The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1907-04-19
Biblical Plants in the
Holy Land Today
BY JULIUS MULLER.

~ years have passed since Christ
trod the Holy Land, and de-
forestation, ceaseless cultivation and war
have made much OF it a desert the trav-
elcr who knows his botany as we'll as his
Bible can still find, in the blossomng
of Easter time. most of the plants that
grew by the paths of the Saviour
Tree and shrub of the Parallels still
stand on hill and valley, in field and in
desert. Mint anise and cummin, named
by Him in His reproach to the Phari-
secs, are still favorite crops. By the
Sea of Liberals still grows that greatest
of all herbs of St Matthew, the wild
mustard Everywhere, in gardens, in
pastures and meadows, the lilies OF the
field'' still bloom e4
! OF all these ancient plants, the one
uhat has become most holy TO Christians
is the hyssop. The traveller of today
will find it everywhere. On rocks and
ruins, around ancient cities, its long,
+ plumed stalk "springeth out of the
wall 1t looks like the marjorie. Its
hairy stems and leaves grow on a hollow
Stabilize cane, which rises to height
of three feet. 1t was on the end OF a
dried hyssop stalk that the Roman sol
diers offered the sponge full of vinegar
to the dying Saviour 49t nasr
In the soft Syrian winds the hyssop
waves as ii did OH thetDay Of the Pas
sion. So it waved throughout the Holy
Land long before Christ came to the
earth; far back in King Solomon's day
the hyssop was used in religious rites.
the structure of its leaves making it ex-
ccllent for sprinkling fragrant perfumes
through the Temple.
III the narrow valley OF the brook ke-
dron, east Of Jerusalem, and on the
outer walls Of the city itself where II
faces tile gorge, shine the small white
buds among the pale green oval leaves
Of the nebek bush--the bush Of thorns
that IS held BY the most prominent of
Biblical scholars to be the plant from
which was woven the crown of .thorns.
This bush, also known as lotus and slider
bush. has its supple branches bcsct with
lone sharp thorns. After blossomng
time. It Yields yellow, pleasant fruit
OF gooseberry size.
Auother thorn Chambers over the
sides Of the Kedron valley. II is the
paIiurus bush and there are many sup
nprters 81 the theory that the crown
eyas made from it: but the fact that the
nebek thorns grow on the walls of Jeru-
salem itself makes it likely that this was
the shrub whose twigs were used.
The tarcs still send their poisonous
shoots I'D among the wheat OF the Holy |
and. Before the young wheat forms
IL ears this weed and the wheat look
u alike chat every one who sees the
tares growing among the grain Of Bible
land today can understand why the
| ard warned the husbandmen not to
,,nroot the tares before harvest time,
lar fear that they might tear up the
vo,,np grain with the weeds, if they
did II then. The tare is still a.pest, Civ
ING living point to the Saviour's parable
of the man who sowed tares among his
enemy's wheat.
..What went ye out into the wilder
uess 10 see? A reed shaken by the
wind Standing eight and nine feet
h;gh and bending their silken tassels
almost To the ground before every whis
nrrinc breeze, the arrow reeds, arundo
donax. form dense thickets along the
Iorda,1. This is the reed which was
'rse,l- from the most ancient times OF the
q 49, 10 the times of Christ. and after
y...ard as material for making pens,
measuring -wands. and even for build
ing
A,fong the trees that are cultivated
& Aost parts Of Palestine and through
nudSvria wherever the climate permits,
IN evergreen fruit tree that gives
abundant shadow despite the fact that
Il does not grow very high. Ii loves
best to cling to sun-warmed walls OF
rock. It's fruits are. pods curved like
horns. They contain shining dark seeds
I;ke beans embedded into sweet and
nutritious pulp, which is used as food
III both man and beast. After the
sweet Dulp has been expressed from the
mods. the latter are thrown 10 the pigs.
This is the tree of the Parable of the
Prpdipal Son. "The husks that the
swine did eat" and which the prodigal
fain would have shared with them, were
Ihc dried pods of this carob tree. the
frfit Of which is known also as bread of
Il. John.