134 CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. [May, 



desires distinction in this extensive sphere should have an inti- 

 mate acquaintance with the erudition of past times, and especially 

 should be conversant with the works of Theophrastus and Dios- 

 corides, Athenseus, and Pliny; he should be well acquainted 

 with Oriental languages, viz. Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, and 

 Syriac ; be well read in the Arabic botanical works of the Middle 

 Ages, — Avicenna, Massue, etc., and finally he should be a good 



botanist : — 



" Sumite materiam vestris qui scribitis sequam 

 - Viribus." 

 " . . . Te wi'iters, weigh with care 

 . . . What your strength will bear." 



It is not probable that the Biblical Thorns and Thistles which 

 were the plague of Adam, Cain, and the first cultivators, as they 

 are still agricultural pests in every country, were, or are, the 

 identical species which British agriculturists have to eradicate. 



The only plant so called, that is common to the Holy Land 

 and to the islands of Great Britain, is Our Lady's Thistle, Cnicus 

 benedictus in Hasselquist, and Silybum Marianum of modern 

 English botanists. The Swedish traveller enters two species of 

 Thistles, neither, as yet, found in England, viz. Carduus syriacus 

 and C. mollis, the former collected in Arabia, the latter in Pales- 

 tine. The British Composite besides these are Centaurea scabiosa, 

 Arctium Lappa, Cichorium Tntybus. Artichokes, Echinops, and 

 Sand Thistles are among the plants of the Holy Land. 



Tliere are many Thorns or thorny plants in Palestine, as there 

 are everywhere else. They are a part of the consequence of the 

 curse with which the earth has been cursed. The Thorns how- 

 ever which are common to the British Isles and the Holy Land 

 are but few. Our common White-thorn, Cratcegus Oxyacantha, 

 is perhaps the only one. Our Restharrow, Ononis spinosa, may 

 be one of the thorny plants with which the East is afflicted. It 

 is not quite certain if there be any species of the genus Rubus 

 common to both countries. The Sacred Bramble, R. sanctus, is 

 reckoned among the plants of Palestine, but it has not yet been 

 detected among our many Brambles. Wild Hoses are common 

 in the East, but these are not Thorns, though, like them, equally 

 troublesome. 



The Dog-rose, Kvv6^aTo<i of the Greek botanists, as will be 

 shown hereafter, is not wanting in Eastern lands.^ 



* Accorcliug to Dr. Kitto, the common Roses of Palestine are R. alba and R. 



