"[Plin. Nat. 25.37.] - NYMPHÆA, HERACLEON, RHOPALON, OR MADON; TWO VARIETIES OF IT: FOUR REMEDIES.
The plant called “nymphæa,” owes its name, they say, to a Nymph who died of jealousy conceived on account of Hercules, for which reason it is also known as “heracleon” by some. By other persons, again, it is called “rhopalon,” from the resemblance of its root to a club. It is taken in drink by persons troubled with lascivious dreams and hence it is that those who take it in drink become impotent for some twelve days, and incapacitated for procreation. That of the first quality is found in Orchomenia and at Marathon: the people of Bœotia call it “madon,” and use the seed for food. It grows in spots covered with water; the leaves of it are large, and float upon the surface, while others are to be seen springing from the roots below. The flower is very similar to a lily in appearance, and after the plant has shed its blossom, the place of the flower is occupied by a head like that of the poppy. The stem is slender, and the plant is usually cut in autumn. The root, of a swarthy hue, is dried in the sun; garlic manifests a peculiar antipathy to it.
There is another nymphæa also, which grows in the river Peneus, in Thessaly: the root of it is white, and the head yellow, about the size of a rose.”
(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. 25.83.] - REMEDIES FOR DISEASES OF THE HEAD. NYMPHÆA HERACLIA: TWO REMEDIES.
But we shall now proceed to point out the various classes of remedies for the several parts of the body, and the maladies to which those parts are subject, beginning in the first place with the head.
The root of nymphæa heraclia effects the cure of alopecy, if they are beaten up together, and applied. The polythrix differs from the callitrichos in having white, rushlike suckers, larger leaves, and more numerous; the main stem, too, is larger. This plant strengthens the hair, prevents it from falling off, and makes it grow more thickly.”
(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.)