CHAP. 92.—PLANTS THAT HAVE NO PECULIAR SPOT FOR THEIR GROWTH: OTHERS THAT GROW UPON TREES, AND WILL NOT GROW IN THE GROUND. NINE VARIETIES OF THEM: CADYTAS, POLYPODION, PHAULIAS, HIPPOPHÆSTON.
It is a well-known fact that trees are killed by ivy.2758 The mistletoe also has a similar influence, although it is generally thought that its injurious effects are not so soon perceptible: and, indeed, this plant, apart from the fruit that it bears, is looked upon as by no means the least remarkable. There are certain vegetable productions which cannot be propagated in the ground, and which grow nowhere but on trees; having no domicile of their own, they live upon others; such, for instance, is the case with the mistletoe, and a herb that grows in Syria, and is known as the “cadytas.”2759 This last entwines around not only trees, but brambles even; in the neighbourhood of Tempe, too, in Thessaly, there is found a plant which is called “polypodion;”2760 the dolichos2761 is found also, and wild thyme.2762 After the wild olive has been pruned there springs up a plant that is known as “phaulias;”2763 while one that grows upon the fuller’s thistle is called the “hippophæston;”2764 it has a thin, hollow stem, a small leaf, and a white root, the juice of which is considered extremely beneficial as a purgative in epilepsy.