et hanc sinistra manu legi a jejunis contra morbos suum
boumque, nec respicere legentem: nec alibi quam in
canali, deponere, ibique conterere poturis."

From the very slight manner in which these plants are described by
Pliny, it is next to impossible to identify them with any degree of
certainty, though many attempts for the purpose have been made. So
far as I know, Pliny is the only ancient author who mentions them,
and we have therefore nothing to guide us beyond what he has said in
this passage.

The word Selago is supposed to be derived from _se_ and
_lego_, i.e. _quid certo ritu seligeretur_. Linnæus
appropriated the name to a pretty genus of Cape plants, but which
can have nothing whatever to do with the Selago of the Druids. It
has been thought to be the same as the Serratula Chamæpeuce of
Linnæus, but without sufficient reason, for Pliny says it resembles
the savine; and Matthiolus, in his _Commentary on Dioscorides_,
when speaking of the savine (Juniperus Sabina), says:--

"Siquidem vidi pro Sabina assumi quandam herbam
dodrantalem quæ quibusdam in montibus plurima nascitur,
folio tamaricis, licet nec odore nec sapore Sabinam
Hanc sæpius existimavi esse Selaginem referat. a Plinio
lib. xxiv. c. 11. commemoratam."

Samolus, or as some copies read Samosum, is said to be derived
from two Celtic words, _san_, salutary, and _mos_, pig;
denoting a property in the plant which answers to the description of
Pliny, who says the Gauls considered the Samolus as a specific in