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

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

Chapter 503: CHAP. 53.—THE PALM CALLED ELATE: SIXTEEN REMEDIES.
By the Elder Pliny
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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. 53.—THE PALM CALLED ELATE: SIXTEEN REMEDIES.

The palm called “elate,”3059 or “spathe,” furnishes its buds, leaves, and bark for medicinal purposes. The leaves are applied to the thoracic regions, stomach, and liver, and to spreading ulcers, but they are adverse to cicatrization. The bark3060 of the tree, while tender, mixed with wax and resin, heals itch-scab in the course of twenty days: a decoction, also, is made of it for diseases of the testes. Used as a fumigation, it turns the hair black, and brings away the fœtus. It is given in drink, also, for diseases of the kidneys, bladder, and thoracic organs; but it acts injuriously upon the head and nerves. The decoction of this bark has the effect, also, of arresting fluxes of the uterus and the bowels: the ashes of it are used with white wine for griping pains in the stomach, and form a very efficacious remedy for affections of the uterus.