GRAMINEE.

(Sheep's Fescue and Flote Fescue.)

Festuca Fluitans and

Glyceria Fluitans of Brown.

ON the Holy Land, as in almost every other country, grasses grow in innumerable varieties. The scriptural term is often applied to all that clothes the ground with verdure, as in St. Matt. vi. 30, where the Saviour, having spoken of the lilies of the field in their beauty, remarks," Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" The general use of the word. throughout the Scriptures shows that the word was used as at present to denote any tender and fragile growth, springing up soon and rapidly withering after the scythe has passed over it.

But there is a special variety noticed by Hasselquist, as peculiarly beautiful and important, growing in the hilly parts of Palestine, and indicating the fitness of those places for the pasture of flocks. The botanical name of this variety we have given, the common name of which is "sheep's fescue." Others speak of its growth in the northern parts of Asia, and of the Tartar tribes moving their herds in search of pastures where it is to be found more abundantly. From various ancient writings

it is plain that the general method of cutting and gathering grass for hay was the same in early ages as at present; and from Amos vii. 1, 2, it appears that the mowing took place twice in a year. In Oriental cities the flat stones forming the floors of the roofs frequently separate and allow of an accumulation of soil in the seams or cracks between them; and where the inmates are careless and not very cleanly, there are always little growths springing out from the crevices of the walls and floors. Hence the occasion for the scriptural references to the grass growing on the house-tops, springing up from some floating seeds which had found a lodgment in a scanty soil, which affords room for the roots till the plant has grown up, and then, neither soil nor moisture being sufficient, it perishes before coming to perfection. This is the "grass upon the house-tops which withereth before it groweth up; wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom." (Ps. cxxix. 6, 7.) We have in our possession a beautiful little yellow poppy taken from the angle of the steps leading up to the Mosque of Omar, which had there found soil enough to grow and flower. These small plants may also have been included in the general term "grass," although botanically of a very different class.

ERICEÆ.

(Common Heath, Heather, or Ling.)

Erica Vulgaris.

HE two words translated "heath" in Jer. xvii. 6 and xlviii. 6 are different from each other. The former, however, is supposed to denote the true heather, which in varieties is found scattered over Europe, Asia, and

Africa. Hasselquist, who visited Palestine as a botanist, discovered great quantities of it growing on the plains around Jericho and north of the Dead Sea. This portion of the land, especially near the borders of the sea, is much injured by deposition from the salt breezes; but even where the soil contains considerable saline matter the heather seems to flourish as well as upon the more pleasant parts of the valley of the Jordan farther north.*

The fact of its growth near the Salt Sea makes the allusion to the heath so impressive in that passage of the prophet Jeremiah where he speaks of "the man that departeth from the Lord and maketh flesh his arm. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited."

See a description of this soil, and of the effect of the breezes, in "Palestine Past and Present," page 445.

On the plains near Joppa it grows in such abundance that, according to some authorities, it is gathered and burned by the soap-makers for its ashes. The heather is visited by the bees for the honey they can make from its little flowers; and these have probably for many ages been the source from which a very agreeable quality has been derived. The Crusaders were so fond of the honey of the Holy Land that many of them died because of over-indulgence. The plant is seldom seen but by itself and in places not very favorable to richer growths. It bears a small leaf, and there is a uniformity in size in flowers and leaves.

The sentiment suggested by the scriptural context in which this plant is referred to is that of lonesomeness,-which may be truly associated with the heath, as it seldom grows in habitable places.

The "heath" of Jer. xlviii. 6 is properly supposed to be the tamarix or juniper.

UMBELLIFERÆ.

US

(Spotted Hemlock.)

Conium Maculatum.

HILE the word "hemlock" occurs only in Hosea x. 4 and Amos vi. 12, the Hebrew word of which "hemlock" is the translation is rendered "gall" in various passages, but seems to refer to the hemlock or its extract. Hosea says that hemlock "springeth up in the furrows of the field." The plant is somewhat similar in appearance to the anethum, the coriander, or the anise, and is of the same natural order of umbelliferous plants. But these are wholesome and pleasant plants, while the hemlock is poisonous. Hence the fitness of the simile of Hosea, who likens the act of swearing falsely in making a covenant, to the hemlock, springing up in the furrow, imitating in appearance the anise or other pleasant plants, and yet proving to be the poisonous hemlock when gathered.

There was evidently a bitterness in the hemlock-juice, which, however, was used among the Jews to lessen the pain accompanying the violent death of criminals. To those who were about to be stoned, there was given, previous to execution, a drink of wine in which was put myrrh mingled with the juice of the hemlock, to inspire them with courage to meet death and to lessen its pain.