146 pliny's natueal histoet. [Book XII. 



shaggy tufts upon trees, such as we often see upon the quercus : 

 those, however, of which we are speaking, emit a most ex- 

 quisite odour. The most esteemed of all are the whitest, and 

 those situate at the greatest height upon the tree. Those of 

 second quality are red, while those which are hlack are not of 

 the slightest value. The sphagnos, too, that is produced on 

 islands and among rocks, 63 is held in no esteem, as well as all 

 those varieties which have the odour of the palm-tree, and not 

 that which is so peculiarly their own. 



CHAP. 51. CYPEOS. 



The Cyprus 64 is a tree of Egypt, with the leaves of the zizi- 

 phus, 65 and seeds like coriander, 66 white and odoriferous. 

 These seeds are boiled in olive oil, and then subjected to 

 pressure ; the product is known to us as cypros. The price of 

 it is five denarii per pound. The best is that produced on the 

 banks of the Nile, near Canopus, that of second quality coming 

 from Ascalon in Judaea, and the third in estimation for the 

 sweetness of its odour, from the island of Cyprus. Some people 

 will have it that this is the same as the tree which in Italy we 

 call ligustrum. 67 



CHAP. 52. ASPALATHOS, OE EEYSISCEPTETJM. 



In the same country, 68 too, grows aspalathos, 69 a white, 

 thorny shrub, the size of a moderate tree, and with flowers 

 like the rose, the root of which is in great request for un- 

 guents. It is said that every shrub over which the rainbow 

 is extended is possessed of the sweet odour that belongs to 

 the aspalathos, but that if the aspalathos is one of them, its 



63 Probably tbe Roccella tinctoria of Linnaeus, a lichen most commonly- 

 found upon rocks. 



64 The henue, the Lawsonia inermis of the modern naturalists, a shrub 

 found in Egypt, Syria, and Barbary. From this tree the henna is made 

 with which the women of the East stain the skin of their hands and feet. 



65 The jujube-tree. See B. xv. c. 14. 



66 See B. xx. c. 82. 



67 Or privet. 



^ But in B. xxiv. c. 68, he says that this plant grows in the island of 

 Rhodes. 



69 According to Fee, this is the same as the Lignum Rhodianum, or 

 wood of Rhodes, of commerce, sometimes also called, but incorrectly, wood 

 of roses. It is, probably, the same as the Convolvulus scoparius of Lin- 

 naeus. 



