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THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 233 
T. compositum, without comment, and then go on to state that 
the two principal varieties cultivated are the summer and win- 
ter wheats (7. aestivum and T. hybernum). It seems strange 
that the authorities quoted by Mr. Carne are unacquainted with 
Spelt. 
Millet.—Here again Mr. Carne differs from Rendle, who 
states that both Panicum miliacewm and Sorghum vulgaris are 
cultivated in the Holy Land, and this view is also expressed by 
Balfour. Hooker and Tristram describe millet as:—“The small 
grains of various large cultivated grasses, of the genera Panicum, 
Setaria and Sorghum.” If Mr. Carne is correct in his obser- 
vations, they may have gone out of cultivation since Bible 
times. 
Hyssop.—I still think that the caper (Capparis spinosa) 
best answers the various references to hyssop. I am aware 
that marjoram (Origanum), has been suggested, as has also the 
mint-like plant Satureia, but neither of these meets the refer— 
ence in Psa., 51 Ch., 7, to the use of the flower buds for‘ their 
cleansing saponaceous qualities, nor to the description “springeth 
out of the wall’ (1 Kings, 4 Ch., 33). Rendle describes the 
plant as a bright green creeper, the long stems of which hang 
from the fissures of the rocks in the desert, and which is 
plentiful in Egypt and the desert of Sinai. 
Gourd.—There has been much difference of opinion amongst 
commentators as to the true nature of Jonah’s gourd, even 
from the days of Jerome and Augustine, who accused one an- 
other of heresy over the matter, In Jonah, 4 Ch., 6-10, the 
Hebrew Kikayon, has, I think, been correctly identified as 
Cucurbita pepo, a climbing plant of rapid growth, and suit- 
able for covering the booth in which Jonah sat. Though it 
may not be a native, it appears to have been in cultivation. 
The wild gourd which was used in pottage (2 Kings, 4 Ch., 
38-40) is referred to in the Hebrew as paqquoth, a totally dif- 
ferent word, and from its nature was probably the colocynth 
(Citrullus colocynthus). 
Tamarisk.—A. number of works which I have consulted, 
amongst which may be mentioned Watt’s Dict. Chem. IIL, 
1875, 821; Attfield, Chemistry, 1903, 517; Squire. Comp. to 
Brit. Pharmac., 1894, 354; Martindale and Westcott, Extra 
Pharmae., 1906, 742; state that manna is a product of Fraxinus 
and do not mention Tamarix. The Enc. Britt. gives manna as 
a product of Fraxinus ornus, and goes on to say that Tamarix 
manna in the form of honey-like drops, which, in the cool of 
early morning, are found in the solid state, is collected by 
