8 
NEW PLANTS. 
SOLANUM ANTHROPOPHAGORTJM. 
This plant has been introduced by seeds from the Fiji Islands, thi’ough Dr. Seemann. 
The correspodcnce relative to the Fiji Islands, presented to both Houses of Parliament by 
command of Her Majesty, in May, 1862, is accompanied by an interesting appendi.v, being a Report, 
by Dr. Seemann, on the “ Fejetaiie Produclions and Resources of ihoVilian or Fiji Islands,” in which a 
chapter is devoted to “ Vegetables eaten with human flesh,” from which the following extract is 
made ; — “ Human flesh, Fijians have repeatedly assured me, is extremely difficult to digest, and even 
the healthiest suffer for two or three days after partaking of it. Probably, in order to assist the 
process of digestion, bokola, as dead men’s flesh is technically tenned, is always eaten with the 
addition of vegetables. The Boro dina {Solanum anlhropophagorurri) is a bushy shrub, with a dark 
glossy foliage, and berries of the shape and colour of tomatoes. This fruit has a faint aromatic smell 
and is occasionally prepared like tomato sauce.” 
Price 10s. 6<f. each. 
THE MUSTARD TREE OF SCRIPTURE. 
“ SALVADORA PERSICA.” 
About a plant so historically associated it is not surprising there should bo a considerable degree 
of interest, and this interest has been intensified within the last few years by scientific men 
determining, with something like accuracy, that Salvadora Persica was the plant parabolically referred 
to in Scripture nearly nineteen centuries ago. 
The diflficulty in identifying this plant as the Mustard Tree of Scripture has arisen from many 
causes, one of which has been, that it is not what is now commonly understood as the mustard plant 
Sinapis (Linna;us) — indeed reference could hardly have been made in the parable to the latter, because 
it is not perennial, nor does it grow into a large tree where fowls of the air can lodge in its 
branches. The ancients could not class plants botanically, and did not group them from their external 
resemblance, but from their possessing similar properties whether medicinal or chemical, and so the 
Salvadora Persica was called Chardal in Hebrew, Khardal in Arabic, which signifies Mustard 
throughout the East, the seed of this plant being usually employed in Palestine for the ordinary 
puiposcs of mustard. This Khardal (Salvadora) is found in Arabia, Syria, Persia, India, along the 
banks of the Jordan, is abundant in the neighbourhood of the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, as 
also near Damascus, and is recognised in Syria as the Mustard Tree of Scripture ; is known as Kharjed 
in Northern India, and is the Chardal tree alluded to by Talmudical writers, all of which have been 
very ably traced and explained by the late Dr. J. Forbes Hoyle, in a pamphlet published by him, 
previous to which, no less authority than the late Dr. Lindley, in liis Flora A/erfica, mentions Salvadora 
Persica as the supposed Mustard Tree of Scripture. 
Although in its native habitat it becomes a tree, yet it can be easily cultivated in a stove as a small 
shrubby plant, and though when compared with other plants it may lack beauty, still there is 
connected with it such an important historical association, that it makes it a plant of the highest and 
deepest interest. The foliage of the Salvadora is neat and comparatively small, much resembling that 
of the Myrtle ; the flowers are dispersed in clusters on the tops of the shoots, and are like those of the 
vine. 
Price 21s. and 31s. 6<f. each. 
TERMINALIA ELEGANS. 
This exquisite foliage plant has been introduced from Madagascar ; it is one that ranks foremost 
in the ornamental section — the leaves are lanceolate, trifoliated and elegantly reticulated, glossy, with 
bright red mid-rib, and richly netted with dark veins on a bright green ground. 
To convey a familiar notion of this plant it may be said to bo somewhat like Pavetta lorltonica 
but with trifoliate leaves, which add materially to its beauty. 
It has reeeived First Class Certificates from the Royal Horticultural and Royal Botanic Societies, 
as also a First Prize at the Crystal Palace Flower Show. 
Price 8 guineas each. 
