EXTIRPATION OF VEGETABLES. Ts 
extirpated by man on the Eastern continent. The roots, 
stumps, trunks, and foliage found in bogs are recognized as 
belonging to still extant species. Except in some few cases 
where there is historical evidence that foreign material was 
employed, the timber of the oldest European buildings, and 
even of the lacustrine habitations of Switzerland, is evidently 
the product of trees still common in or near the countries 
where such architectural remains are found; nor have the 
Egyptian catacombs themselves revealed to us the former ex- 
istence of any woods not now familiar to us as the growth of 
still living trees.* It is, however, said that the yew tree, 
Taxus baccata, formerly very common in England, Germany, 
and—as we are authorized to infer from Theophrastus—in 
Greece, has almost wholly disappeared from the latter country, 
and seems to be dying out in Germany. The wood of the yew 
surpasses that of almost any other European tree in closeness 
and fineness of grain, and it is well known for the elasticity 
which of old made it so great a favorite with the English 
archer. It is much in request among wood carvers and turners, 
and the demand for it explains, in part, its Increasing scarcity. 
*Some botanists think that a species of water lily represented in many 
Egyptian tombs has become extinct, and the papyrus, which must have once 
been abundant in Egypt, is now found only in a very few localities near the 
mouth of the Nile. It grows very well and ripens its seeds in the waters of 
the Anapus near Syracuse, and I have seen it in garden ponds at Messina and 
in Malta. There is no apparent reason for believing that it could not be easily 
cultivated in Egypt, to any extent, if there were any special motive for en- 
couraging its growth. 
Silphium, a famous medicinal plant of Lybia and of Pezsia, seems to have dis- 
appeared entirely. At any rate there is no proof that it now exists in either 
of those regions. The Silphium of Greek and Roman commerce appears to 
have come wholly from Cyrene, that from the Asiatic deserts being generally 
of less value, or, as Strabo says, perhaps of an inferior variety. The province 
near Cyrene which produced it was very limited, and according to Strabo (ed. 
Casaukon, p. 837), it was at one time almost entirely extirpated by the nomade 
Africans who invaded the province and rooted out the plant. 
The vegetable which produced the Balm of Gilead has not been found in 
modern times, although the localities in which it anciently grew have been 
carefully explored, 
