Miliaria

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Miliaria Plinius herba est que milium necat et cetera.


Apparatus:

Whole entry om. f

miliũ B e | miluum (-uũ C) AC {'iu' misread as 'uu'; confusion with milvus, a certain bird of prey?}

et cetera om. B e


Translation:

Miliaria {(lit.) "millet herb"} according to Pliny is a herb that kills milium {"millet"}, et cetera.


Commentary:

Latin miliaria is an adjectival derivative of milium {"millet"}, miliaria (sc. herba) "the millet herb". The word is only documented in Pliny.

Simon's entry refers to Pliny, 22, 78, 161, ed. Rackham (1938-63: VI.408). In this short chapter Pliny says Miliaria appellatur herba quae necat milium. Haec trita et cornu cum vino infusa podagras iumentorum dicitur sanare – "miliaria is a plant that kills milium {'millet'}. When it is crushed and poured with wine into a horn {i.e. a vessel for administrating} it is said to heal the gout of beasts of burden".


Botanical identification:

On the basis of the very limited information: it kills milium {"millet"} [[1]], which possibly means it is a parasitic plant, André (1985: 161) speculates that it could be a species of the parasitic genus Cuscuta {"dodder"} [[2]] or the hemiparasitic Melampyrum arvense L. {"field cow-wheat"} [[3]].

Wilf Gunther 24/12/13


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