PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 



109 



the Date palm. Jericho was the city of Palm trees. The Palm 

 was also plentiful on the Mount of Olives, and Bsthany on its 

 •eastern side means ''house of dates " ; but now the Palm exists 

 neither there nor on the Mount. 



My next slide shows the Pomegranate referred to in the 

 description of the Promised Land. It is a small, evergreen 

 tree or shrub. The Hebrew name Eimmon is a place-name in 

 Palestins. The fruit and flower suppHed models for carving, as 

 on the capitals of the pillars in the Temple. 



This next slide you will recognise as a AYeeping Willow. It 

 has been associated with the tree .connected with the lamen- 

 tations of the children of Israel in captivity, by the waters of 

 Babylon, when they hung their harps on the willows. The 

 Weeping Willow is a native of China ; the tree of the captivity 

 was a species of Poplar. Willows are referred to as growing 

 by the water-courses ; and Canon Tristram suggests that this 

 Willow along the water-courses probably refers to the Oleander, 

 a, tree with a Willow-like leaf and a crimson flower, which is 

 very common along the banks of the Jordan and the water- 

 courses. 



There is one other tree to which I should like to refer, and 

 that is the Locust tree. The husks which the swine did eat in 

 the parable of the Prodigal Son are no doubt these Locust beans. 

 They are largely used for feeding horses. It has also been 

 suggested that this was the Locust on which John the Baptist 

 lived in the wilderness. The seeds, which are very hard and 

 stony, are the origin of the carat weight used for weighing gold. 

 They are very hard, and do not change. 



We have not time to talk about the Vine. Since Bible 

 times its cultivation has diminished, but the Moslems still plant 

 the Vine for the sake of its fruit. 



This represents the Wild Gourd, referred to as being 

 shred into the pot. You will remember when the man exclaimed, 

 *' There is death in the pot," and the Prophet touched it, and 

 the unhappy consequences were averted. The Wild Gourd is 

 the Colycinth, which grows something like a cucumber. It is 

 a fruit which is very tempting in appearance, but has an extremely 

 noxious and bitter pulp; it is used in medicine as a purgative. 

 When quite ripe it has little seeds inside. It is suggested that 

 the Vine of Sodom, or Dead Sea Fruit, is also Colycinth. 



My time is gone, but I should like to refer to a few of the 

 herbaceous plants. As a child, I could not understand why it 



