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Early Classification.
The science that treats of plants. Like grammar and other
sciences based on logical thought, scientific botany originated
with the
Greeks, and from them found its way to the Jews.
Agriculture, gardening, and popular
medicine naturally led to a knowledge of the
plant world and of the most remarkable phenomena of plant life; and
the natural impulse toward nomenclature led to naive
classifications of the plant world. Biblical language is not poor
in designations for plants ( (
missing hebrew text) ,
(
missing hebrew text) ) and their various parts.
.^ Illustrations of the buds and fruits of the genus with a list of authentic specimens from which the drawings were made.
.^ Book for boys & girls beginning the study of plant life.
. . whose
seed is in itself upon the earth: and
it was so" (
Gen 1:
11). The term (
missing
hebrew text) is explained as embracing, besides the grasses,
the cryptogamous plants, in contrast to (
missing hebrew
text) ; although the Bible never mentions the cryptogamia
elsewhere (Keil on Gen.
l.c.). But this is a forced use of
the word somewhat similar to the limitation of
fruit-bearing
trees to
fruit-
trees by Jewish exegetes, according to whom the
forest-
trees, with "
thorns and
thistles," were created only after the fall of
man and the cursing of the earth. They also claim, according to
Gen. R. v. 9, that the earth had previously brought forth only
fruits and
wood bereft of
any
fruit-taste, in place of
fruit-like
wood (in Mishnaic diction
(
missing hebrew text) had come to mean "
wood"; (
missing hebrew
text) was the word for "
tree"). Herewith ended the classification of
plants. Language had designated certain groups, like
grain-plants ( (
missing hebrew
text) ); and only when the study of the Law was taken up in
post-Biblical times did it become necessary to establish some
uniformity regarding correlated groups, although the method of
classification was not a particularly happy one. Herein also
Maimonides acted as a systematizer (L. Löw,
"Graphische Requisiten," i. 93), deducing the following division
from Talmudical writings ("Yad," Kil. i. 8, 9): "Plants are
classified as: (1) (
missing hebrew text) ('trees'); (2)
(
missing hebrew text) ('vegetables'). The former consist
of: (
missing hebrew text) ('
fruit-trees') and (
missing hebrew text)
('barren trees'). To vegetables belong: (
a) (
missing
hebrew text) ('grain'), comprising the five familiar species;
(
b) (
missing hebrew text) ('small grain') and all
seeds that
are eaten, with the exception of large
grain, as, for instance, the leguminous plants,
beans, peas, lentils, rice,
sesame, poppy [Maimonides, (
missing hebrew text) ];
(
c) (
missing hebrew text) ('
garden-plants') (Kil. ii. 2;
Tosef. i. 74), the
seeds of which are not edible, but which bear
edible
fruits; for example, the onion, garlic, leek,
nutmeg, turnip, etc.;
flax also
belongs to this group. Some of these
garden-
seeds are grown in fields on
a large scale, and are then called (
missing hebrew text)
('
seed species'), as, for example,
flax and
mustard; others, grown only in small beds, as
turnips, radishes, beets, onions, coriander, celery, lettuce, are
called (
missing hebrew text) ('herbs')."
Later Classifications.
Maimonides' classification is repeated later on by others; for
example, in "Kaftor wa-Feraḥ," ed. Berlin, lvi. 119b;
Caleb Afendopolo, in "Adderet
Eliyahu," Appendix, 14a. Afendopolo adds to the above, "
fruits of the
ground," as cucumbers, watermelons, the castor-
oil plant, and those medicinal plants which are not
used for foods.
For purposes of the ritual blessing there is but one
classification; namely,
fruit of
the
tree and
fruit of the soil, in addition to which mushrooms
and truffles form a group by themselves, as, according to Jewish
belief, they are nourished by the air (
Maimonides, "Yad," Ber.
viii. and the ritual codices). As a curiosity of more modern times,
the fact may be mentioned that Azulai speaks of fifty-five kinds of
"
fruits of
the soil," for which reason, he says, the Hebrew benediction reads:
(
missing hebrew text) ("of the earth"), the numerical
value of the letters in this word being 55! ("Birke Yosef, Shiyyure
Berakah, Oraḥ Ḥayyim," 203.) This classification was not easily
arrived at, as is shown by Ber. 6, as in Tosef., Ber. vi. 8, 27,
(
missing hebrew text) , and (
missing hebrew text)
("grains," "grasses," and "
herbs") are distinguished (
Israel Lewy, "Fragmente der Mischna des
Abba Sanl," p. 10). For the
classification (
missing hebrew text) , see Sifra 87b and
parallels, and compare
Rev 8:
7, ix. 4, where χόρτος =
(
missing hebrew text) , χλωρός = (
missing hebrew
text) , and δένδρον = (
missing hebrew text) .
From the standpoint of the value of the soil's products, those
used for maintaining life (for example,
wine,
oil,
flour,
fruit) are distinguished from others less
important, as caraway-
seeds and
spices ('
Ab. Zarah
iv. 465, 25
et seq.; "Sheiltot," No. 32).
Israel is compared with
wheat, and not with nutmeg or
pepper; for the world could well exist without the latter, but
could not do so without the former (Pesiḳ. R. 10 [ed. Friedmann, p.
35a] and parallel passages). Separate categories are formed of the
seven plants characteristic of
Palestine (see
Palestine) and of those used for
incense,
medicine, and dyestuffs ( (
missing hebrew
text) ).
Besides the plants of
Palestine and
Egypt the Bible only mentions
spices and condiments, coming from southern
Asia and its groups of islands. These
found their way, partly by land, partly by sea, to the peoples of
foreign countries, and were used especially in their sacrificial
offerings (Gildemeister and Hoffmann, "Die Aetherischen Oele," pp.
4
et seq., Berlin, 1899).
Post-Biblical Period.
The entire plant world is called in the
Mishnah (
missing hebrew text) (Sifre,
Num. 84 [ed. Friedmann, p. 23a];Deut. 11 [ed. Friedmann, p. 67b]);
Targum, (
missing hebrew
text) (
missing hebrew text) (Kil. ii. 5); the young
nursery or
vineyard is (
missing hebrew text)
(Sheb. i. 8; Tosef. i. 61); (
missing hebrew text) is "to
plant" (Tosef., Bek. vi. 541; Tosef., B. B. vii. 408; Yer. Meg. i.
70b.); (
missing hebrew text) is "to fell plantations"
(Ned. iii. 5; Tosef. ii. 277; B. K. viii. 6; Tosef. iii. 349;
Tosef., Sanh. iv. 423; in an applied sense Tosef., Ḥag. ii. 234).
The term (
missing hebrew text) is opposed to (
missing
hebrew text) in Mek., Beshallaḥ, 10 (ed. Friedmann, p. 43b);
opposed to (
missing hebrew text) in Tosef., Sheb. i. 61;
(
missing hebrew text) is "
grapes" (Tosef., Shab. viii.
121; Gen. R. xxxi. 14); but in the
Targum (
missing hebrew text) is used
also for "plant."
For the different parts of the plant the language of the
Mishnah is so rich in synonyms
as to make it impossible to reproduce them here. Some of the
designations are for particular products, as (
missing hebrew
text) for "branch of a fig-tree"; (
missing hebrew
text) for "branch of the
olive and
sycamore"; (
missing hebrew text) for
"branch of a
vine" (Gen. R. xxxi.
14). All the different parts of the plant are enumerated by the
Zohar, which proceeds to mention
the seven parts—root, bark, pith, twig, leaf, blossom, and fruit—in
order to draw parallels to the seven different ways of interpreting
the Bible (iii. 202a).
The rich flora and the fertility of
Palestine (see
Palestine, Flora of) are lauded as highly by
the
Talmud and the Bible as in
secular literature. "The vegetation of
Palestine was always a very rich one; its
fruits were
the finest and most easily cultivated. But on two occasions its
productivity reached the highest pitch: at the time when our
fathers took possession of the country, and at the time of their
going into exile" (Sifre, Deut. 37 [ed. Friedmann, p. 76b]; 316,
317 [ed. Friedmann, p. 135b]; Pesiḳ. R. 132a; Yalḳ., Yer. 328).
Still greater shall be its fertility at the time of the
Messiah: "On the day of sowing,
the
fruit will ripen as at
Creation, yea, even the
wood of the
fruit-
trees will become edible." Wonderful was also the
harvest at the time of Queen
Salome: the
wheat-kernels grew to the size of kidneys;
barley was as large as
olives; peas
were as large as
golden dinars; and, accordingly, samples of them
all were preserved for later generations, to show what would be the
deteriorating consequences of
sin!
(Sifra, Beḥuḳḳotai, ed. Weiss, p. 110d, and parallel passages).
"Unseemly, yea, even insolent, it is of the land which has been
manured and cultivated by its owners, not to deny its
harvest to the conquerors after
the destruction of
Jerusalem" (Yer. Ta'an. iv. 69b; Lam. R.,
Introduction, end).
The total number of plant-names found in the Bible (100) does
not correspond with the excessively rich vegetation of
Palestine. But this will
not be a matter for surprise, considering that the legislative part
of the Bible is, on account of the
food restrictions contained therein, very copious
in names of animals, and that there is little occasion to consider
plants in such connection, these being only occasionally mentioned
in poetical and prophetical writings. The literature of the
Mishnah enriches the Biblical
list of plant-names to the extent of about 180 good Hebrew words;
so that it may be inferred that a very large proportion of the
Hebrew botanical vocabulary has been preserved.
Halakic writers often had occasion to mention plants. The
establishment of the ritual blessings for the various kinds of
vegetable
food and for the
first-fruits of the
season ( (
missing hebrew text) ); agrarian legislation on
the rights of the poor to participate in the
harvest; the rules for tithes, for the priest's
portion, and for the "ḥallah" (offering of
dough); the regulations concerning the mixture of
heterogeneous plants; the rules for the Sabbatical year; the law
forbidding the
fruit during the
first three years of the tree's growth; the establishment of the
particular kinds of
grain to be
used for the making of
unleavened bread;
the salads to be used with the
Passover roast; the components of the festal
garland for Tabernacles; the covering of the
Tabernacle itself; the use of botanical
words in vows; the proper material on which to write letters of
divorce;
sacrifices from the
plant world; the ingredients for
incense; the kinds of
hyssop to be used in the
sacrifice of the Red
Heifer; the laws of
Levitical impurity in
relation to plants—all these are far from exhaustive of the
occasions where plants are concerned. Custom and usage demanded
certain vegetable foods on certain days, and created new relations
to the plant world, as life constantly raised new halakic botanical
questions, of which rabbinical literature treats. The throwing of
burs on the fast-day of the Ninth of
Ab; the custom of plucking up
grass after a
funeral, believed to be a symbol of the
resurrection
("Shibbole ha-Leḳeṭ," p. 373a; Responsa of MaBIT, i. 250; Lewysohn,
"Meḳore Minhagim," p. 134); lotion-plants from which a kind of
milk runs (Responsa of RaSHA, No.
248); the chewing of mastic on
Passover (RaDBaZ, ed. Fürth, No. 582);
beans which may be washed with
soap (Responsa of YaBeẒ, No. 156);
oats for stuffing
geese ("Ẓemaḥ Ẓedeḳ," p. 17); the feeding of
silkworms with
mulberry-leaves on
Sabbath ("Yakin u-
Boaz," ii. 18; "Bet Yosef" and Shulḥan 'Aruk, Oraḥ
Ḥayyim, 324, 12, and other sources), are only a few topics taken at
random from the later casuistic literature, in which reference to
new plant products, such as sugar-cane, lemons, coffee, tea,
chocolate, Indian meal, eggplant, potatoes, tobacco, camphor, and
spices, may be traced.
Foreign Plant-Names.
Europe received most of its
cultivated plants from the Orient. Some plant-names, like that of
the
balsam, it returned to the
East later; but the Orient also owes many new terms to the
Greeks and
Romans.
.^ CENSUS Of The Plants Of Victoria-A. With their Regional Distribution and the Vernacular Names as adopted by the Plant Names Committee of the Field Naturalists' Club Of Victoria.
Through the
Greeks podded "grains"
(pulse) came to the East; the words ϑέρμος, λόβια, φάση;λος, piίσον
became familiar to the Jews and other Semites, while many fine
sorts of
fruit were known by the
names which the
Roman consumer gave them, as, for example, "plums
of
Damascus" (Δαμασκηνὰ),
two sorts of dates (νικόλαος, καρυωτός), a celebrated brand of
figs, called
φιβάλεως, the fine eating
olive
(κολυμβάς), etc. The names of the
peach (περσικά), the quince (μελΊμηλα), the kind
of
pear known as
Crustuminum
pirum, the cembra-nut (στρόβιλος), and the
fruit of the
Cordia myxa (Linnæus)
indicate the influence ofthe
Greeks on the
fruit-
trees and
fruit-markets of
Palestine. The cabbage, kale, and
mustard (λαψάνη) came from
Europe; the turnip, carrot
(γογγυλίδια), parsnip, leek (κεφαλωτόν), parsley, artichoke, and
sugar-melon are known by
Greek
designations. The ash (μελία), of which three kinds are now found
in
Palestine, bears a
Greek name; even for the indigenous
cedar the word κέδρος maintains
itself; while the
wood of the native box-
tree is also designated by the
Greek word εύξινον.
Passages indicating where various plants were especially
cultivated abound in the Mishnaic and Talmudic literature; but
these belong rather to a description of the agriculture of
Palestine than to botany.
R.
Simon b.
Gamaliel, however, shows an accurate knowledge
of the special habitats of plants when he says: "Of mountains, the
ash is characteristic; of ravines ["ghor"], the date-palms; of
water-courses ["wadis"], the
reeds; and of
lowlands ["she-felah"], the
sycamore" (see Tosef., Sheb. vii.; Yer. ix.
38d; Pes. 13a; Bacher, "Ag. Tan." ii. 327; and "Kaftor wa-Peraḥ,"
p. 107a; Vogelstein, "Landwirt-schaft in Palästina," i. 7; Kaplan,
"Ereẓ Ḳedumim," p. 34).
Ritual Mention of Plants.
In other passages also R.
Simon b.
Gamaliel shows an interest in botanical
questions (Frankel, "Darke ha-
Mishnah," p. 184); and the interpretation of
the Biblical (
missing hebrew text) as the resin of the
balsam-dropping
trees ("kaṭof") is said to
have originated with him. He determines the length of time between
the leafing of the fig-tree and the ripening of its
fruit (Tosef., Sheb. xiv. 67; Yer.
ib. 35d); describes minutely a certain kind of onion
(Tosef., Ma'as. R. iii. 85; Yer.
ib. 52a); declares that
rice is not
grain (Tosef., Ḥal.
ii. 98); allows only the
fruit
of the palms of
Jericho to
be offered in the
Temple as
first-fruits (Tosef.,
Bik. i. 100); and maintains that there is nothing square in nature,
in opposition to which statement it is pointed out that mint, like
all labiate flowers, has a four-edged stem (Löw, "Aramäische
Pflanzennamen," p. 260). He mentions also (Tosef., Ṭebul Yom, i.
684) a peculiar kind of bean (
nigella), the leek, and
senna ( (
missing hebrew text) ?).
R. Johanan ben Nuri, a contemporary of R. Akiba, mentions an
otherwise unknown inferior and probably only wild
grain, the (
missing hebrew text) ;
and the " ḳurram" or "ḳurreim," still found in
Palestine, makes it probable that this was
the
Hordeum bulbosum (Linnæus) (Post, "Flora of
Syria," etc., p. 902: "found in
grassy places"). According to Johanan, this (
missing hebrew
text) makes a
dough which
is subject to the law of Ḥallah, and may be leavened; but with this
view other
teachers disagree, each claiming that his
opinion is founded on experience (Tosef., Ḥal. i. 97; Yer.
ib. i. 57a; Tosef., Pes. i. 157;
ib. Yer. 29a).
Rice, too, he tried, though unsuccessfully, to classify as a
grain; and this difference of
opinion leads to the inference that Indian rice—which was unknown
to the Bible, and appeared only after
Alexander the Great—was not naturalized in
Palestine much before his
time (Pes. 35a, 114b; Ber. 37a; see also Rice).
Saffron-
seed
cakes (
(
missing hebrew text) ), usually taken as delicacies
before the meal, Johanan would not class as
food; consequently they were not to be bought with
money from the second tithe,
which was reserved for
food. His
opposition to Akiba extended to still other kinds of
spices (Tosef., Ma'as. Sh. i.
87).
Artistic Appreciation.
Nor was the appreciation of the beauty of nature entirely
lacking in the time of the
Mishnah teachers; for the latter, although engrossed
in study, and probably immersed in the explanation of details of
sacrificial rites, were so astounded at the wonders of nature—as,
for instance,
trees, in all their majesty—that they would
exclaim: "How magnificent this
tree is!" Such direct appreciation of nature had
probably become so foreign to that period and its manner of feeling
that it was condemned as an interruption of the study of the Law
(
Ab. iii. 7).
On the other hand, on reviewing the splendors of creation, the
Jew is to praise not creation but the Creator; at sight of
beautiful human beings or
trees he is to extol
God, who permits these creatures to exist in the
world (Tosef., Ber. vii. 15;
Talmud Bab.
ib. 58b), and who created
them (Yer. ix. 13b).
By R.
Judah b.
Ezekiel of Pumbedita this
thought was condensed into the command: "He who walks abroad in
Nisan and sees the blossoming
trees shall
repeat the blessing: 'Praised be He who allows nothing to be
wanting in His world: who created beautiful beings and
trees, to
delight men'" (Ber. 43b and parallels; Ṭur and Shulḥan 'Aruk, Oraḥ
Ḥayyim, 226). Closer casuistic details are given by Azulai, who,
with a perfect absence of all feeling for nature, adds that this
blessing should be pronounced with especially impressive reverence
for the benefit of those
souls which may be wandering through
trees and
plants, and that God's
mercy
should be begged for them ("Moreh be-Eẓba'," Nos. 198, 199;
Palaggi, "Mo'ed le-Ḳol Ḥai," i. 6-9).
The same command is extended to flowers ("Leḳaḥ Ṭob," in "Paḥad
Yiẓḥaḳ," 1, 58a). Instead of choosing the early blooming
almond-
tree as the occasion for saying this blessing, one
is commanded to wait until other
trees are in bloom. The
question as to whether this blessing may be pronounced as early as
Adar and as late as Iyyar is the
subject of casuistic debate (Alkalai, "Zekor le-
Abraham," Oraḥ Ḥayyim, 21a; Responsa of Joel
Ẓebi Roth Huszt, "Bet ha-Yoẓer" on Oraḥ Ḥayyim, No. 13).
The miserable condition of the roads of the Holy Land, when
pilgrims discontinued their annual journey to
Jerusalem, was shown in the briers that
overgrew the paths (Lam. R., Introduction, 26; [ed. Buber, p. 30];
Yalḳ., Isa. 302; "Leḳaḥ Ṭob" on
Lam 1:
4); and it was a
pathetic sight to behold weeds growing in forsaken synagogues
(Tosef., Meg. iii. 225;
Talmud
Yer. and Bab.
l.c.).
The Biblical idea that just as man extols
God for the wonder of His creation, so, too,
creation itself praises its Maker, is not lost even in later times.
Thus the month of Shebaṭ is said to boast that during its duration
"the
trees
grow higher, open their mouths, and with their leaves praise the
living
God" (Targ. Yer.
Ex 12:
31). This same poetical
thought is reflected also in the "Pereḳ Shirah," where it is
applied to the individual phenomena and parts of the creation: "The
trees
rejoice over Israel'sredemption" (
Isa 44:
23), applied haggadically
in Mek., Beshallaḥ, ed. Friedmann, p. 40b. King
Og was rude enough to designate
Abraham and
Sarah as beautiful
trees growing by the
waterside but bearing no
fruit;
therefore he was punished by being conquered by the great nation
descended from them (Targ. Yer. on
Num 21:
34). By
fruits are meant the
Patriarchs; by blossoms, the tribes of
Israel (Lam. R., Introduction, 2
[ed. Buber, p. 3]).
David, like
Moses, a faithful
shepherd, reserved the young
and tender pasture for the
lambs of his flock; the older growth was given to
the older
sheep, the roots to
the fully grown animals, thereby showing his fitness to be a
shepherd of
Israel (Midr. Teh. on lxxviii. 21 [ed. Buber, p.
357]).
God and the
Torah are compared to plants; thus the
Torah is likened to the
fig, the
vine,
flax, and
wheat, while
Israel (Ex. R. xxxvi. 1) is compared to all the
nobler
trees
(the
vine,
fig, walnut,
myrtle,
olive,
apple,
palm, willow, and
cedar).
There was a dispute as to which of the
trees thus compared with
Israel furnished the
wood for Haman's
gallows (
Abba Gorion and "Leḳaḥ
Ṭob," on Esth. vii. 10 [ed. Buber, pp. 41, 48]). Just as the entire
Song of Solomon is symbolical of
God and
Israel, so, too, are the individual plants
mentioned in it, such as
meadow-saffrons and lilies.
Israel and the peoples of
Canaan suggest a
vineyard wherein both
cedars and
briers grow: the former are uprooted, while the latter remain to
protect the
vineyard (Yalḳ.,
Jdg 41:8a).
The significance attributed in Ber. 56-57 to various plants
(citron,
fig,
barley,
pomegranate, pumpkin,
olive,
palm,
date,
reeds,
and
vines)
in interpreting
dreams is made to rest on Biblical verses or on
a play upon words.
Solomon
Almoli's collection in his
dream-book, "Pitron Ḥalomot," rests partly on
Talmudic passages, partly on foreign folk-lore and his own
imagination. Thus to
dream of
spinach is said to signify happiness, riches, and honor; of ginger,
honor and renown (see Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl." No. 6896,
3).
Figurative Uses of
Plant-Names.
In a figurative sense the names of certain plants, or, more
specifically,
fruit-
trees, are used
to designate similar objects ( (
missing hebrew text) );
see Löw,
l.c. p. 375; Steinschneider, "Hebr. Uebers." pp.
319, 395; Gen. R. xxviii. 3; "Monatsschrift," xxxviii. 25; Tan.,
Ḥayye
Sarah, ed. Buber, pp. 7,
51.
Metaphors and comparisons from the plant world appear in
Talmudic literature continually, and many pass into the most
diverse languages and literatures. In man—as the microcosm—the
hair is said to represent the woods,
while the bones correspond to the
trees (
Ab. R. N. xxxi., (
missing hebrew text) =
both "
hair" and "foliage"; see
also Peah ii. 3; Theocritus, "Idyls," i. 131). According to
Naḥmanides ("Terumah," 71b), "the holy language always compares all
forms with man. That which is at the top is called the head; that
below, the feet." Nevertheless, the words "roots," "branches,"
"stems," and "
fruit" are
frequently used metaphorically. The human body is likened to the
earth; the bones, to the mountains; the
hair, to plants (Dieterici, "Die Anthropologie der
Araber," 1871, p. 15). "The roots are the
soul, the stem is the body," is a Mishnaic saying
(Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 434). On the other hand, Arabic philosophy is
reflected in Ibn Ezra's dictum on
Ps 13 (see "Monatsschrift," xliii.
239), that the most perfectly formed
soul is that
fruit of the body which is picked at the time of
maturity.
The words (
missing hebrew text) ("root") and
(
missing hebrew text) ("branch"), as designating
fundamental law and deduced
ordinances, are found in
Sherira (Neubauer, "Chronique Samaritaine," i. 19), but earlier
also in the Mishnaic usage of (
missing hebrew text) ,
meaning the chief matter, as opposed to (
missing hebrew
text) , that of secondary, nature (Sifre, Num. 89 [ed. Weiss,
p. 24b]); (
missing hebrew text) opposed to (
missing
hebrew text) (Yer. Ber. ix. 13c). "Man is an inverted
tree, and a
tree is an inverted man," said Aristotle ("De
Part. An." iv. 10), and after him all writers of the Middle
Ages—Jews, Mohammedans, and
Christians.
Judah Muskato ("Nefuẓot Yehudah,"
sermon 15) and
Samuel Yafe
Ashkenazi ("Yefeh Mareh" on Ber. i. 4), both of the sixteenth
century, were familiar with this comparison; but so also was
Gershom b.
Solomon (see below). The simile is worked out
in detail in "Aggadat 'Olam Ḳaṭon" (
Jellinek, "B. H." v. 58; see also
"Monatsschrift," xiii. 227). "At the time of the
resurrection the
bones will be drawn from the earth; the
hair from
trees; the power of life from
fire, as was the case at the time of the original
Creation" ("Bundehesh," in Spiegel," Die Tradit. Literatur der
Parsen," p. 116).
Joseph ibn
Ẓaddiḳ ("'Olam Ḳaṭon," p. 22) and Clément Mullet (Introduction to
his translation of Ibn Awwâm, p. 22) also say: "
Assyrian agriculture sees
in man an inverted
tree, while, on
the other hand, the
tree is an
inverted man." Of Mohammedans, Kazwini may be mentioned; of
Christians, the following passage:
"Physicists say man is an inverted
tree" (Migne, "Patrologiæ Cursus Completus," Latin
series, p. 185, col. 107; Guerricus Abbas, "Sermo," ii.).
Types.
Steinschneider was the first to collect the Hebrew typology of
botany (Kobak, "Jeschurun," German ed., viii. 65). To this belong
such statements as that
mustard-
seed
grains ( (
missing hebrew text) ) represent the smallest of
things in contrast to the largest ( (
missing hebrew text)
, "Zunz Jubelschrift," p. 107), or to ostriches'
eggs (Steinschneider, "Hebr.
Uebers." p. 16, note 107;
idem, in "Jeschurun,"
l.c.), or to the ocean ("Monatsschrift," 1879, p. 354,
note). Steinschneider understands sesame-
seed as representing something very small. Similar
usage to represent "nothing," figuratively, is found in many other
languages (Hoefer, "Germania," 1873, xviii. 19). Comparisons of
cedars and
reeds, and
instances of the use of the latter as illustrations of weakness,
are also found (see
Reed).
Expressions to the effect that the
soul is the
tree,
and wisdom its
fruit; that
wisdom is the
tree, and deeds are
its
fruit; that intelligence
without morality is a
tree without
fruit (Gabirol), and similar
quotations ("Naḥal Ḳedumim," p. 34; see Steinschneider, "Hebr.
Uebers." p. 882), all come from the Arabic (concerning the "
fruit of wisdom" see
Steinschneider, in "Zunz Jubelschrift," p. 1, note, and
idem, "Hebr. Uebers." p. 156).
Of the scientific expressions of the Arabic period of
civilization mention may be made of (
missing hebrew text)
for "cone" ("Hebr. Bibl." vii. 90
et seq.), (
missing
hebrew text) (
missing hebrew text) ,
Judah Tibbon (Steinschneider, "Hebr. Uebers." p.
445, note, where also
al ṣanubri = (
missing hebrew
text) = (
missing hebrew text) ; see
Barzillai, "Yeẓirah," pp.
222, 347).
The haggadic pictures drawn from the plant world are chiefly
types taken from the Bible, such as
cedar and
reeds,
cedar
and hyssops, etc. (see the articles under these respective
captions).
Man Compared to Trees.
The
tree as an emblem of human
life is a favorite metaphor in the Bible, and is frequently so used
in later literature (L. Löw, " Gesammelte Schriften," i. 67). The
upright man is compared in the Bible to the
palm and to
trees in general. The just man is likened to a
tree in a clean place with a branch
overhanging an
unclean spot; the wicked man, to the reverse
(
Ab. R. N. xxxix. 119). "Plant" (
(
missing hebrew text) ) is a Biblical word for the
Messiah (Heilprin, "'Erke
ha-Kinnuyim,"
s.v.);
salvation is a quickening anew of all that is
green (Cant. R. on ii. 2; Targ. Yer. on
Isa 6:
13); the plant springing
from the
seed, a picture of
resurrection (Num. R.
xviii.). The
seed is confided to
the earth naked; but the latter returns it to man clothed in
fruit (Sanh. 90b; Eccl. R. v.;
Pirḳe R. El. xxxiii.).
Of fables, the following may be mentioned: "The
Trees and the
Iron" (Gen. R. v., end; Sachs, "Stimmen vom
Jordan und
Euphrat," ii. 111), and "
Hadrian and the Old Man Planting
Trees" (Lev. R.
xxv. 5).
Scientific Botany.
The beginnings of scientific botany, preserved in the Jewish
literature of the Middle Ages, consist chiefly of echoes of
Aristotle, with now and then information derived from Theophrastus;
all of them transmitted through Arabic channels, and especially
either directly or indirectly from Averroes (concerning
Dioscorides, on whom Asaf relies, see Steinschneider, "Hebr.
Uebers." pp. 239, 650). Any one familiar with the fragments of
Aristotelian botany contained in Meyer ("Gesch. der Botanik," i. 94
et seq.) will in exceptional cases only find anything new
in Jewish botanical treatises. The questions of the relationship
between animals and plants, of the life of the plant, its
soul, its own heat, its nourishment
and propagation, occupied the thought of the entire Middle Ages,
and are answered in an Aristotelian style. True, in general botany
the Arabs did not greatly surpass Aristotle; but in speaking of the
Arabian
and late Greco-
Roman literature, Meyer (
l.c. iii. 326)
rightly says: "The sum of special knowledge concerning plants
considerably decreased among the
Greeks and
Romans, but increased among
the
Arabians. The Arabs sought in nature itself
the plants commended by the ancients, and expended much energy on
the criticism of synonyms." In this, Jewish literature made the
Arabic its model (see Plants); but the literature of synonymy
belongs rather to Jewish pharmacology than to botany. In 1197
Pseudo-Galen's "De Plantis" was translated into Hebrew by an
anonymous writer from Orange (Steinschneider, "Hebr. Uebers." pp.
142, 972). The book of Pseudo-Aristoteles, "De Plantis,"
demonstrated by Meyer to have been written by Nicolaus Damascenus,
was translated into Hebrew (Steinschneider,
ib. p.
141).
Early Books on Botany.
In 1314 Kalonymus ben Kalonymus translated a book on plants
containing undoubtedly the entire text of Pseudo-Aristoteles and
the commentary of Averroes, with probably the supercommentary by
Levi b. Gerson (Steinschneider,
ib. p. 142; Renan-Neubauer, "Les Ecrivains Juifs
Français," p. 83). According to Steinschneider (
ib. p.
836), a book on
herbs in the Vatican consists of an alphabetical
list of remedies. A so-called "Book on Plants" is also mentioned by
this scholar (
ib. pp. 359, 743). Macer Floridus' book on
botany (about 1161) was also translated into Hebrew (
ib.
p. 809).
The article on botany in the encyclopedia "Sha'ar ha-Shamayim,"
by
Gershom b.
Solomon of Arles (Gross, in
"Monatsschrift," xxviii. 126;
idem, "Gallia Judaica," P.
82; Renan-Neubauer, "Les Rabbins Français," p. 589; Steinschneider,
"Hebr. Uebers." p. 9), is probably taken from Averroes' commentary
on the Pseudo-Aristotelian book. It treats of the
soul of the plant; passes on to consider its
nourishment, growth, blossoming, and fructification; and then takes
up the influence upon it of the sun's heat, of exposure, and of
climate. The hot spices—pepper,
calamus, and ginger—grow only under the
"second" climate, that is, where it is hot and dry; the sugar-cane
under the "fourth," the moderate climate. In France the tropical
fruits—
figs,
olives,
and pomegranates—will not grow toward the limits of the "sixth"
climate: only the
grape endures,
for the coldness of this zone can not overcome this plant's natural
heat. In England even the grapevine does not survive the "seventh"
climate. The
herbs, too, are not everywhere the same, each
having its particular locality or habitat. Plants are heavy, light,
or medium. The lightest and weakest are those of the pulse family,
which, therefore, ripen earliest, just as weaker woman matures
before stronger man.
Barley
ripens later, and
wheat later
still.
Medieval Conceptions.
According to Aristotle, the plant's development keeps pace with
the course of the sun, and reaches its highest point when the sun
is in Cancer. Averroes distinguishes between perfect and imperfect
plants. Some of the imperfect ones are controlled by one or other
of the elements; thus, aquatic plants by
water, and sponges by the earth. He says also
that most plants live longer than animals, for they are more nearly
allied to the minerals, and their composition does not contain the
great antagonisms found in the animal world. According to gardeners
the
moon, according to "modern"
teachers
the
stars, exercise a great
influence over growing plants. Plants consist of the four elements,
but principally of air, as is evident from the small quantity of
ashes remaining after they are
burned. According to Averroes, however, the earthy constituents
outweigh the
water in some
plants which sink in
water, such
as ebony. Then follow the division of
fruits (based upon the
edibility of their interiors or exteriors), a passage on evergreen
trees, and
one on the colors of plants.
Uses of Plants.
Gershom also contends
that plants are green either because standing
water assumes that color or because
water and
black earth combine to form green. Like man,
plants, except the upright
palm,
stand inverted. Therefore, the
palm dies if its head, its pinnacle,be cut off.
Only
palm-trees show a distinction in sex, but
there are other
fruit-
trees that bear
no
fruit unless other
trees of their
kind are in their vicinity.
.^ KESSELL S.L. Key To The Eucalypts Of Western Australia With Descriptive and Botanical Notes concerning all Aborescent Species of Eucalyptus known to be Indigenous to Western Australia.
20b);
of the sunflower (
solsega); the pumpkin is said to cry out
as it grows in the moonlight; the growth of cucumbers should be
furthered by blowing the shofar at the time of the setting of the
fruit (Duran, "Magen Abot,"
36a).
Gershom also says that
from one
tree come
cinnamon (the rind),
mace (the blossom), and nutmeg (the
fruit); cloves also are said to
be buds of the same
tree.
Only two original botanical remarks are found in
Gershom: First, that seedless
fruit-
trees and
grapes may be cultivated,
just as "in our city" (Arles) there is a
tree called (
missing hebrew text)
("sorbier"), the
fruit of which
has no
seeds.
Gershom alludes to either a definite
tree in Arles or to the so-called
beam-
tree (
Sorbus
torminalis). Secondly, he says: "Not far from us there grows a
tree the
fruit of which is as large as half a bean and as
hard when ripe as a
stone, so
that it can not be softened by cooking. This
fruit seems to mark the transition from the plant
kingdom to the mineral kingdom, as do corals, mushrooms, and
truffles." Mention, of course, is made of the Barnacle-
Goose. The work closes with a
description of the various savors of plants and of their
admixture.
Duran's Botanical Work.
Simon b. Ẓemaḥ Duran (1444)
wrote an exhaustive treatise on the relations between plants and
animals ("Magen Abot," 35d, Leghorn). In spite of the poetical
passages in the Holy
Scriptures speaking of the rejoicing,
exultation, or sadness of plants, they have no feeling—possessing,
according to Aristotle, only a self-nourishing power. Earth,
water, sun, and air contribute to
their growth. Differences in plants are due to the varying
combinations of the four elements, to heat and cold, to dampness
and dryness. They grow (1) from
seeds; (2) from the decay of
other materials (Anatoli, "Malmad," 5a), as the saprophytes; (3)
from
water; (4) from slips; (5)
or parasitically,
i.e., on other plants. In addition to
the fable that
birds grow on
trees, Duran
states that in
India a woman
grows on a
tree, falls with a loud
cry when she is ripe, and dies. Duran also compares the parts of
plants to the organs of animal bodies; classifies them as
trees, bushes,
herbs, and
grasses, as wild and cultivated
trees, and as
fruit-and forest-
trees; and treats of their
varying longevity, of sex (the artificial fertilization of
palm-and
fig-
trees, sometimes, however, effected by the wind),
of the value of plants as means of nourishment and as remedies,
poisons, and odors, and of various plant-juices and their different
tastes.
Number of Species.
.^ Plants are grouped in sections for easy reference according to their most common habitats.
In the commentary on
the "Sefer Yeẓirah" the number of the varieties of plants was
estimated at 2,100, corresponding to the numerical value of
(
missing hebrew text) = 1,000; ר =200; ץ =900. The
statement introduced by
Maimonides ("Moreh Nebukim," ii. 10), "There
is no
herb on earth without a
constellation in
heaven that
governs it, fosters it, and calls to it, 'Grow on,'" comes from R.
Simon b. Pazzi (see Gen. R. x.
6; Bacher, "Ag. Pal. Amor." ii. 473; Löw,
l.c. p. 6). It
is found also in the
Midrash
Konen; but there an
angel is
substituted for the constellation (
Jellinek, "B. H." ii. 27; "Sefer Raziel," ed.
Schwarz; "Tikwat Enosh" on
Job 38:
31). Chwolson ("Ssabier," ii.
467) also states: "Every plant has its
demon." Such opinions
resulted in statements that the number of plant varieties equals
that of the
stars (so Gerson b.
Solomon, and Duran with more
detail).
Naḥmanides relies on Simon's statement to establish a better
foundation for the Biblical prohibition against mixing
heterogeneous plants (commentary on Gen. i. p. 4c; on Lev. xix. p.
100b; see Löw,
l.c. p. 6). R. Simon's idea was far too
welcome to the spirit of the
Cabala not to be continued further. Thus, to
mention two extremes: the
Zohar
reproduces it repeatedly, sometimes in combination with the
prohibition of mixed
seeds (ii. 15b, 171b; iii. 86a); and Azulai
interprets it as follows: "Everything in the world is dependent
upon things of a higher scale: even a little blade of
grass is related to higher leaves,
developed roots, stems,
seeds, blossoms, and petals, to height, breadth,
length, form; in fact, to everything of higher significance. Even
its connection with its
angel,
and the connection of this
angel
with his own sefirah, and of this sefirah with the Infinite [
En
Sof], illustrate the fact. So that he who partakes of anything
without a benediction, wantonly tears it from its ultimate
connection with the Deity" ("Midbar Ḳedemot," letter ב, No. 20;
compare letter צ No. 13). The thought has also penetrated into
non-Jewish circles. Thus Paracelsus says: "Every star in
heaven is a spiritual growth to
which some
herb on earth
corresponds, and by its attractive power, the star draws on the
herb on earth corresponding to it; so
that every
herb is an earthly
star, just as every star is a spiritualized
herb" (Friedreich, "Die Symbolik und Mythologie
der Natur," p. 193, Würzburg, 1859; Meyer, "Gesch. der Botanik,"
iv. 430). An Oxford manuscript mentions
herbs corresponding to single
planets (Steinschneider, in "Monatsschrift," pp. 42, 364).
The Vegetative Soul.
Aristotle's idea of the vegetative
soul ( (
missing hebrew text) (
missing
hebrew text) ) governs almost the entire
Arabian and Jewish
philosophy (Dieterici, "Die Anthropologie der Araber," 1871, pp. 8,
58, 146
et seq.). It is met with in
Isaac b.
Solomon Israeli (middle of the tenth century;
Steinschneider, "Hebr. Uebers." p. 388); in the "Book of
Definitions" (Steinschneider, "Zunz Jubelschrift," p. 137); in
Baṭalyusi, whose influence on Jewish philosophy is pointed out by
Kaufmann ("Al-Baṭalyusi," p. 10 and gate iv. 51); and in Gabirol
(S. Horovitz, "Die Psychologie ibn Gabirol's," p. 115, Breslau,
1900), who states in his allegorical exegesis: "
Adam signifies the reasoning or human
soul;
Eve, the living or animal
soul; the snake, the desiring or vegetative
soul, the lowest grade in animated
nature." The
seed of
Eve is to crush the head of the
serpent,while the latter is to
smite the heel of the former, illustrating the close and unbroken
interconnection between the natural and psychical worlds. Where the
animal
soul ceases, the plant
soul begins: the
serpent, typifying the plant
soul, gets its nourishment from the
dust (Kaufmann, "Studien über Salomon
ibn Gabirol," p. 70, Budapest, 1899).
Abraham ibn Daud's teachings (Steinschneider,
"Hebr. Uebers." p. 369) on plant and animal
souls have been concisely
presented by Rosin ("Die Ethik des
Maimonides," p. 48,
note, Breslau, 1876), and exhaustively treated by Guttmann
("Monatsschrift;" xxvii. 164). "In plants, as in sleeping bodies,"
says Ibn Daud, "there is life" ("Emunah
Ramah," p. 15). "According to
Aristotle, the
coral shows the
transition from plants to animals" (
ib. p. 31). He makes
special mention of opium and the aloe. Similarly
Ibn Ezra
speaks of the plant's
soul as its
nourishing principle for growth and propagation (Rosin, in
"Monatsschrift," xlii. 448).
Ibn Ezra devotes
considerable care to elaborating Gabirol's allegory mentioned above
(see Rosin and Kaufmann,
l.c.).
Maimonides characterizes
the nutrient function of the
soul
as corresponding to the plant
soul, but does not mention the latter in the first
of the "Eight Chapters" (Scheyer, "Das Psychologische System des
Maimuni," p. 10; Rosin, "Die Ethik des
Maimonides," p. 47).
Mose de Leon (thirteenth century) knew of the plant
soul (
Jellinek, "Mose de Leon," p. 18, note), as did
Baḥya ben
Asher ibn Ḥalawa, who
says: "The
soul of reason is
immortal, but the animal
soul is
not, and the plant
soul is even
farther removed from immortality. The latter is the lowest;
therefore Holy
Scripture
says that earth brought forth the plants, while of animals it says
that
God created them" (commentary
on
Gen 1:
12; Bernstein, "Die
Schrifterklärung des Baḥya," 1891, p. 63; Arama, "Aḳedat Yiẓḥaḳ,"
iii. 1, 29b). In comparing man and
trees,
Aaron b.
Joseph, the Karaite, says: "All this on account
of the plant
soul" ("Mibḥar,"
18a). See also
Shem-Ṭob ibn
Falaquera of the thirteenth century (Venetianer, "A Fokozatok
Koenyve," p. 58, Szegedin, 1890;
idem, "Das Buch der Grade
von
Shem-Ṭob ben Josef ibn
Falaquera," Berlin, 1894); Ḥayyim Vital of the seventeenth century
("Sha'are Ḳedushah," i. 2); Steinschneider, in "Z. D. M. G." xxvii.
557, note; and
idem, "Hebr. Uebers." p. 903, note.
General References.
Among general references to plants may be mentioned those by
Baḥya ben
Joseph ibn Pakuda:
"Plants created for the perfection and use of man are a testimony
of divine wisdom. The
love of
God caused man to come forth from an
original nothing composed of the elements; then to become
plant-material, then sustenance which is converted into
seed and
blood, and finally into life and a living man"
("Ḥobot ha-Lebabot," ii. 4 [ed. Baumgarten, p. 7];
ib. ii.
5 [ed. Baumgarten, p. 8a]). Jeshua b.
Judah, the Karaite, of
Jerusalem (middle of eleventh century), has
the following: "The Jews said that if it had not been written in
the Holy
Scriptures: 'And
God said: Behold, I have given you every
herb that bears
seed, as
food,'
they would not have been allowed to use
herbs and plants for
food." Jeshua, however, thinks this
opinion untenable, since "plants feel no pain" (Schreiner, "Studien
über Jeshua b. Jehuda"). Finally,
Judah ha-
Levi
remarks: ("Cuzari," v. 10 [ed. Hirschfeld p. 246])
"Since minerals originated solely through commixture, they do
not need the
God-granted form
necessary to plants and animals, to which a
soul has been assigned. The finer the commixture
is made, the nobler is its form, revealing more and more of divine
wisdom, until it becomes a plant, which possesses a certain degree
of feeling and perception. Forthwith it penetrates into the earth,
and, nourished by good, damp soil and sweet
water, and avoiding their opposites, it grows,
and remains standing after having brought forth its kind and
produced
seed. This
seed devotes itself to a similar
activity, in accordance with its wonderful intuitive wisdom, called
by the philosophers Nature itself—meaning the powers that care for
the preservation of the species; for a body that is a composite of
various substances can not be preserved indefinitely in its
individuality. Nothing possessing only the powers of growth,
reproduction, and nourishment has any motion. According to
philosophers, these powers are directed by Nature; but in reality,
whether ascribed to Nature or
soul, force or
angel, these successive stages are directed by
God. If the commixture is still more
refined, and capable of divine wisdom, it will be fit to adopt a
higher form than one possessing mere natural power. That is to say,
it will be able to obtain nourishment from a distance; in other
words, it will possess organic limbs, moving according to its own
volition. It will command its members more than plants are able to
do, which latter can not protect themselves from harm or seek what
is useful, and are played with by the wind. Thus, the animal
possesses limbs by which he is transported. The form granted him in
addition to the natural life is called a
soul".
Knowledge of Botany.
On the necessity of a knowledge of botany,
Judah ha-
Levi
(
ib. ii. 64 [ed. Cassel, p. 169; ed. Hirschfeld, p. 94])
says: "When a member of the
Sanhedrin died, another of equal birth could
succeed him, for the sciences were familiar among the people." This
was necessarily so, since one needed a knowledge of all the
sciences for the complete observance of the Law; of the physical
ones, for instance, for the agricultural laws, as in distinguishing
mixed
seeds,
in avoiding the products of the Sabbatical year and of new
orchards, and in separating various plants from one another, so
that each might be kept with its original species, and that one
class might not be confused with another. It is extremely difficult
to determine whether
Greek barley (χόνδρος; see Löw,
l.c. pp. 104, 164; B. Bahlul, 878; according to Ibn Awwâm,
a variety of spelt) is a form of
barley, or spelt a variety of
wheat, or cauliflower (Löw,
l.c. p. 214)
a variety of cabbage. To do so one must know the qualities and the
measure of the spread of the roots in the earth, as well as what
does and does not remain over for the next year, in order that one
may know how much room and interval of time are to be left between
one crop and another.
In a list of foods Meïr Aldabi of Toledo mentions sixty-five
plants, only one of which, (missing hebrew text)
("eggplant"), has a grammatical interest. None of these lists has
more than a slight value. For years they were ascribed to Galen and
Avicenna.
Neither Todros nor Cavaillon wrote on botany (Steinschneider,
"Jüdische Literatur," p. 446 [p. 305 of Hebrew edition];
idem," Hebr. Uebers." p. 783; Gross, "Gallia Judaica," p.
539). In his medical work, "Ma'aseh Ṭobiyah," printed in 1697,
Tobia Cohen of Metz (Zunz, "G. S." i. 193) also touches on cures,
and in one appendix treats of forty plants as foods and remedies;
while in another he gives aglossary of simple remedies written in
several languages. In the first he mentions the following
trees and
plants:
apple, birch,
pear, box, citron,
cypress, date, oak, ivy, ash,
fig, pine, oak-
apple, elder, linden, laurel,
mulberry,
pomegranate, walnut,
olive,
poplar, brook-willow,
peach,
plum, rose, rosemary, elm, sandalwood,
tamarisk, fir, willow,
vine, (
missing hebrew text)
(
missing hebrew text) ("juniper"), plane, (
missing
hebrew text) (
Pino salvaticum, pine-
tree).
Tobia Cohen also deserves mention among Jewish botanists because
he illustrated a variety of the orchid in his work (p. 143a).
Later Developments.
The superficiality of the barren period between Mendelssohn's
death and the appearance of
Rapoport is shown in the chapter on botany, said to be written,
according to some German text-book on natural history, by
Baruch Lindau for his
encyclopedia "Reshit Limmudim," Berlin, 1788. He gives a short
article on botany in forty pages, and, owing to his lack of Jewish
learning, makes mistakes in the Hebrew nomenclature of plants.
Phineas
Elijah b. Meïr of
Wilna (Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl." No. 6753; Zunz, "G. S." i. 196)
was more intimately acquainted with the Jewish knowledge of the
Middle Ages. He derives his natural philosophy from Ḥayyim Vital,
and describes the three powers of the plant
soul; viz., those that nourish, those that promote
growth, and those that propagate. He knows that modern botany
regards all plants as growing out of the
seed, though in many cases this is microscopic in
size. He also mentions that plants have male and female organs of
reproduction that are sometimes united in the same individual, and
sometimes divided between two, in which latter case the wind
carries the pollen to the female part, though bees also, in
collecting the pollen on their feet, assist in the fertilization of
the blossoms they afterward visit.
The microscope discloses the wonders of
God in nature, and one sees—as Phineas repeatedly
asserts—the whole plant pictured in the
seed. Not only is the next generation represented,
but, according to some modern botanists, all the later generations
lie folded up in the
seed from the
time of its creation. This, however, has not been proved, and is
only a hypothesis. It may be, he says, that each generation
produces only the
seed of the
next. Phineas adopts the latter view, since experience shows that
the unripe
seed is not capable of
propagation, though, in view of the minute wonders disclosed by the
microscope, the former can not be called impossible. As he learns
from botany that there are 20,000 known plants, while Jewish
tradition counts only 2, 100, he considers these latter as so many
plant
families, and subdivides these into many classes.
Then follow some remarks on plants turning toward the sun. Among
the plants mentioned are the sunflowers ( (
missing hebrew
text) ) and quite correctly the Talmudic (
missing hebrew
text) (should be (
missing hebrew text) ) or "mallow."
Of the brantgoose he treats earlier in speaking of moving plants,
such as the (
missing hebrew text) ("touch-me-not" or
"Impatiens"). But the most striking botanical reference is the
following (xi. 4f, 63a): "In 1744 it was discovered that when
flying
insects touch the
plant (
missing hebrew text) ("polyps"), growing in
Europe in pools among
reeds and
rushes, it folds its leaves together, seizes the insect, and,
crushing it into
dust, feeds on
it." Phineas adds: "How great are the wonders of our
God!" For further information on botany, see
Folk-Lore, Measures, Names, Plants.
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