"[Plin. Nat. 24.39.] - THE ERICA; ONE REMEDY.
The Greeks give the name of “erice,” to a shrub that is but little different from the myrice. It has the colour, and very nearly the leaf, of rosemary. It neutralizes the venom of serpents, it is said.”
(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.)