GARDEN ASSOCIATIONS 271 



part of them without any botanical or horticultural 

 knowledge, and I always find that no plants interest 

 them so much as the plants of which they have read in 

 the Bible. The Christ's thorn (Paliurus aculeatus) 

 deeply interests them. Whether it is really the plant 

 of the crown of thorns may be doubtful, but few other 

 plants so well satisfy the requirements ; and when I 

 show them the pliant branches so easy to weave into a 

 crown, and so thickly set with sharp thorns in every 

 direction, they generally show their interest by asking 

 for pieces to take away with them. Abraham's oak 

 (Quercus pseudo-coccifera) is another plant almost as 

 interesting, and the terebinth was another, but this is 

 somewhat tender, and I have lost it for many years. 

 Other plants of Biblical interest which I grow are the 

 cedar of Lebanon, the palm, the fig, the olive, the 

 willow of Babylon, the styrax (supposed to be the 

 poplar of the Old Testament), the pomegranate, the 

 mandrake, hyssop, and spikenard, the almond and the 

 quince. 



Other plants have historical associations. The white 

 rose of York, the Irish shamrock, and the Scotch 

 thistle, are instances ; and the broom of the Planta- 

 genets ; the Alexandria laurel, which formed the crown 

 of the Greek conquerors ; the acanthus, which gave the 

 model to the Corinthian capital ; the papyrus of Egypt 



