A PASSING GLANCE AT THE FLORA OF PALESTINE. 185 
a singular example of a plant enduring the two extremes of heat 
and cold, and presenting a curious problem in geographical botany 
—like the occurrence of the Sea-pink and Scurvy-grass on the 
sea-shore and on the highest points of our Scottish hills, and in 
no intermediate ground. But perhaps the heat and dryness of 
the air on the summit of Hermon will present conditions not so 
dissimilar as one would suppose to those of the Wilderness of 
Judea. The Paronychia argentea, a curious little plant, like a 
mixture of a Pellitory and a Polygonum, takes the place of our 
common Plantago as a way-weed, and is conspicuous by its silvery 
trailing runners on every dusty path. It is gathered by the Arabs 
and dried as a substitute for tea. And, preserving the curious 
habit of our common Nettle, by only growing where human 
habitations still exist, or where they have once been in now waste 
ground, a remarkable species of Nettle, the Urtica pilulifera, 
luxuriated around Bedouin encampments, or in spots marked by 
ruined walls. This is a most virulent species, and I was severely 
stung by its leaves when attempting to gather beside it some 
specimens of the Scarlet Ranunculus on the Plains of Jericho. 
It produces, as its name indicates, curious round balls, in which 
its seed is contained; and in this respect it approximates in 
appearance and type of structure to the fruit of the Bread-fruit 
Tree, which, as is well known, belongs to the Nettle family. 
The banks of the Jordan at the celebrated Bathing-place were 
fringed with thickets of the Populus Euphratica, remarkable for 
the extraordinary variety of the shapes of its leaves, especially in 
young trees. Luxuriant Willows belonging to the species Salix 
octandra, probably the true Babylonian Willow on which the 
captive Jews in Babylon hung their harps, dipped their pendent 
branches into the sacred stream. The Tamarisks of this locality 
had, many of them, on their boughs curious little nests, made out 
of fragments of the leaves glued together, full of an Indian species 
of Ant. This symbiosis, or commensalism, must have a double 
purpose to serve, ministering to the wants of the Ants, and also to 
the functions of the tree. The False Balsam was abundant in the 
neighbourhood, Balanites Agyptiaca, the Zukkum of the natives, 
reminding one of the spices for which the Plain of Jericho used to 
be celebrated. Its foliage is deep green, and from its large olive- 
like fruit a fragrant oil is extracted which is used for healing 
