The atractylis is supposed by Sprengel to be the _carlina lanata_ L. a woolly carline thistle. Dioscorides and Pliny recommend it as an antidote against poisons; but it seems to have been little used as a pot-herb. The nettle (either the _urtica dioica_ or _pillulifera_) is mentioned as a pot-herb by Theophrastus (H. P. vii, 7), and most of the medical authorities. Psellus calls it laxative. The scandix, or shepherd’s needle, was in little repute as an article of food; and hence Aristophanes makes it a subject of reproach to Euripides, that his mother sold not good pot-herbs, but scandix. (Achar. act. ii, sc. 4; Pliny, H. N. xxii, 38.) Galen says that the gingidium is eaten in Syria, like the scandix in his country. It has been supposed, by Bruyer and others, to be the chærophyllum or chervil; but, according to Ludovicus Nonnius, this is a mistake. We are inclined to refer it to the _daucus gingidium_ L., or pick tooth. Galen, Aëtius, and Simeon Seth speak of the cinara as an unwholesome pot-herb. It may be eaten, however, Galen says, with oil, fish-sauce, and wine and coriander. Many of the authorities have referred it to the artichoke, but it seems to be now settled that no ancient writer has noticed _it_, with the exception of Columella, who has given a very striking description of it. (x, 237.) We cannot decide positively what the _cinara_ was. Dioscorides says, that the scolymus is eaten like asparagus. (iii, 16.) It is the _scolymus Hispanicus_, or Spanish cordoons. The hipposelinum appears to have been the _smyrnium olusatrum_. See Harduin’s note on Pliny (H. N. xix, 48), and Sprengel (ad Dioscor. iii, 71.) Dioscorides says it is used as a pot-herb, like parsley, its root being eaten boiled or raw, and its stalk and leaves boiled, either alone or with fish. It is not to be confounded with the smyrnium of the ancients, which is the _smyrnium perfoliatum_. Dioscorides says that the latter, when pickled, is used as a pot-herb, and is astringent. Galen says that the blite and orache are watery pot-herbs, and almost insipid. Seth, and the other authorities who notice it, agree that the latter is cooling and laxative. The blite is still much used as a pot-herb in Spain and Italy. It is the _blitum capitatum_. Xenophon mentions that the ancient Persians lived very much upon cresses, using them as a seasoner to their food. (Cyroped. i, 2.) According to Aëtius and Simeon Seth, they are calefacient and desiccative. Seth calls them aphrodisiacal. On the aphrodisiacal powers of the cresses and rocket, see Section xxxvi. The sion was probably the _sium nodiflorum_, procumbent water-parsnip. It was used as a substitute for the cress.