Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/189

 PLANTS

151

PLANTS

Amomum (Apoc, xviii, 13, neither in the Greek New Testament, Vulg., A. V., nor D. V., but found in critical editions, such as Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Nestle), a perfume well known in antiq- uity (Dioscor., i, 14; Theophr., "Hist, plant.", ix, 7; "De odor.", 32; etc.). The Assyrian variety was particularly prized (Virg., Eclog., iv, 25; Josephus, "Ant.", XX, ii, 3; Martial., "Epigr.", \'ii, 77; 0\'id., "Heroid.", xxi, 166; etc.), and probably obtained from Cissus ritigenea, a cUmbing plant native of India but found also in Armenia, ISledia, and Pontus (Pliny, "Nat. hist.", xii, 13).

Anise (Matt., xxiii, 23), not the anise, Pimpinella anisum, but rather the dill, Anelhum graveolens, sha- bath of the Talmud, shibith of the Arabs, is meant. Dill has always been much cultivated in Palestine; its seeds, leaves, and stems were subject to tithe, according to Rabbi Eliezer (Maasaroth, i, 1; cf. Matt., xxiii, 23), which opinion, however, others thought excessive (Schwab, "Talmud de Jerus.", Ill, 182).

Apple tree, Heb. thappuakh (cf. Arab, tijfah; Egypt. dapih, "apple") and the description of the tree and its fruit indicate the common apple tree, Mntus communis, which is beautiful, affording shade for a tent or a house (Cant., ii, 3; viii, 5), and bears a sweet fruit, the aroma (Cant., vii, S) of which is used in the East to revive a fainting person (cf . Cant., ii, 5). Apple groves flourished at an early date (Ramses II) in Egypt (Loret, "Flore pharaonique", p. 83); place- names like Tappuah (Jos., xii, 17) or Beth-tappuah A.V. (Jos., XV, 53) indicate that they were a distinct feature of certain districts of Palestine.

Arum. See Cockle.

Ash tree. Is., xliv, 14 (A. V. for Heb. 'oren; D. V. "pine") depicts a planted tree, watered only by rain, whose wood is suitable to be carved into images and used as fuel (Is., xliv, 15). Probably the tree intended is Pinus pinea, the maritime or stone pine, rather than the ash, as the various species of Fraxinus grow only in the mountains of Syria, outside Palestine.

Aspalathus (Ecclus., xxiv, 20; Greek, xxiv, 20; D. V. "aromatical balm") is quite frequently alluded to by ancient ^Titers (Theognis Hippocrates, Theo- phrastes, Plutarch, Pliny etc.) as a thorny jilant yielding a costly perfume. It is impossible to identify it with certainty, but most scholars believe it to be Convolvulus scoparius, also called Lignum rhodium (rose-scented wood).

Aspen. See Mulberry.

Astragalus a genus of Papilionaceous plants of the tribe Lolea, several species of which yield the gum tragacanth (Heb. nek'oth, Arab, neka'at) probaljly meant in Gen., xxx\'ii, 25; xliii, 11 (D. V. "spices"; "storax"). In IV Kings, xx, 13, and Is., xxxix, 2, Heb. nekothoth has been mistaken for the plural of nek'oth and mistranslated accordingly "aromatical spices"; A. V. and R. V. give, in margin, "spicery"; A. V. "precious things" is correct. The gum spoken of in Gen. was probably gathered from the species found in Palestine, A. gummifer, A. rousseaunus, A. kurdicus, A. stroyiuilodes.

Balm, Balsam, the regular translation of Heb. gori (Gen., x.\.xvii, 25; xliii, 11; Jer., viii, 22; xlvi, 11; Ii, 8), except in Ezech., xxvii, 17 (Heb. pannag) and Ecclus., xxiv, 20a (Greek aawdXaBos; see Aspalathus); xxiv, 20b (Greek ff/j-vpfa). The fori is described as coming from Galaad (Jer., viii, 22; xlvi, 11) and having medicinal properties (Jer., Ii, 8). It is obtained from Balsamodendron opobalsamum, Kunth, which is extant in tropical regions of east Africa and Arabia and yields the "balm of Mecca"; and Amyris gileadensis, a variety of the former, which gave the more extrav- agantly prized "balm of Judea", and is now extinct; it was e.xtensively cultivated around the Lake of Tiberias, in the Jordan Valley, and on the shores of the Dead Sea(Talm. Babyl. Shabbath, 26a; Josephus,

"Ant.", IX, i, 2; Jerome, "Qua'st. in Gen.", xiv, 7; Pliny, "Nat. hist.", xii, 25, etc.). The word fori is also applied to the gum from the mastic tree, or lentisk (Pistacia lenliscus, cf. .Arab, daru), and that from Balanites agyptiaca, Del., falsely styled "balm of Galaad". The meaning of pannag, mentioned in Ezech., xx\'ii, 17, is not known with certainty; modern commentators agree with R. V. (marginal gloss) that it is "a kind of confection".

Balsam, Aromatical. See Aspalathus.

Barley (Heb. se'orah, "hairy", an allusion to the length of the awns) was cultivated through the East as provender for horses and asses (III Kings, iv, 28), also as a staple food among the poor, working men, and the people at large in times of distress. The grain was either roasted (Lev., ii, 14; IV Kings, iv, 43) or milled, kneaded and cooked in ovens as bread or cake. Barley, being the commonest grain, was considered a type of worthless things, hence the contemptuous force of Ezech., xiii, 19; Judges, vii, 13; and Osee, iii, 2. Hordeum ithaburense, Boiss., grows wild in many dis- tricts of Palestine; cultivation has developed the two {H. dislichum), four (H. letrastichum), and six-rowed (H. hexaslichum) barley. The har\'est begins in April in the Ghor, and continues later in higher altitudes; a sheaf of the new crop was offered in oblation on the "sabbath of the Passover".

Bay tree, so A. V. in Ps. xxxvii, 35; D. V. (xxx\'i) "cedar of Libanus", which renderings are erroneous. The correct meaning of the Heb. text is: "as a green tree", any kind of evergreen tree, " in its native soil".

Bdellium (Gen., ii, 12; Num., xi, 7), either a pre- cious stone or the aromatic gum of Amyris agallochum, a small resinous tree of northern India, found also, ac- cording to Pliny, in Arabia, Media, and Babylonia.

Beans (II Kings, x-v-ii, 28; Ezech., iv, 9), the horse- bean {Faba vulgaris; cf. Heb. pol and Arab, ful), an ordinary article of food, extensively cultivated in the East. The string-bean, Vigna sine?isis, kidney-bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, and Phaseolus moUiflorus, also grow in Palestine.

Blackthorn. See Bur.

Blasting. See Mildew.

Borith, a Heb. word transliterated in Jer., ii, 22, and translated in Mai., iii, 2 by "fuller's herb" (A. V. "soap"). St. Jerome in his Commentary on Jer., ii, 22, identifies borith with the "fuller's weed", which w.<\s not used, like the Dip.'iacus fullonum, Mill., to dress cloth, but to wash it; St. Jerome adds that the plant grew on rich, damp soil, which description applies to a species of Saponaria; yet many modern scholars think he refers to some vegetable alkali pro- cured by burning plants like Salsola kali and the Salicornias {S. fructicosa; S. herbacea) abundant on the coast.

Boxthorn. See Bramble.

Box tree (Is., xii, 19; Ix, 13; in D. V., Ezech., xx-vii, 6, instead of "ivory and cabins", we should read: "ivory inlain in boxwood"), probably the Heb. the'as'hshur. The box tree does not grow in Pale.stine, and indeed the Bible nowhere intimates this, but it mentions the box tree of Lebanon, Buxus longifolia, Boiss., and that imported from the islands of the Mediterranean.

Bramble, translated from Heb. 'atad in Judges, ix, 14-15, also rendered "thorn", in Ps. hai, 10. The Latin version has in both places rhamnus, "buck- thorn"; of which several .species grow in Palestine and Syria, but Arabic writers hold that the various kinds of Lycium or boxthorn are meant.

Briers. (1) Heb. kharul rendered "burning" in D. v., Job, .XXX, 7, "thorns" in Prov., xxiv, 31 and Sophon., ii, 9, according to which texts it must be large enough for people to sit under, and must develop rapidly in uncultivated lands. Its translation as "thistles" or "nettles" is unsuitable, for these plants do not reach the proportions required by Job, xxx, 7,