On the Rose of Jericho. 361 
attention of naturalists, and in times of ignorance has given rise 
to many superstitious notions, Some time ago I had an oppor- 
tunity of examining two specimens of this plant, which have been 
deposited for several years among other rarities, natural and 
artificial, which adorn the elegant museum of the late Mr. John 
Thomson, merchant, in Edinburgh ; and having been permitted 
‘through his liberality to make experiments on these specimens, 
T now state the result. The specimens alluded to were examined 
by many naturalists in Edinburgh, and by some strangers, both 
in their state of contraction and expansion ; and, as far as ] could 
learn trom Mr. Thomson, none of them had ever seen any thing 
of the kind; so that such plants are rare in this country. Mr. 
Thomson received*one of the specimens from a friend in Aber- 
deenshire, in whose possession it had long remained, but the 
precise time could not be ascertained; and he purchased the 
other in Holland, without knowing its peculiar property, and it 
lay unheeded in his cabinet for wany years. The discovery was 
accidentally made by looking into the work of Le Brun, a French 
traveller, whose description will be afterwards noticed. The 
history of the specimens in Mr. Thomson’s possession shows that 
the Rose of Jericho retains its singular property of expansion by 
the absorption of water, and of contraction when dried for a long 
course of years. One of the specimens it is pretty certain has 
been in a dry state for at least twenty years, and perhaps for a 
much longer time. 
In the work of Le Brun now alluded to, and in which an ac- 
count of his “ Voyage in 1675 tothe Levant, Egypt, and Syria,” 
is detailed, (published in folio at Delft, in 1700,) I find the fol- 
lowing observations on this plant: ** Among other rarities,’ says 
he, * I purchased some Roses of Jericho, a very curious plant. 
In less enlighten? periods of society, when mankind were more 
credulous, many stories were related of these roses. Among 
others it was asserted that, if they are put into water on Christ- 
mas eve they expand, whieh did not take place at any other time. 
This happened, it was said, as a memorial of the birth of Jesus 
Christ. But I know certainly,” says the author, “ that they 
have this property at all times, both night and day; and when 
they are taken from the water, they gradually contract.” 9, 301, 
The same plant and its remarkable properties are spgken of 
by Caspar Bauhin (Pinx, p. 484.) The name Rose of Jericho, 
according to the account of it quoted from Bellonius, was first 
given by a monk, obviously in allusion to its supposed miraculous 
expansion at a certain season ; for it is not a native of the coun- 
try around Jericho, but of the sandy shores of Arabia Deserta, 
anda wild species (sylvestris) is found among the houses and 
waste places of Syria. Bauhin adds, that he had it in his gar- 
den, where it flowered for several years, 
Vol. 58, No, 283, Nov. 1821. ZZ John 
