Vol. V, No. 2.] Tamarisk Manna. 33 
[V.8.] 
In Persian works manna is described as a dew which falls 
upon the tamarisk as well as other trees, and becomes solidi- 
fied. For instance, in the MS. of Nuzhat al Culub quoted by 
Ouseley, the manna of the tamarisk is described as a dewy . 
gazangabin. ‘This,’ adds the MS., “ chiefly abounds in 
Kurdistan. When the manna falls on the balut or oak tree, it 
contributes to the sweet compound called dustab; about Hama- 
dan it settles on the bid or willow ; in the territory of Khawar it 
falls on the thorn, khar, and is thence called kharangabin ; 
some also in the autumn is found on the “ surface of the sand.” 
The last-named source will be described later, but it is 
evident from the above observations, added to the experience 
of more recent writers, that the tamarisk is not the only shrub 
that yields commercial manna. The name gazangabin is 
loosely applied by the Persians to the manna obtained from 
other plants. Dr. J. E. T. Aitchison describes three plants 
in addition to the tamarisk which yield manna in Persia. 
The first is Cotoneaster nummularia, Fisch. et Mey, the siah- 
chob (black stick), which yields shirkhist, meaning ‘* hardened 
ilk.” It is met throughout the Paropamisus range and in 
Khorasan, at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. The second 
kind is yielded by the camel-thorn Alhagi Camelorum, Fisch. 
The plant is called camel-thorn (shuiar-khar) or goat’s thorn 
(khar-i-buzi), and the mannais called taranjabin, which means the 
‘honey from the green bush.’’? The country round Rui-khanj 
in Persia is celebrated for this product, whence it is exported 
in all directions. The third kind was obtained from the foliage 
of Salsola foetida, Del. Haussknecht! states that gazangabin 
designates a manna collected in the mountainous districts of 
shora-gaz or gaz-shora, given to the plant on account of the 
shora or salt found in the soil where it grows. In Dr. Sven 
Hedin’s book ‘‘ Through Asia,” the tamarisk is referred to 
as the plant which encroaches furthest into the awful desert 
region traversed by men. In certain seasons in the year the 
leaves and branches of these bushes are the only green fodder 
of the camel. The manna is not produced on the shrubs in 
1 Archiv der Pharmazie, 192 (1870), 246. 
