GOPHER WOOD OF THE ANCIENTS. 
213 
Linnaeus, are believed to be the same plant, of different ages ; and there is pretty 
evident proof that some of the ancients alluded to the plant under the name of Cypress. 
It affords the Henna or Al-henuah of the Arabs, which is a paste made of the 
powdered leaves, and is used both by them, and the Egyptians and Turks, to dye 
their nails, their horses’ manes, skins, and morocco leather, of a tawny or reddish- 
yellow colour. This practice of dyeing may be traced to high antiquity ; the nails 
of mummies having been so dyed. It is very probable it was used as a mark of 
dignity, and not merely to heighten the beauty, as the use of it was forbidden to 
slaves. The flowers have, to Europeans, a very disagreeable odour ; but the scent 
is esteemed by Oriental ladies. 
The plant W'as introduced in 1752, although it is now seldom seen in collections. 
It requires the heat of the stove, and may be propagated by cuttings of the half- 
ripened wood planted in pots of sand, and placed under a hand-glass in heat. 
a. Lawsonia alba, showing the inflor..scence. 
Bochart and others, however, believe the Gopher Wood to be nothing more or 
less, than the common Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), which is a native of the 
Islands of the Archipelago, particularly Candia (the ancient Crete) and Cypress. 
It is also “ a native of Greece, Turkey, Persia, and Asia Minor.” Although 
with us it only becomes a neat-growing shrub, yet in the countries above named 
it grows to so large a size, that planks can be sawn, when freed from sap-wood. 
