I 12 



NATURE 



[May 31, 1883 



the twentieth dynasty still intact in his coffin, and who, 

 according to Brugsch, preceded Ramses II. by three 

 centuries) are more varied. Among them are some com- 

 posed, like those of Ramses II., of the leaves of Mimu- 

 sops and the sepals and petals of the two species of 

 NymphaM ; while others are formed of the leaves of 

 Salix safsaf, Forsk., which serve as clasps for the little 

 balls of flowers of Acacia Nilotica, Del., portions of the 

 heads of flowers of Carthamus tinctorius, L., or the 

 separate petals of Akcaficifolia, Cav. 



Nobody could recognise either the Salix or the Alcea 

 among the hundred Egyptian species of plants enumer- 

 ated by Pliny, or in the writings of other ancient authors; 

 whereas the Acacia and the Carthamus occur under the 

 names of Acanthos and Cnuus. Concerning the former, 

 Pliny (lib. xiii. p. 19) mentions the employment of its 

 wood in boatbuilding, the use of its gum, of its pods in 

 tanning; he speaks of the spines, even, which are found 

 on the leaves ; in short he indicates the distinctive feature 

 of the species, adding that the flowers are effective in 

 wreaths. Several of the old authors treat of this tree. 

 With regard to the Cniais or A'ucA-os (Pliny, xxi. p. 

 J3) it is only recognisable by the indication that it is 

 spiny, that its large white seeds yield an oil, and that 

 there are in Egypt both wild and cultivated species, which 

 is true. The flowers of Carthamus found in the wreaths 

 of Amenhotep I. have retained their red colour, and 

 resemble those of the species cultivated everywhere in 

 Egypt at the present day. The colour, as in recent her- 

 barium specimens, has changed from cadmium red to a 

 brownish red or orange. In water the colouring matter 

 is rapidly excreted, and we behold these flowers of some 

 thirty to thirty-five centuries ago intensely colouring the 

 liquid in the phial containing them. 1 All four of the plants 

 which I have just mentioned have now for the first time 

 been actually found in an ancient Egyptian tomb. The 

 leaves of Salix safsaf, which form the greater part of 

 the wreaths of Amenhotep I. and Aahmes I., do not differ 

 in the least from those of the present day, and the species 

 is common in Egypt. They are young — that is to say 

 small and pale — thus indicating an early season of the 

 year. In this respect they are in contradiction with the 

 blue and white petals of Nymphcva found in the same 

 coffin, though not, it should be stated, in the same 

 wreaths as the Salix, but in the wreaths with leaves of 

 Mimusops. The latter very closely resemble those found 

 on the mummy of Ramses II. Perhaps at the time of 

 the removal of the kings of the eighteenth and nineteenth 

 dynasties from one vault to another, and finally to the 

 place of concealment at Deir-el-Bahari, when a new 

 coffin was made for Ramses II. — perhaps, I say, they 

 renewed a part of the wreaths of the other kings, or 

 having ascertained the condition of the mummies (whether 

 under the twentieth or under the twenty-first dynasty), 

 they added some new wreaths to the original ones. This 

 would explain the presence in the same coffin of flowers 

 belonging to different seasons of the year. 



Salix safsaf, which occurs in a wild state on the banks 

 of the Nile in Nubia, is in Egypt proper only a riverine 

 fugitive, like many other plants, whose real home is in 

 the south. Away from the river it only exists on suffer- 

 ance, chiefly near wells and canals. To my mind it is an 

 example of the wild flora which agriculture has caused to 

 disappear. Alcca ficifolia, Cav., is now found in Egypt 

 only in ihe ancient Arabian gardens of Cairo and other 

 towns — that is to say, in gardens dating before the intro- 

 duction of European horticulture by Barillet in 1869, 

 where it grows almost wild as a weed. I have found it in 

 a wild state in Syria and the Lebanon. Boissier, in his 

 " Flora Orientalis," has not clearly defined it, and gives 

 one or two other forms {A. lavalerafolia) as distinct 



1 Unger (" Botanische Streifiiige," p. 113) mentions that a chemist named 

 Thomson had proved that the red dye in the mummy bandages was derived 

 from Carl/tamits. 



species, which they are not. The petals of the Alcea 

 contained in the wreathe of Amenhotep I. leave no doubt 

 that they belong to the species named. Their shape, the 

 distribution of the veins, and especially the hairy callosity 

 on the inner surface of the claw, as well as the size even, 

 confirm the identity of the species. Moreover one per- 

 ceives in the petals of the ancient wreaths traces of a 

 purplish tint corresponding to the crimson of the living 

 plant. The ancients probably esteemed this plant alike 

 for its beauty and its medicinal properties. 



I have examined a head of flowers of Acacia Nilotica 

 coming from one of the wreaths, and I found that the 

 flowers agreed in the minutest details with fresh ones, 

 with the characters of which I am sufficiently familiar. 

 The pro; ortions of the peduncle, the position of the 

 annular bract, the shape of the bracteoles, the calyx, the 

 petals, and stamens of each flower do not exhibit the 

 slightest differences. This tree, which is planted or 

 tolerated by man all over Egypt, is nowhere completely 

 wild except on the White Nile between n° and 12° N. 

 lat., where it constitutes large riverine forests. 



The wreaths which were found in the coffin of 

 Aahmes I., the great founder of the eighteenth dynasty 

 ("1700 B.C., according to Brugsch), are the most varied, 

 and astonish the eyes with the bright colours they have 

 retained. They are partly composed of leaves of the 

 Egyptian willow {Salix safsaj), containing separate 

 flowers of Delphinium orientate, Gay, of Sesbania 

 sEgyptiaca, Pers., petals of Alcea ficifolia, or flower- 

 heads of Acacia Nilotica; and partly of the leaves of 

 Mimusops, serving as clasps for the petals of the two 

 species of Nympluea, like the wreaths of Ramses II. 

 and Amenhotep I. The Delphinium and the Sesbania 

 had not hitherto been authenticated from ancient Egypt. 

 The colours of their flowers are admirably preserved, the 

 deep violet of the former being especially striking, but the 

 specimens I have communicated to you in a phial of 

 alcohol have lost their colour, just as fresh flowers of our 

 time would. Delphinium orientate is now spread over a 

 very wide area of the Mediterranean region. The two 

 nearest localities to Egypt where it has been found are 

 Algeria and Northern Syria, near Raldoun. It is not 

 impossible that it still occurs in some parts of Egypt, 

 while it is equally possible that it was cultivated by the 

 ancient Egyptians as an ornamental plant. In the event 

 of our being able to prove that some of the wreaths of 

 Aahmes I. and Amenhotep I. were removed at the time of 

 the twentieth dynasty, together with those of Ramses II., 

 we should be justified in the assumption that this plant 

 and Alcea ficifolia were introduced through the conquest 

 of Syria. A minute analysis of the flowers, and com- 

 parison with those from various localities, leaves no doubt 

 that they are of the species mentioned ; and if I had had 

 access to a larger number of flowers of the plant of the 

 present period, I am certain that I should have been able 

 to have exactly matched the ancient ones. The differ- 

 ences that I was able to detect between the ancient 

 flowers and recent ones from Algeria, the Caucasus, 

 Phrygia, and Lycia, kindly supplied by Mr. E. Boissier, 

 may be set forth in a few words. In the first place there 

 are two narrow linear bracteoles exceeding the peduncle 

 in length, and reflexed ; then the ovary is less pubescent, 

 and the sepals are narrower and less acute. With regard 

 to the bract, the thickened peduncle, the shape, number, 

 and disposition of the stamens, the stigma, and especially 

 the single petals, I have seen recent flowers in which 

 these organs are absolutely identical. It will be seen 

 that the characters in which they differ are only of indi- 

 vidual value. Further, the species in question, commonly- 

 cultivated at the present time, comprises a considerable 

 range of forms. Thus there are varieties in which the 

 single petal is merely three-lobed, whilst in others the 

 intermediate lobe is again divided. Both conditions 

 occur in the ancient flowers. These flowers are so well 



