"[Plin. Nat. 25.41.] - CYNOGLOSSOS: THREE REMEDIES.
To this plant we may also annex an account of the cynoglossos, the leaf of which resembles a dog’s tongue, and which produces so pleasing an effect in ornamental gardening. The root, it is said, of the kind which bears three stems surmounted with seed, is very useful, taken in water, for tertian, and of that with four stems, for quartan, fevers.
There is another plant very similar to it, which bears diminutive burrs resembling those of the lappa: the root of it, taken in water, is curative of wounds inflicted by frogs or serpents.”
(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.)