92 Mr. RoYLE on the Lycinm of Dioscorides. 



The Barberry is called amburbarees, as in Avicenna, quoted by De Candolle : 

 its Persian synonyms ai-e zeris/ik, zanij, zitrmij, ziirak, — all having reference to 

 its yellow colour, — derived apparently from zur, gold, and closely assimilating 

 to zuhruj, before referred to under hooziz. The bark of the root is called 

 arghees, of which the synonyms are in Persian equivalent to " bark of the yel- 

 low root," " bark of the root of Barberry." The plant itself is described as 

 being " a thorny plant ; that its thorns are triple, that is, wherever they occur, 

 three come out together ; an inhabitant of the lower hills in Khorassan and 

 Shirwan, and towards Shiraz, in Syria and in Room (that is, Turkey) ; but that 

 the kind which is found in Khorassan and Shirwan is preferable on account 

 of the fruit being full of juice and free from seeds; but in the environs of 

 Shiraz it is found full of seeds ; and that whicli grows in lofty and cold places 

 is always the best. Its leaves are like those of Vasmin, but longer and nar- 

 rower : its flowers are yellow, with a shade of white, crowded together near 

 the tops of the branches ; fruit oblong, and clustered together ; when unripe 

 green, afterwards red, and finally purple. The plant varies in height fron> 

 two to three fathoms, or is about the size of an apple-tree," &c. 



From this description, it is evident that the Barberry was well known to the 

 old Arabian and Persian authors ; and though the knowledge of the fact seems 

 to have been lost, I think it is evident they were aware tliat the Indian hooziz 

 was made from the wood dar-huld and the plant zuhruj: this is more clearly 

 stated by the later authors who had communication with Hindoo physicians. 

 It has been proved that the Indian hooziz is rusot, and that both it and the 

 wood dar-huld are the produce of species of Barberry ; that the Greek name 

 Innfi/on, or looh/on, is given as a synonym of hooziz, followed by the descrip- 

 tion of Li/cium, XvHiov, as given in the 133rd chapter of the 1st Book of Dios- 

 corides : we may therefore, I think, safely conclude that the Indian Li/cium 

 was then, as now, made from the wood and root of species of Barberry. 

 Whether the Arabian hooziz was the produce of a distinct plant, or only an 

 artificial compound of myrrh, aloes and saffron, does not so clearly appear; 

 The Lycium of Asia Minor may have been made from different species of 

 Rhamnus, or from Rliamnus infectorius only ; but it may also have been made 

 from Berberis vulgaris, as formerly inferred. 



In conclusion, it remains only to add, that the rusof is at the present day 



