of Pococke's Travels. 3 
come here, on the authority of Pococke, to see the Lignum Rho- 
dium. This the Greeks call Xylon Effendi. The Eugumenos of 
the convent, a very old man, offered himself as my conductor ; 
and leading me a few paces below the convent, into a garden, 
now covered with rubbish, he pointed out a tree, which upon 
examination I found to be Liquidambar Styraciflua. The trunk 
ofit was much hacked. Different bits of it had been carried off 
by the curious or superstitious, as an ornament to their cabinets 
or churches. This was probably the same tree that Pococke had 
seen. To ascertain the Lignum Rhodium has been much wished 
by the naturalists. An American tree, growing in the swamps of 
Virginia, seems to have little claim to be considered as the tree 
which should produce it. The name of Xylon Effendi, and the 
traditions of the convent, testify the reputation in which this tree 
has long been held in the island. It was probably originally in- 
troduced by the Venetians during their possession of Cyprus. I 
could not discover, either from observation or inquiry, that it 
was to be found in any other part of the island; nor do I recollect 
that the Liquidambar Styraciflua has been mentioned, by any bo- 
tanist, as an oriental tree. Whether the Lignum Rhodium of the 
shops is the wood of this tree or not, I am doubtful. The first 
Aspalathus of Dioscorides; I think, is cintas the Lignum Rho- 
dium of the ancients." 
Dr. Sibthorp then proceeds to mention two species of onm 
one of which he suspects to be the first, and the other the second, 
Aspalathus of Dioscorides; but the want of descriptions, and of 
marked specimens, renders it impossible to distinguish what he 
meant. . I do not presume to reconcile the discordant accounts, 
which may be found in writers on the Materia Medica, respecting 
the Lignum Rhodium ; nor are these writers even agreed whether 
its name originated from the rose-like scent of the wood, or from 
2. the 
