186 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 
purposes, and is palmed off upon pilgrims as the true Balm of 
Gilead. At the Fountain of Elisha I saw the largest specimen of 
the thorny Zizyphus, or Jujube Tree, in Palestine. It is called 
Spina Christi, because, according to tradition, it was of its thorny 
branches that our Lord’s crown of thorns was made. 
I was especially struck with a superb Mistletoe which grew in 
large tufts, parasitically, on this Jujube Tree, and is confined, I 
believe, to the Valley of the Jordan in Palestine. It is called 
Loranthus Indicus. Its brilliant tropical-looking blossoms hung in 
scarlet festoons from the topmost boughs of the trees, giving them 
the appearance of being enveloped in flames, and reminding one of 
the burning bush of the desert that glowed with a fire that did not 
consume. This parasite grew also upon the Acacia farnesiana, 
which is very abundant in the neighbourhood of Jericho, and on 
the eastern side of the Dead Sea. This tree is celebrated for the 
delicious fragrance of its yellow flowers, and is grown in the fields 
of Grasse in the Riviera for the manufacture of perfumes. You can 
imagine what a feast to almost every sense is produced by the com- 
pination of the scarlet flowers of the Loranthus with the delicious 
fragrance of the yellow flossy blooms of the Acacia, and the elegance 
of its bright green foliage. To add to the attractiveness of the 
sight, the Loranthus is cross-fertilized by means of the lovely little 
Sun-bird, a species which looks like a Humming-bird, but belongs 
to a different type altogether, and is confined to the Jordan Valley, 
as I have already mentioned. This living fragment of a rainbow 
seems attached to the flowers of the Mistletoe, following it 
wherever it appears ; and its long bill is covered with the yellow 
pollen while dipping it into the scarlet tubes in search of honey. 
Our own common European Mistletoe (the Visewm album) is not 
unfrequently found on the poplars, which are the common trees in 
the higher grounds in the north. It is somewhat abundant about 
Banias, and along the lower spurs of Hermon on the way to 
Damascus. In the warm southern parts of Palestine it gives place 
to a more tender and luxuriant species, the Oriental Mistletoe 
(Viscum cruciatum), which grows in profusion in many of the olive 
yards, and is the staple food of the Jay. It forms a solid mass of 
glossy dark-green foliage, which easily distinguishes it from the 
gray-green foliage of the tree on which it grows. It produces a 
great quantity of bright crimson berries. This Mistletoe is found 
