BOTANY. 367 



and Hibiscus, resembling our mallows ; a Jussitea, the Betel, 

 a beautiful species of Acanthus, and Bunias somewhat like 

 our cabbages, the leaves of which are eaten boiled. There 

 are other Indian plants which the Arabs eat raw by way of 

 salad ; a Slapcha, a Cleome not unlike mustard ; a Dolichos 

 and Glycyne, resembling French beans, are very common in 

 Yemen, and so beautiful when ripe that they are strung 

 into necklaces and bracelets, which are highly esteemed. 

 There are some culinary vegetables that require no culture, 

 such as the Corchoriis, the Scelanthus, the leaves of which, 

 when boiled, have a pleasing acid taste ; and the celebrated 

 Colocasia (a species of Arum), which flourishes abundantly 

 in all marshy places. 



Plants. — Of these the variety is not great ; and they are 

 chiefly of the saline or succulent kind. The sandy plains 

 produce the same genera as Northern Africa, which serve as 

 agreeable objects to the traveller, as well as to alleviate the 

 thirst of the camel in the weary journeys of the caravans 

 through the Desert. Different kinds of Zygnphyllum, Hedy- 

 sarum, Culutea, Mesembryanfhemum, Salsola, with other 

 prickly herbs and shrubs, are browsed by these animals, 

 which are content with the driest and hardest fare. The ass 

 eats a species of the Scorzonera, so rough and bitter that even 

 the camel refuses to taste it. There is a species of Mesem- 

 bryant hermim, the grain of which the Bedouins prepare into 

 a sort of bread, and eat it as readily as if it were made of 

 wheat. It is in the wadis and recesses of the mountains that 

 Arabian botany ought to be studied ; and here, as Burck- 

 hardt remarks of the Sinai group, the naturalist would find a 

 rich harvest. He mentions in particular the tatlar {Ocymum 

 tatarhe7idi), as affording the best possible food for sheep ; 

 and the nooman (the Euphorbia retusa of Forskal), bearing a 

 pretty red flower, which abounds in these valleys, and is seen 

 among the cliffs of the most barren granitic rocks. The 

 monks of St. Catherine collect various herbs when in full 

 bloom, which they dry and send to their archbishop, who dis- 

 tributes them to his friends and dependants, as they are sup- 

 posed to possess many virtues conducive to health. This 

 barren peninsula is the favourite soil of the rose of Jericho, 

 anApocynum or dog's bane, the Absinthinm sanioniaim judai- 

 cum, the Asteriscus trianthophorus, Astragalus perennis, and 

 several others, which Shaw has enumerated in his " Speci- 



