CHAP. 91.—THE POLYGONOS, POLYGONATOS, TEUTHALIS, CARCI-
NETHRON, CLEMA, OR MYRTOPETALOS, OTHERWISE KNOW AS
SANGUINARIA OR ORIOS; FOUR VARIETIES OF IT: FORTY
REMEDIES.
The Greeks give the name of "polygonos"
1 to the plant
known to us as "sanguinaria."
2 It is but little elevated above
the ground, has leaves like those of rue, and resembles grass
in appearance. The juice of it, injected into the nostrils,
arrests hæmorrhage: taken with wine, it has a similar effect
upon bleeding at any other part of the body, as also spitting
of blood. Those who distinguish several kinds of polygonos,
make this to be the male
3 plant, and say that it is so called
from the large number of seeds, or else from its numerous
branches. Some call it "polygonatos,"
4 from the number of
its joints, others, again, "teuthalis," and others, "carcinethron," "clema," or "myrtopetalos."
There are some authorities to be found, however, who say that
this is the female plant, and that the male is more diminutive,
less swarthy, and more jointed, with a seed protruding beneath
all the leaves. However this may be, these plants are of an
astringent, cooling nature. The seed is laxative, and, taken in
large doses, acts as a diuretic, and arrests defluxions; indeed,
if there is no defluxion, it is of no use taking it. For burning
heats of the stomach, the leaves are applied topically; and they
are used, in the form of a liniment, for pains in the bladder, and
for erysipelas. The juice is used as an injection for suppurations
of the ears, and by itself, for pains in the eyes. It is administered, also, in fevers, tertian and quartan fevers more particularly, in doses of two cyathi, just before the paroxysms
come on; as also in cases of cholera, dysentery, and derangement of the stomach.
There is a third kind, which grows on the mountains, and is
known as "orios,"
5 similar to a delicate reed in appearance, and
having but a single stem, with numerous joints running into
one another; the leaves of it are similar to those of the pitchtree, and the root is never used. This variety, however, is not
so efficacious as those already mentioned, and, indeed, is used
exclusively for sciatica. A fourth kind is known as the wild
6
polygonos: it is a shrub, almost a tree in fact, with a ligneous
root, a red trunk like that of the cedar, and branches resem-
bling those of spartum,
7 a couple of palms in length, and with
three or four dark-coloured, knotted joints. This kind, also, is
of an astringent nature, and has a flavour like that of the
quince. It is either boiled down in water to one third, or else
dried and powdered for sprinkling upon ulcerations of the
mouth and excoriations: it is chewed, also, for affections of
the gums. It arrests the progress of corrosive ulcers and of all
sores of a serpiginous nature, or which cicatrize with difficulty,
and is particularly useful for ulcerations caused by snow.
Herbalists employ it also for quinzy, and use it as a chaplet for
head-ache; for defluxions of the eyes, they put it round the
neck.
In cases of tertian fever, some persons pull it up with the
left hand, and attach it as an amulet to the body; the same,
too, in cases of hæmorrhage. There is no plant that is more
generally kept by them in a dry state than the polygonos.