106 ^ Treatise on 
CHAP. III. 
Of Woods. 
Artic. I. Of R h o d i an Wood. 
L IGNUM Rhodium , Off. This is a yellowifh 
pale coloured Wood, with Age turning red- 
difh, thick, hard, folid, tortuous, marked with fat 
and refinous Knots, and fmelling like Rofes. It is 
called Rhodian Wood from its native Soil, being 
formerly brought from the Hand of Rhodes ; and 
fometimes RofeW/ooa^ from its agreeable Scent of 
Rofes. It is alfo termed Cyprian Wood , becaufe it 
is got in the Hand of Cyrus. Some fuppofe it to 
be the Afpalathus of the Ancients •, but it is evi- 
dent, From the Defcriptions which Diofcorides and 
Galen have given of Afpalathus , that we have no 
fuch Drug at this Time in the Shops. 
What Tree this Wood is produced from, in 
Rhodes and Cyprus , is quite uncertain. Matthiolus 
and Anguillara will have it to be a Species of wild 
Olive. But Honorius Belli contradicts them, af- 
firming it to be the Cytifus verus of Marantha , that 
is, the Cytifus incanus Jiliqua falcatd , C. B. which 
however is improbable, becaufe it has no pleafant 
Smell. 
Paul Herman , in his manufcript Treatife, tells us 
it is the Root of a Cytifus which grows in the Ca- 
naries^ but gives no Defcription of the Plant. And 
indeed Rhodian Wood is imported from the Cana- 
ries ; as alfo from the Antilles , and fome oriental 
Countries •, and is got from certain Trees which 
grow there. 
A Species of Rhodian Wood is alfo found in Ja- 
maica , and the learned Naturalift Sir Hans Sloane 
has 
