The Australian Naturalist 
Vol. V. JULY, 1925. Part a 
NOTE.—Members having any matter of interest VB 
ation in these pages are requested to. communicate with the Editor 
THE PLANTS OF THE BIBLE. 
ComMENTs By. W. M. Carne. 
Having spent something like two and a half years in Pales- 
tine and Syria, and another six months in the Desert of Et- 
Tih. Mr. Steel’s paper in a recent Naturalist (V. 1924, 133), 
brings back many memories. 
Mr. Steel unfortunately overlooked a small publication en- 
titled The Plants of the Bible, prepared for the American 
Colony at Jerusalem by their botanist, Mr. Dinsmore, and issued 
(2nd Hdition) just before the war. It does not bear his name, 
nor do his other publications, probably owing to some rule of 
his Society. Though practically unknown, except to his corres- 
pondents, I repard! Mr. Dinsmore as the greatest authority on 
Palestinian plants. To know him and his work, and to realise 
that for over twenty years he has searched the country through 
and through, is necessary for due appreciation. I also wish to 
place on record my appreciation of his kindness and assistance 
to me—the only botanical assistance I could get from Cairo to 
Damaseus. : 
' The following comments on Mr. Steel’s article are based 
upon Dinsmore’s Plants of the Bible and his Jerusalem Catalogue’ 
of Palestine Plants, and on Posts’ Flora of Syria and Palestine, 
and my personal experience. 
Boxwood.—Buzus longifolia (not B. latifolia), though in 
Syria, does not occur in Palestine or the Lebanon. . The Hebrew 
word te’ashur means erect, tall, while box is shrubby. It is 
probable Box and» Gopher both denote Cupressus sempervirens, 
which is planted in cemeteries throughout the land. 
