There is also another species of solanum, properly called halicababum. It has leaves like those of the first solanum but broader. Its little stalks bend towards the earth after they have grown. It has fruit in round pods similar to reddish bladders, which is round and smooth, like the grapes used in wreaths. It has the same virtues as the garden solanum and is used in the same way, but not in cooking. Its fruit has a diuretic effect and cures jaundice. The juice is squeezed from either of these plants, dried in the shade and kept for these uses (f. 7v).
This plant grows along boundaries and abandoned fields, in olive groves and vineyards across Spain, Italy, France and central Europe. Inside in a papery capsule consisting of the five parts of the calyx grow small, round fruit or berries that contain citric acid, vitamins A and C and traces of an alkaloid, while the capsule contains a bitter called physalin. The extract of its fruit and the cooking water of the preferably unripe fruit were used as a diuretic and as a remedy for gout.
Ramón Morales Valverde
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid (Excerpt from the commentary volume of Mattioli's Dioscorides illustrated by Cibo)
There is also another species of solanum, properly called halicababum. It has leaves like those of the first solanum but broader. Its little stalks bend towards the earth after they have grown. It has fruit in round pods similar to reddish bladders, which is round and smooth, like the grapes used in wreaths. It has the same virtues as the garden solanum and is used in the same way, but not in cooking. Its fruit has a diuretic effect and cures jaundice. The juice is squeezed from either of these plants, dried in the shade and kept for these uses (f. 7v).
This plant grows along boundaries and abandoned fields, in olive groves and vineyards across Spain, Italy, France and central Europe. Inside in a papery capsule consisting of the five parts of the calyx grow small, round fruit or berries that contain citric acid, vitamins A and C and traces of an alkaloid, while the capsule contains a bitter called physalin. The extract of its fruit and the cooking water of the preferably unripe fruit were used as a diuretic and as a remedy for gout.
Ramón Morales Valverde
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid (Excerpt from the commentary volume of Mattioli's Dioscorides illustrated by Cibo)
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