January  14,  19C4. 
JOUllXAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
27 
['lowers  of  the  Bible. 
At  this  season  of  tlie  year  in  our  calendar,  wlien  the 
thonglits  of  many  have  been  more  particularly  wafted  to  that 
histoiic  event  in  the  world’s  history  enacted  on  the  hill-tops 
at  the  little  village  but  a  Sabbath  day’s  journey  of  the  golden 
the  land  in  whicli 
located,  may  not, 
wondeiful  song,  was  the  Xnrcissus,  which 
)loom  on  the  plains  of  that  region.  Mention 
)ut  twice  in  the  entire  Bible,  once  as 
■f,'. 
'  .  - 
4  ■■  '  ■ 
;■ 
Jerusalem,  a  few  words  on  the  flora  of 
Bethlehem,  now  for  all  ages  famous,  is 
pei’chance,  be  deemed  out  of  place. 
It  might  seem  at  first  sight  as  if  so  comprehensive  a  collec¬ 
tion  of  writings  as  the  sacred  Scriptures  would  contain  plenti- 
lul  reference  or  mention  of  such  products  of  the  soil  as  itri 
ti'ees  and  flowers;  yet  as  regards  the  latter,  at  any  rate,  the 
contrary  is  the  case.  Indeed,  incredible  as  it  may  appear,  of 
individual  flowers  proper,  with  one  single  exception,  not  one  is 
specifically  spoken  of,  and  that  exception  refers  in  reality  to 
•'  perfectly  different  flower  to  what  is  known  as  the  Bose  of 
to-day;  for  “the  Lily”  occurring  in  several  places  is,  as  will 
be  shown  anon,  merely  a  general  term,  and  synonymous  with 
the  expression  “  flowers  of  the  field  ”  used  elseAvhere. 
Although  Palestine  in  those  days  was  singularly  different 
from  the  condition  of  the  country  to-day,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
account  partly  for  the  change.  Particularly  fertile  then  owing 
to  the  rich  chalky  soil  on  the  surface,  the  wear  and  tear  of 
ages,  especially  from  the  washing  away  of  this  medium  by 
rains  and  torrents,  have  left  but  the  bare  and  barren  basalt 
or  granite  rock  in  the  case  of  the  .southern  and  Mount  Sinai 
portion,  and  the  lime.stone  fabric  as  regards  the  central  and 
northern  parts. 
Still,  even  formerly  much  of  the  land  could  have  been  by 
no  means  bountiful,  “  the  howling  wilderness  of  Judea  ”  being 
certainly  not  the  only  desolate  or  barren  region  with  which  the 
Holy  Land  was  endowed,  and  the.se  considerable  areas  could, 
from  their  configuration  or  composition  of  granite  rock  or  sandy 
desert,  hardly  be  expected  to  render  a  very  festive  account  of 
themselves.  Neverthele.ss, 
even  these  less  favourably  ^ 
disposed  districts  have  at  .  > 9 
the  present  time  at  one  -  ■  - 
period  of  the  year  a  not  ^ 
nnpleasing  aspect  from  the  ■-  • 
floral  point  of  view.  Bare 
and  arid  as  seen  at  most 
.vea.sons,  observed  after  the 
“latter”  rains  in  early 
spring,  your  gay  little 
Arab  will  canter  along 
o\'er  a  perfect  carpet  of 
the  bright  scarlet  Ane¬ 
mone  across  the  wide 
stretch  of  depres.sed 
ground  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  between  Jericho 
and  the  Dead  Sea. 
Indeed,  this  basin  is,  or 
at  any  rate  could  be  ren- 
dei'ed,  in  reality  a  very 
rich  alluvial  i)lain,  were 
some  .system  of  irrigation 
from  the  deep  and  sinuoiis 
Jordan,  here  as  it  ap¬ 
proaches  its  end  in  the 
great  salt  lake,  taken  in 
hand.  As  it  is,  whatever 
it  may  have  been  in  Bible 
days,  it  must  be  looked 
upon  as  but  little  better 
than  an  inhospitable  and 
unprofitable  desert,  with 
nothing  but  the  scanty  tufts 
and  short-lived  herbage  of 
the  spring  to  sustain  the 
small  flocks  of  goats  and 
sheej)  or  the  few  camels 
which  are  as  of  yore  the 
staple  stock-in-trade  of  the 
wandering  Bedouin,  while 
Jericho,  long  shorn  of  her  pristine  proud  glories,  is  but  now  a 
mere  hamlet  of  scattered  adobe  hut.s-  and  temporary  black- 
tented  habitations. 
But  to  return  to  the  theme  more  particularly  under  dis¬ 
cussion,  the  flowers  specifically  named  in  Holy  Writ.  I  fear  as 
to  the  first  to  be  dwelt  upon,  viz.,  the  Ros(>,  we  must  at  once 
disillusion  ourselves,  for,  like  the  Apple  which  never  flouri.shed 
in  Palestine,  and  was  in  all  probability,  according  to  Tristram 
and  othei's,  the  Apricot,  this  queen  of  flowers,  which  in  these 
mode  rn  days  has  been  brought  to  such  a  pitch  of  excellence,  was 
also  neither  indigenous  or  existing,  though  undoubtedly  wild 
Boses  are  found  in  the  Lebanon.  It  may  reasonably  l)e  sup¬ 
posed,  therefore,  that  the  Bo.se  of  Sharon  symbolically  repre- 
.seuted  in  Solomon’s 
is  indeed  the  typical 
of  this  flower  is  made  but  tvdee  in  the 
above  and  again  in  I.saiah,  “  The  de.sert  shall  blossom  as  the 
Bose.”  Possibly  the  Bose  of  Jericho  was  the  Oleander.  There 
is  a  single  mention  of  the  Mallow,  which  may  not  unreasonably 
be  taken  to  be  what  we  commonly  call  the  ^lai’sh  Marigold; 
while  the  reference  to  the  Saffron  is  as  to  the  ingredient  obtained 
from  the  Crocus,  which  grew  probably  then  as  now  broadcast 
over  Palestine  generally  o’er  hill  and  dale,  much  similar  to  the 
way  it  springs  up  through  the  turfy  loam  of  the  meads  and 
hill  slopes  in  Switzerland  and  the  Engadine. 
Of  flowers  proper,  then,  with  the  exception  of  the  “  Lilies 
of  the  field  ”  dealt  with  hereafter,  there  is  little  further  to  be 
added,  but  in  a  subject  like  the  pre.sent  we  may,  I  think,  include 
other  plants  where  emphatically  introduced,  and  posse.s.sing  in 
most  cases  some  sort  of  a  blossom.  Thus  herbs  in  plenty  are 
mentioned,  and  Garlic,  of  the  Onion  tribe,  was  cultivated  and 
found  in  plenty  both  in  Palestine  and  Egyi^t.  The  Mu.stard 
spoken  of  in  the  New  Te.stament  sliows  us  that  the  fertile 
and  .sympathetic  soil  which  nourished  it  produced  a  more 
vigoi’ous  plant  than  that  in  our  own  country,  for  it  appai’ently 
attained  the  remarkable  height  of  10ft  to  12ft  in  stature.  The 
Lentil  was  a  seed  obtained  from  a  kind  of  Vetch,  in  which 
connection  it  is  interesting  to  I’emember  that  it  was  for  a  mess 
of  pottage  of  this  grain  that  Esau  parted  with  his  birthright. 
I’lie  Coriander  was  an  aromatic  plant,  and  in  the  de.scription  of 
the  wondrous  phenomenon  of  the  manna  this  miraculous  food 
was  compared  to  the  seed  of  the  above-named. 
Then  there  are  various  healing  plants  or  substances  there¬ 
from  brought  to  our  especial  notice.  Thus,  the  Balm  or  Balsam 
(Balm  of  Gilead)  was  a  gum  extracted  from  a  shrub  not 
indigenous  indeed,  but  cultivated  for  its  medicinal  or  curative 
properties,  chiefly  in  the  plains  of  Jericho,  and  having  now 
apparently  quite  disappeai’ed  again.  Erankincen.se  was  a 
fragi'ant,  resinous  emission  from  a  I 
,f  .. 
iind  of  Mountain  Ash,  grow¬ 
ing  in  Arabia  ;  while  Myrrh, 
mentioned  in  company  with 
the  former  as  gifts  of  the 
IMagi,  was  obtained  fi’om 
the  bark  of  a  thorny  shrub, 
probably  a  Cistus  or  Rock 
B  o  s  e,  w  h  ic  h  flourished 
round  about  Mount  Carmel. 
Very  bitter  herbs  named 
are  gall  and  rue,  the 
former  in  connect ioii  with 
the  Crucifixion,  and  the 
latter  having  a  single  re¬ 
ference  in  St.  ljuke  as  be¬ 
ing  tithed  by  the  Phariseas. 
ct 
of 
Wormwood,  too,  was 
LjElio=CattIeya  x  Casslope,  Westonbirt  van 
plant,  and  the  .  emblem 
very  dire  distress. 
Other  herbal  plants  find¬ 
ing  a  place  in  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  are  Ani.se,  a  herb 
yielding  an  aromatic  seed, 
much  like  the  Carraway 
and  IMint,  which  was 
ordered  to  be  eaten  with 
the  Pa.schal  lamb,  and  was 
precisely  similar  to  that  of 
the  present  time  in  our 
everyday  garden  for  season¬ 
ing  purposes.  A  less 
familiar  growth  is  the 
Camphire,  being  presum¬ 
ably  the  “  henna  ”  of  the 
East,  the  dye  from  which 
Eastern  women  stain  their 
nails  and  parts  of  their 
face.  It  was  probably  a 
small  .shrub,  having  a 
yellow-white  flower. 
Elax  was,  undoubtedly, 
in  very  ancient  times, 
especially  in  the  land  of 
Canaan,  pretty  extensively  grown,  and  then,  as  now,  manu¬ 
factured  into  linen  of  different  degrees  of  finene.ss ;  thus  the 
priests  of  the  Temple,  we  read,  were  arrayed  iu  “fine  linen.” 
Aaron’s  rod,  which  budded  so  wonderfully  (and,  pre.sumabl.v, 
blossomed,  too)  there  is  but  little  doubt  was  the  ordinary 
Almond,  one  of  the  commone.st  of  Palestine’.s  then  growths. 
One  other  plant  de.serves  notice,  though  partaking  more  of  the 
nature  of  a  wild  fruit,  videlicet,  the  vine  of  Sodom,  reference 
to  which  occurs  in  Deuteronomy,  “  Their  vine  is  of  the  vine  of 
Sodom.”  It  seems  likely  that  this  is  the  same  as  the  Calotropis, 
a  plant  growing  near  the  Dead  Sea,  which  has  blossoms  of  a 
white  colour,  and  fruits  not  unlike  an  Apple,  but  totally  unfit 
for  food. 
