Notes

helxine

Helxine Tag und nacht
Taxon: Parietaria officinalis L.
Ancient Greek: elxine
English: pellitory-of-the-wall
French: parietaire officinale
German: Glaskraut

helxine

Helxinen aliqui perdicium vocant, quoniam perdices ea praecipue vescantur, alii sideritem, nonnulli parthenium. folia habet mixtae similitudinis plantagini et marruvio, cauliculos densos, leviter rubentes, semina in capitibus lappaceis adhaerescentia vestibus, unde et helxinen dictam volunt. sed nos qualis vera esset helxine diximus priore libro. haec autem inficit lanas, sanat ignes sacros et tumores collectionesque omnes et adusta, panos; sucus eius cum psimithio et guttura incipientia turgescere, item veterem tussim cyatho hausto et omnia in umido, sicut tonsillas, et aures cum rosaceo. inponitur et podagris cum caprino sebo ceraque Cypria.

Helxine, called by some perdicium [Polygonum maritimum] (partridge plant) because partridges are particularly fond of eating it, by others sideritis, and by a few people parthenium, has leaves that resemble partly those of the plantain and partly those of horehound, stalks small, close together and reddish in colour, and, in bur-shaped heads, seeds that cling to the clothes. Hence is derived, some hold, the name helxine [I.e., from the Greek ἕλκω]. The characteristics, however, of the genuine helxine I have described in the preceding book, but this helxine dyes wool, cures erysipelas, every kind of tumour or boil, burns and superficial abscesses. Its juice with white-lead cures also incipient swelling of the throat, and a draught of a cyathus cures chronic cough and all complaints in moist parts, like the tonsils; with rose oil it is good for the ears. It is also applied, with goat suet and Cyprian wax, to gouty limbs

helxine

Carduus et folia et caules spinosae lanuginis habet, item acorna, leucacanthos, chalceos, cnecos, potyacanthos, onopyxos, helxine, scolymos. chamaeleon in foliis non habet aculeos. est et illa differentia quod quaedam in his multicaulia ramosaque sunt, ut carduus, uno autem caule nec ramosum cnecos. quaedam cacumine tantum spinosa sunt, ut erynge. quaedam aestate florent, ut tetralix et helxine. scolymos quoque sero floret et diu. acorna1 colore tantum rufo distinguitur et pinguiore suco. idem erat atractylis quoque, nisi candidior esset et nisi sanguineum sucum funderet, qua de causa phonos vocatur a quibusdam, odore etiam gravis, sero maturescente semine nec ante autumnum, quamquam id de omnibus spinosis dici potest. verum omnia haec et semine et radice nasci possunt. scolymus carduorum generis ab his distat quod radix eius vescendo est decocta. mirum quod sine intervallo tota aestate aliud floret in eo genere, aliud concipit, aliud parturit. aculei arescente folio desinunt pungere. helxine rara visu est neque in omnibus terris, a radice foliosa, ex qua media veluti malum extuberat contectum sua fronde. huius summus lacrimam continet iucundi saporis acanthicen masticen appellatam.

The thistle has both leaf and stem covered by a prickly down, and so have acorna, leucacanthos, chalceos, cnecos, polyacanthos, onopyxos, helxine, scolymos. The chamaeleon has no prickles on its leaves. There is however this difference also, that some of these plants have many stems and branches, the thistle for instance, while the cnecos has one stem and no branches. Some are prickly only at the head, the erynge for instance; some, like tetralix and helxine, blossom in summer. Scolymos too blossoms late and long. The acorna is distinguished (from cnecos) only by its reddish colour and richer juice. Atractylis too would be just the same, were it not whiter and did it not shed a bloodlike juice that has caused some to call it phonos; it also has a bad smell, and its seed ripens late—in fact not before autumn, though this can be said of all prickly plants. All of these however can be reproduced either from seed or from the root. Scolymus, one of the thistle group, differs from these in that its root is edible when boiled. It is a strange thing that in this group, without intermission throughout the whole summer, part blossoms, part buds, and part produces seed. As the leaves dry the prickles cease to sting. Helxine is not often seen, and not in all countries; it shoots out leaves from its root, out of the middle of which swells up as it were an apple, covered with foliage of its own. The top of its head contains a gum of pleasant flavour, called thorn mastich.

Helxine

Pliny xxii. 17, § 19.

helxine

Helxine, de ἕχω, j’attire, allusion à la rudesse des graines qui s’attachent aux passants. Pline décrit sous le nom d’Helxine (XXI, 56), notre Acarna gummifera, Willd., à feuilles épineuses, — et ailleurs (XXII, 19), sous le même nom, une autre plante: «Semina in capitibus lappaceis adhærentia vestibus, unde et helxinem dictam volunt.» Ce cerait notre Pariétaire, Parietaria officinalis, L. Urticacée qui, dit O. de Serres, «croist sur les murailles sans nul soin… on l’appelle aussi… helxine parce qu’elle a rude semence, s’attachant aux habits.» (Théâtre d’Agriculture, Rouen, 1663, p. 569). Le Seigneur de Pradel a copié Pline sans contrôle: les achaines de la pariétaire sont lisses, luisante; seules les feuilles , rude et velues, pourraient s’agripper à qui les frôle.
L’έλξίνη de Galien (De simpl. med., fac. VI) et Dioscoride (IV, 39) répond soit à Polygonum dumetorum, L., soit a Convolvulus arvensis, L., soit selon Sibthorpe, à Antirrhinum ægyptiacum, L.

helxine

thus helxine (pellitory) from the Greek :to cling,” because its seeds stick to anyone going near it…

Les aultres de leurs formes

Encore une fois, tout cela se retrouve dans le petit livre de Charles Estienne, De latinis nominibus.

Helxine

De ἒλχω, «tirer» (Pline, XXI, lvi).

helxine

helxine. [modern Latin (E. Requien 1825, in Annales des Sciences Naturelles V. 384), formed on Greek elcinh pellitory, a related plant.]

Soleirolia soleirolii, a creeping, perennial herb of the family Urticaceæ, native to Corsica and Sardinia, formerly called by the generic name Helxine.