CHAP. 31.—THE CENTAURION LEPTON, OR LIBADION, KNOWN ALSO AS FEL TERRÆ: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES. There is another centaury also, with diminutive leaves, known by the additional name of “lepton.”[641] By some persons it is called “libadion,”[642] from the circumstance that it grows upon the borders of fountains. It is similar to origanum in appearance, except that the leaves are narrower and longer. The stem is angular, branchy, and a palm in height; the flower is like that of the lychnis,[643] and the root is thin, and never used. It is in the juice that its medicinal properties are centred: it being gathered in the autumn, and the juice extracted from the leaves. Some persons cut up the stalks, and steep them for some eighteen days in water, and then extract the juice. In Italy this kind of centaury is known as “gall[644] of the earth,” from its extreme bitterness. The Gauls give it the name of “exacum;”[645] from the circumstance that, taken in drink, it purges off all noxious substances by alvine evacuation. CHAP. 32.—THE CENTAURIS TRIORCHIS: TWO REMEDIES. There is a third kind of centaury also, known as the “centauris triorchis.”[646] It is but rarely that a person cuts it without wounding himself. The juice emitted is just the colour of blood.[647] Theophrastus relates that this plant is under the protection of the triorchis, a kind of hawk, which attacks those who gather it; a circumstance to which it owes its name. Ignorant[648] persons are in the habit of confounding all these characteristics, and attributing them to the centaury first named. CHAP. 33. (7.)—CLYMENUS: TWO REMEDIES. Clymenus is a plant so called, after a certain king.[649] It has leaves like those of ivy, numerous branches, and a hollow, jointed stem. The smell of it is powerful, and the seed like that of ivy: it grows in wild and mountainous localities. We shall have to state hereafter, of what maladies it is curative, taken in drink, but it is as well to take the present opportunity of remarking that, while effecting a cure, in the male sex it neutralizes the generative powers. The Greeks speak[650] of this plant as being similar to the plantago in appearance, with a square stem, and a seed in capsules, interlaced like the arms of the polypus. The juice of this plant, too, is used, being possessed of refreshing properties in a very high degree. CHAP. 34.—GENTIAN: THIRTEEN REMEDIES.