A second kind of tithymalos is called "myrtites"[1] by some
persons, and "caryites" by others. It has leaves like those
of myrtle, pointed and prickly, but with a softer surface, and
grows, like the one already mentioned, in rugged soils. The
tufted heads of it are gathered just as barley is beginning to
swell in the ear, and, after being left for nine days in the shade,
are thoroughly dried in the sun. The fruit does not ripen all at
As an emetic, this kind is not so efficacious as the preceding one, and, indeed, the same may be said of all the others. Some physicians recommend the leaf to be taken in the manner already mentioned, but say that the nut should either be taken in honied wine or raisin wine, or else with sesame. It carries off pituitous humours and bile by stool, and is curative of ulcerations of the mouth. For corrosive sores of the mouth, the leaf is eaten with honey.
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