THE MUSTARD TREE. 291 



THE MUSTARD TREE. 



THE description which our Lord has given of the sinapi, or 

 inustard tree, in Matt. xiii. 31, 32, and the parallel passages, has in- 

 duced much speculation and conjecture among learned men. His 

 words are, ' A grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed 

 in his field : which indeed is the least of all seeds ; but when it is 

 grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that 

 the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.' In 

 order to account for the discrepancy which exists between this rep- 

 resentation and the character of the sinapis nigra, or common mus- 

 tard plant, it has been supposed that this may, in the more favora- 

 ble climates of the East, exceed by far in its dimensions and strength 

 that which is found in these colder counties. Lightfoot cites a 

 passage from the Talmud, in which a mustard tree is said to have 

 been possessed of branches sufficiently large to cover a tent ; and 

 Scheuchzer describes and represents a species of the plant several 

 feet high, and possessing a tree-like appearance. 



In support of this conjecture, Dr. Clarke remarks, * some soils be- 

 ing more luxuriant than others, and the climate much warmer, raise 

 the same plant to a size and perfection far beyond what a poorer 

 soil, or a colder climate, can possibly do. Herodotus says, he has 

 seen wheat and barley, in the country of Babylon, which carried a 

 blade full four fingers in breadth, and that the millet and sesamum 

 grew to an incredible size.' The doctor states, that he has himself 

 seen a field of common cabbages in one of the Nortnan Isles, each 

 of which was from seven to nine feet in height ; and one, in the gar- 

 den of a friend, which grew beside an apple tree, though the lati- 

 tude of the place was only about 48 18' north, was fifteen feet high. 

 These facts and several others, which might be adduced, Dr. Clarke 

 thinks fully confirm the possibility of what our Lord says of the 

 mustard tree, however incredible such things may appear to those 

 who are acquainted only with the productions of the northern re- 

 gions and cold climates. 



These are striking specimens, certainly, of the great difference 

 existing among productions of the same species, in different climates 

 and countries ; but then, their distinctive character remains the same ; 

 whereas the reference in our Lord's parable implies so essential a 

 difference as, on these principles, to convert an herbaceous plant into 

 a tree, and thus destroy the identity of its character. 



For the purpose of removing these difficulties, Mr. Frost, a gen- 

 tleman eminent for his attainments in botanical science, published 

 a work, in which he maintains that the sinapi of the New Testa- 

 ment does not signify any species of the genus we now designate 

 sinapis, but a species of the phytolacca. We shall transcribe some 

 passages from his work, and" leave the reader to form his own 

 judgment as to the conclusive nature of his arguments. 



