CONIFERS. 3 75 



described as one concerning the identity of which there is much 

 difference of opinion, the author of the Maklizan says, ^* perhaps 

 it is the same as Zarnab, which is called Talis in Hindi, and 



J ■ 



which is the narvow leaf of a tree of a dusty colour , externally and 

 internally yelloicj^ If we turn to the older Arabian writers^ we 

 find that we have no reason to identify Zarnab with Talisapattra ; 

 they say that it is a certain perfume or certain sweet-smelling 

 tree {Kdmus), or a species of sweet-smelling plant {Sihah) ; it 

 consists of slender round twigs, between the thickness of large 

 needles and of writing reeds, black inclining to yellowness, not 

 having much taste or odour, what odour it has, being of a 

 fragrant kind like citron. [Ihn titna, Book II.) According to 

 the Turkish Kamus, it is the leaf of a sweet-smelling plant 

 called c>\j^d:^j (locust's foot). Sprengel thought it was 

 SalL^ u3Egy2)tiaca. (Confer. Hist. rei. herb., T, II., p. 270.) 

 Zarnab is of the measure Jl*» and is a genuine Arabic word. 



A rajiz says 



" with my father thou shouldst be ransomed, and thy mouth, 

 that is cool and sweet, as though Zarnab were sprinkled upon 

 it.'' {Sihah,) 



In the tradition of Umm Zara, where it is said 



*^hj f^J f^^ ' ^ ^^J ' (-^'^ u^*'' ' *' ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ hare, 

 and the odour is the odour of Zarnab," Ibn el Athfr, author of 

 the Nihayehy says that it signifies saffron [Madd-el-kamus) . 

 Ainslie (ii., 407) considers Talispatar to be the leaves and twigs 

 of Flaconrtia cataphractaj'Ro:s}y. Dr. U. C. Dutt, in his Hindu 

 Materia Medica, states that the Talispatar of the Calcutta shops 

 consists of the loaves and twigs of Abies Wehhiana^ Lindl, 

 Dr. Moidln Sheriff gives the name of Talishapatri to the 

 leaves of Ginnamomum Tamala, Nees. It would appear, 

 therefore, that it is uncertain at the present time what 

 the Talisapattra of Sanskrit writers is, and that in different 

 parts of the country various drugs are used as substitutes 

 for it. 



♦ Webb's or purple -coned fir. 



