156 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



We cannot pass by the neighbourhood of Jericho without 

 mentioning a curious plant which takes its name from 

 thence, and is found growing in dry sandy parts of Palestine, 

 namely, the Rose of Jericho. It is a singularly inappro- 

 priate name, as it has nothing at all to do with Roses, and 

 belongs to the Cruciferous family ; its proper name is Ana- 

 statica hierochuntica. Professor Lindley speaks of it as 

 "an Eastern herb, which grows in the most arid deserts. 

 At the end of its life, and in consequence of drought, its 

 texture becomes almost woody, its branches curve up into a 

 sort of ball, the valves of its pods are closed, and the plant 

 holds to the soil by nothing but a root without fibres. In 

 this state, the wind, always so powerful on plains of sand, 

 tears up the dry ball, and rolls it upon the desert. If in 

 the course of its violent transmission the ball is thrown 

 upon a pool of water, the humidity is promptly absorbed by 

 the woody tissue, the branches unfold, and the seed-vessels 

 open ; the seeds, which if they had been dropped upon the 

 dry sand would never have germinated, sow themselves na- 

 turally in the moist soil, where they are sure to be deve- 

 loped, and the young plants will be certain of nourishment. 

 Specimens of this curious production are sometimes brought 

 from Palestine (where it is called KafMaryam), and although 



