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NEPENTHES (Gr. vrl7revOis, sc. Q,&puaeov, a drug that takes away grief, from vrl- privative, and 7rivOos, " grief ")
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NEPENTHES (Gr. vrl7revOis, sc. Q,&puaeov, a drug that takes away grief, from vrl- privative, and 7rivOos, " grief "), an Egyptian drug spoken of by Homer in the Odyssey (iv. 221). Generally in the form " nepenthe " the name is given to any drug having a like property, and also occasionally to the herb or plant from which such a drug is produced. It is also applied to a special genus of plants, chiefly East Indian, known as the " pitcher-plants," on account of the formation of the leaves.