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SACRED BOTANY. — THE TAMARISK — MANNA. 
plant Coniferse in open or exposed situations, where their growth would be gradually arrested by the 
coldness and other atmospheric influences of such situations. The truth of the principle is proved by 
the fact, that in severe winters the more exposed the plants have been grown, the less they have 
suffered ; and, on the contrary, the more they have been sheltered, without being protected artificially, 
the more severely they have been injui'ed. The following is a list of hardy and handsome Conifera3, 
selected either for diversity of foliage or habit of gi'owth :- 
Mexican. 
Pinus Ayacuhiiite. 
Pinus apulcensis. 
Pinus Devoniana. 
Pinus Hartwegii. 
Pinus Llaveana. 
Pinus Montezumce. 
Pinus macrophyUa. 
Pinus patula. 
Pinus Eusselliana. 
Pinus Teocote. 
Picea reHgiosa. 
Jiuiipenis flaccida. 
Juniperus tetragona. 
iV. W. American. 
Pinus maerocarpa. 
Pinus insignis. 
Pinus Lambertiana. 
Pinus monticola. 
Pinus Coulterii. 
Pinus Sabiniana. 
Pinus Sinclauiana. 
Abies Menziesti. 
Abies Douglasii 
Picea amabUis. 
Picea grandis. 
Picea nobihs. 
Indian. 
Pinus exeelsa. 
Pinus Gerardiana. 
Cedrus Deodara. 
Abies Brunoniana. 
Abies Morinda. 
Abies Smithiana. 
Abies "Webbiana. 
Thuja orientaUs. 
Ciyptomeria japonica. 
Juniperus chinensis. 
Utiropean. 
Pinus halepensis. 
Pinus brutia. 
Picea eophalonica. 
Picea Pinsapo. 
Juniperus exeelsa. 
Juuipenis occidentalis. 
Inrrri JJntnmf.— Clu! ^umiitislv— JfinnKii. 
THE name of the Tamarisk tree does not occm" in our Bibles ; nevertheless, the Hebrew word eshel, 
which is met with in two or three passages, is supposed to refer to this tree, which bears, in the 
Arabic, the name of asul or atiil. The Hebrew eslicl, in our version, is sometimes translated f/rove, 
sometimes tree. "Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba" (Gen. xxi. 33). " Saul abode in Gibeah, 
under a tree in Raniah" (1 Sam. xxii. 6). "They took their bones, and bm'ied them under a tree at 
Jabesh" (1 Sam. xxxi. 13). 
The Arabic and Hebrew names above quoted 
are sufficiently correspondent to admit of being 
referred to the same plant; the more so, as the 
asul ofters no violence to the texts in which eshel 
occurs. There is abundant evidence of the existence 
of Tamarisk trees in Ai'abia, in Egypt, and in Pale- 
stine, where they grow to the size of large trees. 
One species, Tamarix orientalis, bears, in the 
Arabic, the names of atl and asul; and its charac- 
teristics render it by no means unlikely to have been 
planted in Beer-sheba by Abraham ; for it is one of 
the few trees which grow, and even flom-ish and 
attain a lai'ge size in the arid desert ; thus afibrdiug 
the advantage of shade in a hot country. Beyond 
this there is nothing in the texts where the eshel is 
mentioned which serves for the exact identification 
of the plant intended. Our engraving represents the 
species above referred to, T. orientalis ; though there 
are two or three others very Hke it in theii- character, 
which are found in the same regions. This species 
is valued in consequence of the excellence of its wood 
for making charcoal ; and also for the astringent gall 
with which its branches are loaded, which, according 
to Rosenmuller, are full of a beautiful bright red sap 
before they become dried up. He also states that 
the Egyptians use its wood for fuel ; and that bowls 
and drinking- vessels are made of it. 
The Tamarix is further interesting as being one 
of the plants which have been supposed to have 
yielded the manna of the Israelites, as it does cer- 
tainly yield a substance which, at the present day, is 
called mann by the Ajrabs. It is an exudation, which, in the month of June, di-ops from the thorns 
TA3IAEIX ORIENTALIS. 
