CHAP. Xr. INDIGENOUS PLANTS OF EGYPT. Go 



of the country, principally on the authority of 

 Apuleius, and early Arab writers. But the greater 

 part of these last are wild plants : and, indeed, if 

 all the indigenous productions of Egypt (which 

 unquestionably grew there in ancient as well as 

 modern times) were enumerated, a large catalogue 

 might be collected, those of the desert alone 

 amounting to nearly 250 species. For though the 

 Egy])tian Herbarium is limited to about 1300, the 

 indigenous plants constitute a large proportion of 

 that number, and few countries have a smaller 

 quantity introduced from abroad than Egypt, which, 

 except in a few instances, has remained contented 

 with the herbs and trees of its own soil ; and the 

 plants of the desert may be considered altogether 

 indigenous, without, I believe, one single ex- 

 ception. It is true, as I have observed, that these 

 last belong to ancient as well as modern Egypt, 

 but I do not think it necessary to enter into any 

 description of them in the present work ; and 

 shall content myself with a brief enumeration of 

 those mentioned by Pliny, together with the most 



Asterope, or jMarruhiiini, or Prasion (P/iraseeon,) Marnihiuni Alyssiini, 

 Ijiim. Sidctlto, or Squill, Scillaiiiaritima, (Bu.isalclfar). Scnict, or Nastur- 

 tium?. TWAo/v'/;, ( Chamomile, )( Arab. Z?^/iooHe^,) San tolinafragrantissima, 

 Fors/c. iS/^'w/V//, (Saiii^uinaria,) Pohgonum. Palalla, or Cyclaminus. 

 Jit/idoiii, or Venus's Ilair, Adiaiitlmm Capillus Veneris, Linn. Kisine, 

 or Heliotrope. ]\Ieni})ht, or Dictamnus. Lotometra, or Lotus, Nym- 

 phaca Lotus, Linn. Soumonas, or Mint, {Xaanaa,) Mentha Kaiiirina, 

 Fursk. Sonii, or Ahsynthium Marinum, or Scri()hiuni. Aplilo])lioi, 

 or Mcrcurialis Ilerha. Tliixlon, or Bn/onia, Vitis alba. Phrpre, or Sco- 

 lopendra. A^alkosdcnion, or Cyclaminus. PanldgaUta, or Origanum. 

 Aiineox, or wild Myrtle. Dtnilorobon, or Coscuta. jlTotnioufin, or 

 Portulaca, (Olera'.'ca ?). Iraloria, or Bctonica. Oclicon, or Coriander. 

 Ani/si, or Salvia. Vide Kirchcr, Prod, ct Lex. Sup. c. 8., and 

 CEdipus. 



