonos: it is a shrub, almost a tree in fact, with a ligneous root, a red trunk like that of the cedar, and branches resembling those of spartum,[1967] a couple of palms in length, and with three or four dark-coloured, knotted joints. This kind, also, is of an astringent nature, and has a flavour like that of the quince. It is either boiled down in water to one third, or else dried and powdered for sprinkling upon ulcerations of the mouth and excoriations: it is chewed, also, for affections of the gums. It arrests the progress of corrosive ulcers and of all sores of a serpiginous nature, or which cicatrize with difficulty, and is particularly useful for ulcerations caused by snow. Herbalists employ it also for quinzy, and use it as a chaplet for head-ache; for defluxions of the eyes, they put it round the neck. In cases of tertian fever, some persons pull it up with the left hand, and attach it as an amulet to the body; the same, too, in cases of hæmorrhage. There is no plant that is more generally kept by them in a dry state than the polygonos. CHAP. 92.—THE PANCRATIUM: TWELVE REMEDIES. The pancratium is called by some the “little squill,”[1968] in preference: it has leaves like those of the white lily, but longer and thicker, and a root composed of a large, red, bulb. The juice of it, taken with meal of fitches, relaxes the bowels, and acts as a detergent upon ulcers: for dropsy, and diseases of the spleen, it is administered with honey. Some persons boil it till the water becomes sweet; the water is then poured off, and the root is pounded and divided into tablets, which are dried in the sun and used for ulcerations of the head, and other affections which require detergents. It is sometimes given for cough, a pinch in three fingers in wine, and, in the form of an electuary, for pains in the side or peripneumony. It is administered, also, in wine, for sciatica, griping pains in the bowels, and retardations of the catamenia. CHAP. 93.—THE PEPLIS, SYCE, MECONION, OR MECON APHRODES: THREE REMEDIES.