114 



BOOK REVIEWS 



Plants of the Bible 



Bible Plants for American Gardens. By Eleanor A. King. The Macmillan' 

 Co. 1941. Pp. 203. $2.00. 



Probably everyone is familiar with some of the many Biblical 

 references to plants, from the first chapter of Genesis, where on the 

 third day of creation "the earth brought forth grass, and herbs yield- 

 ing seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit" down to New 

 Testament times when Jesus looking out over the mountain side 

 said : "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow . . . even Solo- 

 mon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Probably 

 the majority of people reading of the lilies picture to themselves 

 Easter lilies, so it may come as a surprise to read that the lilies re- 

 ferred to were anemonies. 



There have been numerous magazine articles on flowers and 

 trees of the Bible. The Journal of the New York Botanical Garden 

 in March, 1941, had an illustrated article on "Plants of the Holy 

 Scripture" by Miss King, and also a check list prepared in connec- 

 tion with the Garden's exhibit at the International Flower Show by 

 Dr. Moldenke of all plants mentioned in the Bible wath the scientific 

 names of the plants as they are understood by modern students. But 

 no complete work of a popular nature on the subject has appeared 

 until this book by Miss King. In the front there is a paragraph of 

 appreciation of the help given by the staff of the New York Botanical 

 Garden, especially of that of Harold N. Moldenke. Comparing the 

 book with the scholarly study — Plants of the Bible — distributed in 

 mimeographed form by Dr. Moldenke, it is evident that this work 

 was drawn on to a large extent in the writing of the present volume. 



As the title suggests the book is a gardeners' manual with direc- 

 tions for growing the plants, outdoors or in, especially for those in- 

 terested in plantings or gardens for church grounds. But it is much 

 more, as it identifies the plants mentioned in the Bible, tells some- 

 thing of their characters, uses and meanings to ancient peoples. 

 Merely identifying the species is often difficult, not only because the 

 names used by the English translators were given by men un- 

 acquainted with the plants of Palestine, but also because the writers 

 of the Scriptures were not thinking in terms of botany, but used 

 vernacular Hebrew or Greek names that often referred to more than 



