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

Chapter 318: CHAP. 61.—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF EARED PLANTS: THE STANYOPS; THE ALOPECUROS; THE STELEPHUROS, ORTYX, OR PLANTAGO; THE THRYALLIS.

By the Elder Pliny

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History - Ancient Science - 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. 61.—THE VARIOUS KINDS OF EARED PLANTS: THE STANYOPS; THE ALOPECUROS; THE STELEPHUROS, ORTYX, OR PLANTAGO; THE THRYALLIS.

The eared 2234 plants form another variety: among them we find the cynops,2235 the alopecuros,2236 the stelephuros,2237 also known to some persons as the ortyx,2238 and to others as the plantago, of which last we shall have occasion 2239 to speak more at length among the medicinal plants, and the thryallis.2240 The alopecuros, among these, has a soft ear and a thick down, not unlike a fox’s tail in fact, to which resemblance it owes its name. The plant most like 2241 it is the stelephuros, were it not that it blossoms only a little at a time. In the cichorium and similar plants, the leaves are near the ground, the buds springing from the root just after the rising of the Vergiliæ.2242