362 On the Rose of Jericho. 
John Sturmius, a Professor of Louvain, who lived in the fif- 
teenth or beginning of the sixteenth century, wrote a book on the 
Rose of Jericho, which is said to be full of superstitious details of 
its miraculous powers 5 and in allusion to the same superstitions 
it was sometimes called by others Rosa Marie. 
In later botanical works the Rose of Jericho is distinguished 
by the generic name of Anastatica, derived from its property of 
reviving in water. Under this name it is described in Hortus 
Cliffortianus, p.318; and as it approaches in some of its cha- 
racters to the genus Thlaspi, it is arranged by Morison, Hist. 
Plant. ii. p. 228, under that genus, as Thlaspi Rosa de Hiericho. 
The following characters are given by Willdenow : 
Awnastatica. Class and Order. Tetradynamia Siliculosa. 
Gen. Char.—Silicula retusa, margine coronata valvulis disse- 
pimento duplo longioribus ; stylo intermedio mucronato obliquo, 
loculis 2-spermis. 
Anastatica Hierochuntica. Foliis axillaribus brevissimis, sili- 
culis ungulatis spinosis. 
_Native of the shores of the Red Sea, sandy places of Palestine 
_and Barbary, and near Cairo in Egypt. 
This species, which is an annual plant, was cultivated in Kew 
-Garden in 1656, by the celebrated old botanist Tradescant. 
Another species, Anast. syriaca, is a native of Austria, Stiria, 
Carniola, Svria, and Sumatra. 
It may be added that the appearance of the dried plant of the 
-common Rose of Jericho, Anastat. Hierochuntica, indicates no- 
thing of its resuscitating quality ; for it is of a hard woody structure 
and consistency, somewhat resembling a plant of dried heath. 
Experiments.—The weight of the specimens on which the ex-. 
periments were made was first ascertained, and was found as fol- 
lows : Long-sten:med specimen ..........-. 90 grains. 
ra Short-stemmed ditto.....-..eecceee 110 
Exp. 1.—Both specimens were immersed in water at the tem- 
perature of the air of the apartment about 50° Fahr. to-within 
an inch of the division of the branches. After twelve hours no 
apparent change had taken place, excepting that numerous air- 
bubbles had collected on the stems, showing that air had been 
displaced by the absorption of water. Having remained in this 
state of immersion for forty-six hours without further appearance 
_of change; the specimens being again weighed, gave the follow- 
ing results : 
The long-stemmed specimen weighed. .... 96 graitis. 
The short-stemmed ditto ditto........ 116 
It is rather a singular coincidence, that in this case both speci- 
mens acquired exactly the same additional weight; namely, six 
grains, although the short-stemmed specimen, having a larger 
head, and being twenty grains heavier, might have been expected 
: to 
