Diuretic plants in the paintings of Pompeii

The plants that appear in the paintings and mosaics of Pompeii are chiefly edible and medicinal, though flowers with purely esthetic appeal are also shown. An important example is one of the floor mosaics from the House of the Faun, in which it is possible to identify lemon, cherry, strawberry, pomegranate, grape and olive, leaves of grape, fig, apple and olive, and flowers of corn cockle. The diuretic properties of some of these plants are mentioned in the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder. A silver cup from the House of Menandro, one of the most refined examples of plant decoration in antiquity, shows olive branches and fruits. The presence of plants in such artefacts confirms that people of classical times were conscious that plants were important producers of food, oils, fibers, woods and medicines.