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

Chapter 328: CHAP. 71.—THE HOLOSCHŒNUS.

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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. 71.—THE HOLOSCHŒNUS.

The root of the rush, boiled down to one third in three heminæ of water, is a cure for cough; the seed of it, parched and taken in water, arrests looseness of the bowels and the menstrual discharge, though at the same time it causes headache. The name given to this rush is holoschœnus; the parts of it nearest the root are chewed, as a cure for the bites of spiders.

I find mention made, also, of one other kind of rush, the name of which is “euripice;”2286 the seed, they say, is narcotic, but the greatest care is necessary, not to throw the patient into a lethargy.