There has long been this impression with reference to Crete, that whatever plant grows there is infinitely superior in its properties to a similar plant the produce of any other country; the second rank being given to the produce of Mount Parnassus. In addition to this, it is generally asserted that simples of excellent quality are found upon Mount Pelion in Thessaly, Mount Teleuthrius in Eubœa, and throughout the whole of Arcadia and Laconia. Indeed, the Arcadians, they say, are in the habit of using, not the simples themselves, but milk, in the spring season more particularly; a period at which the field plants are swollen with juice, and the milk is medicated by their agency. It is cows’ milk in especial that they use for this purpose, those animals being in the habit of feeding upon nearly every kind of plant. The potent properties of plants are manifested by their action upon four-footed animals in two very remarkable instances: in the vicinity of Abdera and the tract known as the Boundary[726] of Diomedes, the horses, after pasturing, become inflamed with frantic fury; the same is the case, too, with the male asses, in the neighbourhood of Potniæ. CHAP. 54.—THE ARISTOLOCHIA, CLEMATITIS, CRETICA, PLISTOLOCHIA, LOCHIA POLYRRHIZOS, OR APPLE OF THE EARTH: TWENTY-TWO REMEDIES. In the number of the most celebrated plants is the aristolochia, which would appear to have derived its name from females in a state of pregnancy, as being ἀρίστη λοχούσαις.[727] Among us, however, it is known as the “malum terræ,” or apple of the earth,[728] four different varieties of it being distinguished. One of these has a root covered with tubercles of a rounded[729] shape, and leaves of a mixed appearance, between those of the mallow and the ivy, only softer and more swarthy. The second[730] kind is the male plant, with an elongated root some four fingers in length, and the thickness of a walking-stick. A third[731] variety is extremely thin and long, similar to a young vine in appearance: it has the most strongly-marked properties of them all, and is known by the additional names of “clematitis,” and “cretica.” All these plants are the colour of boxwood, have a slender stem, and bear a purple flower and small berries like those of the caper: the root is the only part that is possessed of any virtues. There is also a fourth[732] kind, the name given to which is “plistolochia;” it is more slender than the one last mentioned, has a root thickly covered with filaments, and is about as thick as a good-sized bulrush: another name given to it is “polyrrhizos.” The smell of all these plants is medicinal, but that of the one with an oblong root and a very slender stem, is the most agreeable: this last, in fact, which has a fleshy outer coat, is well adapted as an ingredient for nardine unguents even. They grow in rich champaign soils, and the best time for gathering them is harvest; after the earth is scraped from off them, they are put by for keeping.