The plant geranion has the additional names of “myrrhis”1365 and “myrtis.” It is similar to hemlock in appearance, but has a smaller leaf and a shorter stem, rounded, and of a pleasant taste and odour. Such, at all events, is the description given of it by our herbalists; but the Greeks speak of it as bearing leaves a little whiter than those of the mallow, thin downy stems, and branches at intervals some two palms in length, with small heads at their extremities, in the midst of the leaves, resembling the bill1366 of a crane.1367 There is also another1368 variety of this plant, with leaves like those of the anemone, but with deeper incisions, and a root rounded like an apple, sweet, and extremely useful and refreshing1369 for invalids when recovering their strength; this last would almost seem to be the true geranion.
For phthisis this plant is taken, in the proportion of one drachma to three cyathi of wine, twice a day; as also for flatulency. Eaten raw, it is productive of similar effects. The juice of the root is remedial for diseases of the ear; and for opisthotony the seed is taken in drink, in doses of four drachmæ, with pepper and myrrh. Juice of plantago,1370 taken in drink, is curative of phthisis, and a decoction of it is equally good for the purpose. Plantago taken as a food with oil and salt, immediately after rising in the morning, is extremely refreshing; it is prescribed, too, in cases of atrophy, on alternate days. Betony is given with honey, in the form of an electuary, for phthisis, in pieces the size of a bean; agaric, too, is taken in doses of two oboli in raisin wine, or else daucus1371 with the greater centaury in wine. For the cure of phagedæna, a name given in common to bulimia1372 and to a corrosive kind of ulcer, tithymalos1373 is taken in combination with sesame.