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

The anthemis has been highly extolled by Asclepiades. Some persons call it “leucanthemis,”2585 some leucanthemum, others, again, “eranthemis,”2586 from its flowering in spring, and others “chamæmelon,”2587 because it has a smell like that of an apple: sometimes, too, it is called “melanthion.”2588 There are three varieties of this plant, which only differ from one another in the flower; they do not exceed a palm in height, and they bear small blossoms like those of rue, white, yellow,2589 or purple.

This plant is mostly found in thin, poor soils, or growing near foot-paths. It is usually gathered in spring, and put by for the purpose of making chaplets. At the same season, too, medical men pound the leaves, and make them up into lozenges, the same being done with the flowers also, and the root. All the parts of this plant are administered together, in doses of one drachma, for the stings of serpents of all kinds. Taken in drink, too, they bring away the dead fœtus, act as an emmenagogue and diuretic, and disperse calculi of the bladder. The anthemis is employed, also, for the cure of flatulency, affections of the liver, excessive secretions of the bile, and fistulas of the eye; chewed, it heals running sores. Of all the different varieties, the one that is most efficacious for the treatment of calculi is that with the purple flower,2590 the leaves and stem2591 of which are somewhat larger than those of the other kinds. Some persons, and with strict propriety, give to this last the name of “eranthemis.”