THE SUB-TEOPICAL ZONE. 155 



part of the other hemisphere which lies in this Sub-Tropical 

 Zone, of a size and strength they attain only in these hot 

 countries. Reeds such as these they probably were which 

 the rude Eoman soldiers placed as a mock sceptre in the 

 hand of our blessed Lord ; with which they smote His sacred 

 head, and on which they extended the sponge filled with 

 vinegar, to His lips. 



The tree called Palma Christi, which we may infer from 

 the name is the one supposed to have supplied the branches 

 with which the multitude went forth to meet our Lord on 

 His entry into Jerusalem, is, in truth, not a Palm-tree, but 

 has perhaps been called so from the shape of its palmate 

 leaves ; it is a tree belonging to the Spurge tribe (Euphor- 

 liacea], and its right name is Eicinus communis, or the 

 Castor-oil-nut tree ; it is however extremely doubtful whether 

 the plants mentioned above by the names they bear at the 

 present day, are identical with those intended in the Holy 

 Scriptures."* 



* The " Mustard -tree" of the Scriptures, after much diversity of opinion 

 on the subject, is now supposed (in consequence of the learned researches of 

 Dr. Royle) to be the Salvador a Persica, of the natural order Salvadoracece ; 

 a tree common in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, there known by the 

 name of Khardal, "an Arabic word signifying Mustard throughout the 

 East ;" the seeds are employed in Syria as a substitute for mustard. 



