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"[Plin. Nat. 26.37.] - POLYPODION: THREE REMEDIES.
Polypodion, known to us by the name of “filicula,” bears some resemblance to fern. The root of it is used medicinally; being fibrous, and of a grass green colour within, about the thickness of the little finger, and covered with cavernous suckers like those on the arms of the polypus. This plant is of a sweetish taste, and is found growing among rocks and under trees. The root is steeped in water, and the juice extracted; sometimes, too, it is cut in small pieces and sprinkled upon cabbage, beet, mallows, or salt meat; or else it is boiled with pap, as a gentle aperient for the bowels, in cases of fever even. It carries off bile also and the pituitous humours, but acts injuriously upon the stomach. Dried and powdered and applied to the nostrils, it cauterizes polypus of the nose. It has neither seed nor flower.”
(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. 27.48.] - THE DRYOPTERIS: TWO REMEDIES.
The dryopteris, which resembles fern in appearance, is found growing upon trees; the leaves are of a somewhat sweetish flavour and marked with slight indentations, and the root is hairy. This plant is possessed of caustic properties, and hence the root is pounded and used as a depilatory. In using it the skin is rubbed with it till perspiration is excited, the operation being repeated a second and a third time, care being taken not to remove the perspiration. "
(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.)