FLORA OF ADEN . 
195 
Locality: — Near the tanks (Schweinf.) • Shum Shum Range 
(Ellenbeck) ; without locality (Birdw.). 
Distribution: — Ceylon, Northern Deccan, Sind, S. Persia, Central 
and S. Arabia, Kordofan, Abyssinia, Libya, Nubia, Syria, Egypt, 
Algeria, Morocco, Togo, Senegal. 
Note: — This tree was very common in Egypt in Pharaonic times, 
growing spontaneously and being cultivated at the same time. 1 2 
It is mentioned among the plants of 2d out of 42 sacred groves. Strabo 
speaks of an acacia- wood in the neighbourhood of a sanctuary of 
Acanthos in Libya. 3 Fragments of this tree have frequently been 
found in the Pharaonic tombs. Flinders Petrie discovered different 
utensils made of acacia-wood in the necropolis of Kahun. 3 Some of 
the garlands which adorned the mummies of Ahmes I and Ahmenhotpu I 
consisted of acacia- flowers. 4 
The tree is often mentioned in Egyptian texts. It was called ‘ shent ; 
in the hieroglyphic language shett ; in Hebrew, f sant 3 in Aramaic, 
f shonte’ or f shanti ; in Coptic) which probably means f thorn/ 5 Even 
the Arabs of our days call it f sunt/ The Greeks named it ‘ acantha ; 6 
or f acacia , 3 7 whilst to the Romans 7 it was known under the names of 
c acanthus 3 or f spina segyptiaca . 3 The Greek f kommi 3 and the Latin 
‘gummH were probably derived from the Egyptian ‘’kami’’ (also ‘kemai ’ 
and f kema 3 ) which was the name for the gum of the acacia. 8 
9. Acacia Farnesiana Willd. Sp. PI. IV (1805), p. 1083 ; Hook. FL 
Br. Ind. II, 292 ; Aitch. Pb. and Sind PI. p. 54. 
Vachellia Farnesiana Wight et Arn. Prodr. p. 272 ; Grah. Cat. 
p. 58. 
Name : — Known in Europe as the Cassia Flower. 
Description : — A shrub or low tree ; branches slender, zigzag, marked 
with grey or pale-brown dots ; stipular spines only. Leaves 2-pinnate, 1—2 
inches long ; main rhachis more or less pubescent ; petioles usually 
furnished with a minute gland about the middle ; stipules spinescent, 
1 Moldenke, C. E. Ueber die in altsegyptischen Texten erwahnten Baume und deren 
Verwerthung. Leipzig, 1887, p. 74—81. 
2 Dahshour. Geographica. Lib. XVIII, cap. 1, 35. 
3 Flinders Petrie. Kahun, Gurob and Hawara, p. 50, 1. 
4 Sehweinfurth, G. Ueber Pflanzenreste. Ber. d. bot. Ges. vol. 2 (1884), p. 363. 
5 Loret, V. La Flore pbaraonique, d’apres les documents hieroglyphiques. 2nd. ed. 
Paris, 1892, p. 84, no. 142. 
6 Theophrastus. Historia Plantarum, lib. IV, c. 2, 8. 
7 PI in ms. Historia naturalis, lib. XIII, 9 (19), ed. Teubner, Vol. II, p. 327. 
8 Wiedemann, A.. Sammlung altaegyptischer Worter, welche von klassischen Autoren 
nmfichrieben oder ubersetzt wovden sind. Leipzig, 1883, p. 26. 
