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

Chapter 335: CHAP. 78.—EIGHT REMEDIES DERIVED FROM ASARUM.

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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. 78.—EIGHT REMEDIES DERIVED FROM ASARUM.

It is generally stated that asarum 2309 is good for affections of the liver, taken in doses of one ounce to a semisextarius of honied wine mixed with water. It purges the bowels like hellebore, and is good for dropsy and affections of the thoracic organs and uterus, as also for jaundice. When mixed with must, it makes a wine with strongly diuretic qualities. It is taken up as soon as it begins to put forth its leaves, and is dried in the shade. It is apt however to turn mouldy very speedily.