"[Plin. Nat. 22.23.] - THE ANCHUSA: FOURTEEN REMEDIES.
The root of the anchusa, too, is made use of, a plant a finger in thickness. It is split into leaves like the papyrus, and when touched it stains the hands the colour of blood; it is used for imparting rich colours to wool. Applied with cerate it heals ulcerous sores, those of aged people in particular: it is employed also for the cure of burns. It is insoluble in water, but dissolves in oil, this being, in fact, the test of its genuineness. It is administered also, in doses of one drachma, in wine, for nephretic pains, or else, if there is fever, in a decoction of balanus; it is employed in a similar manner, also, for affections of the liver and spleen, and for enlarged secretions of the bile. Applied with vinegar, it is used for the cure of leprosy and the removal of freckles. The leaves, beaten up with honey and meal, are applied topically for sprains; and taken in honied wine, in doses of two drachmæ, they arrest looseness of the bowels. A decoction of the root in water, it is said, kills fleas.
(The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)

"[Plin. Nat. 27.22.] - ALCIBIUM : ONE REMEDY.
I have not found it stated by authors what kind of plant alcibium is; but the root, I find, and the leaves, are pounded and employed, both externally and internally, for injuries inflicted by serpents. When the leaves are used, a handful of them is bruised in three cyathi of undiluted wine: the root is employed in the proportion of three drachmæ to the same quantity of wine.
(The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)

"[Plin. Nat. 27.37.] - THE CALYX, KNOWN ALSO AS ANCHUSA OR ONOCLIA: TWO REMEDIES.
The other kind of calyx is known by some persons as "anchusa," and by others as "onoclia." The leaves are like those of the lettuce, but longer, and with a downy surface. The root is red, and is employed topically, in combination with fine polenta, for the cure of erysipelas: taken internally with white wine, it is good for affections of the liver.
(The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.)