of Pococke's Travels. S 



come here, on the authority of Pococke, to sec 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 Liquidamhar Styraciflua. 'J'he trunk 

 of it ivas 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 certainly the Lignum Rho- 

 dium of the ancients." 



Dr. Sibthorp then proceeds to mention two species of Spartium, 

 one of which he suspects to be ihe 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 



B 2 the 



