THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
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thirty feet in height. As marked in the botanic garden 
and in the Capitol grounds the tree is known as Zizphus 
Vulgaris, or Christ born. 
The botanic garden also shows the reed, which was 
used in mockery as a scepter before Christ's cruci- 
fixion. It does not attain its full height in this climate 
until late summer. Botanically it is known as Papy- 
Varieties of Phoenix or Date Palms. 
r'us Antiquorum, and it grows in the extensive'marshes 
contiguous to the Lake of Galilee and in other parts 
of the Holy Land. The specimens in the botanic gar- 
den are very fine, and their waving plumes attain a 
height of about twenty-five feet. Last summer they 
formed the apex of the magnificent hundred-foot bed 
of grasses and reeds, which was one of the finest fea- 
tures of the garden. 
It is not definitely known what wood composed the 
Saviour's cross, but there is a tradition to the effect 
that the aspen was the cruel agent. The aspen, or 
trembling poplar, is common in Palestine, and it is 
possible this was used. In a lovely poem. "The Aspen's 
Sorrow," J. Maclean Watt gives voice to the popular 
legend regarding the aspen's connection with the 
divine tragedy. He says : 
While kindly slumber swathes the misty world, 
And all things sad are sleeping. 
What voice awakes 
And sorrowing breaks 
The stillness with her weeping? 
Hush ! 'tis the aspen trembling in the shade 
For Calvary's sorrow. 
Her anguished breast 
Can know no rest. 
Her night no morrow; 
Over the tide of her remorse comes sweeping. 
For Jesus weeping. 
But, on a day, when Hate of the world was king, 
One that had walked beside him, basely sold 
To base men's cruel will ; 
And they who bought, 
Out of the woodlands green the graceful aspen sought, 
And from her body Christ's cross fashioning. 
They nailed Him there upon the wind-swept hill. 
And there His agonizings entered her, 
And, for her doom, His pain 
Her heart must stir. 
In daylight, starlight, sun or shade or rain. 
Nor can she find relief 
Through all earth's years ; 
For ever sounds, across the gloom, her grief, 
With shuddering sighs, and sound of falling tears. 
Another tree in the botanic garden suggestive of 
Christ's crucifixion is known as the Judas tree, tradi- 
tion having it that the one who betrayed Christ hanged 
himself upon a tree of this variety. It is botanically 
known as Cercis Canadensis, and popularly known as 
redbud, or Judas tree. It bears a small pink flower 
shaped like a sweet pea. It is a native of Palestine, as 
well as of many other countries, and is common in 
Greece and other parts of the south of Europe. When 
full grown it has a stout trunk and thick, stiff, some- 
what horizontal branches. 
The botanic garden lias two fine specimens of the 
cedar of Lebanon, both near the southern entrance to 
the grounds. 
Papyrus Antiquorum, Egyptian Papyrus, Plume Like 
Plant in Center. 
The cedar was one of the most important trees in 
Palestine, for it is mentioned no less than fifty-one 
times in the ( )ld Testament alone. It appears to have 
been highly prized as building material in his day by 
Solomon, as also by the King of Syria, who obtained 
cedar wood for building his palace in Nineveh. Frag- 
