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The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 4 (of 6) cover

The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 4 (of 6)

Chapter 290: CHAP. 33.—THE FLOWER OF JOVE. THE HEMEROCALLES. THE HELENIUM. THE PHLOX. PLANTS IN WHICH THE BRANCHES AND ROOTS ARE ODORIFEROUS.
By the Elder Pliny
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History - AncientScience - Earth/Agricultural/Farming

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The text compiles practical and encyclopedic guidance on crop cultivation and plant uses, beginning with cereals and farm management — types of grain, sowing and harvesting schedules, ploughing, seed selection, storage, and maladies — plus weather and stellar prognostics for agricultural timing. It proceeds to flax and garden plants, detailing varieties, planting and processing methods, garden layout, and pest and disease remedies. The final section assembles medicinal preparations and numerous remedies derived from vegetables and herbs, listing applications and recipes for treating ailments using garden-grown plants.

CHAP. 33.—THE FLOWER OF JOVE. THE HEMEROCALLES. THE HELENIUM. THE PHLOX. PLANTS IN WHICH THE BRANCHES AND ROOTS ARE ODORIFEROUS.

Of the following plants, too, it is only the leaves that are employed for chaplets—the flower of Jove,2055 the amaracus, the hemerocalles,2056 the abrotonum, the helenium,2057 sisymbrium,2058 and wild thyme, all of them ligneous plants, growing in a manner similar to the rose. The flower of Jove is pleasing only for its colours, being quite inodorous; which is the case also with the plant known by the Greek name of “phlox.”2059 All the plants, too, which we have just mentioned are odoriferous, both in the branches and the leaves, with the sole exception of wild thyme.2060 The helenium is said to have had its origin in the tears of Helen, and hence it is that the kind grown in the island of Helena2061 is so highly esteemed. It is a shrub which throws out its tiny branches along the ground, some nine inches in length, with a leaf very similar to that of wild thyme.