PLANE-TREE. CHESTNUT-TREE OF THE BIBLE. (Platanus orientalis.) IN "The chestnut-trees [plane-trees] were not like his branches."-Ezek. xxxi. 8. two passages of the Old Testament we meet with the Hebrew word Armon, and in both of them it has been translated Chestnut. Then, in Genesis xxx. 37, it is said, " And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree;" and again, in Ezekiel xxxi. 8, "The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir-trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches." The best commentators consider the tree to be the eastern Plane-tree, the Platanus orientalis of botanists. It is a large tree, with spreading branches. Ovid speaks of "platano conspectior alta;" and Martial alludes to the tree thus; "ramis sidera celsa petit." De la Roque, in his travels in Syria and Mount Lebanon, says, "We dined in the midst of this little forest. It is composed of twenty cedars, of such enormous size that they far exceeded the more beautiful Plane-trees, sycomores, and other large trees, which we had been in the habit of seeing during our journey." Royle says, "It may be remarked, that this tree is in Genesis associated with such trees as the willow and poplar, which, like it, grow on low grounds, where the soil is rich and humid. Russel names the plane, willow, and poplar, as trees which grow in the same situations near Aleppo. This congruity would be lost if the chestnut were understood, as that tree prefers dry and hilly situations." The Plane-tree belongs to the class Monoecia and order Polyan F soldiers during the Peninsular war. The pods are imported into Britain in small quantity, as food for horses and cattle. The locust beans, as they are called by farmers, are mixed with oil-cake and a little meal. They do not require to be crushed, for, being very palatable, the animals masticate them well before swallowing them. Camels are also fed on them. Hence they are called by the Turks Deweh Etmeghi, or, the bread of the camel. A tree will sometimes produce 800 to 900 pounds of pods. The pod is 6 to 8 inches in length, and about an inch in breadth. It is flattened on the sides, and is about a quarter of an inch in thickness. The seeds are of a reddish brown colour, and are immersed in a sweetish pulp. In times of scarcity, the pod has been used by man as food. Some have called the tree locust-tree, and St John's bread-tree, from a mistaken notion that its pods were the locusts referred to in Matt. iii. 4, and Mark i. 6, as forming part of the food of the Baptist. The German name for the fruit, for the same reason, is Johannisbrod. Rawolf, in his account of a journey from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, says, "along the roads were a good many of the trees which are called by the inhabitants Chernubi (the Arabic, Charnub), and the fruit of which we call St John's bread; it was brought to us in great quantities." In the case of the prodigal son, the feeding on husks pointed out the low and miserable condition to which he was reduced when he wandered from his father's house. He would fain have been content with the most miserable fare, and was in a very degraded situation, although, in his madness and folly, he knew it not. His condition represents that of the sinner who has wandered from God, and who is content with the unsatisfying husks of this world's enjoy ments. PLANE-TREE. CHESTNUT-TREE OF THE BIBLE. (Platanus orientalis.) IN "The chestnut-trees [plane-trees] were not like his branches."-Ezek. xxxi. 8. two passages of the Old Testament we meet with the Hebrew word Armon, and in both of them it has been translated Chestnut. Then, in Genesis xxx. 37, it is said, " And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree;" and again, in Ezekiel xxxi. 8, "The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him the fir-trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches.' The best commentators consider the tree to be the eastern Plane-tree, the Platanus orientalis of botanists. It is a large tree, with spreading branches. Ovid speaks of "platano conspectior alta;" and Martial alludes to the tree thus; "ramis sidera celsa petit." De la Roque, in his travels in Syria and Mount Lebanon, says, "We dined in the midst of this little forest. It is composed of twenty cedars, of such enormous size that they far exceeded the more beautiful Plane-trees, sycomores, and other large trees, which we had been in the habit of seeing during our journey." Royle says, "It may be remarked, that this tree is in Genesis associated with such trees as the willow and poplar, which, like it, grow on low grounds, where the soil is rich and humid. Russel names the plane, willow, and poplar, as trees which grow in the same situations near Aleppo. This congruity would be lost if the chestnut were understood, as that tree prefers dry and hilly situations.” The Plane-tree belongs to the class Monoecia and order Polyan F dria of the Linnean system, and to the natural order Platanaceæ, or the Plane-tree family, which are catkin-bearing plants, with the flowers in clusters of rounded balls, pendulous on a common stalk. The leaves of the oriental plane are palmate, resembling those of our common sycamore, which is a species of maple. The resemblance in the form of the leaves has caused the latter to be denominated in Scotland the Plane-tree, and to be named botanically false-plane (Acer pseudo-platanus). The wood of the true plane is hard and fine-grained, and when old, it resembles walnut-wood in its dark veining. The timber was used for making vessels for the vintage, and for other purposes. The tree is a native of the western parts of Asia, and it extends as far as Cashmere. It was held sacred in the East, and was valued for its shade by the Greeks and Romans. Themisteus speaks of disputations under the lofty platanus. Belon says, that the plane-trees of Mount Athos may be compared in height to the cedars of Lebanon, and to the lofty pines of Mount Olympus and Aman. He also notices the occurrence of fine plane-trees at the entrance to Antioch; and De la Roque refers to the forest of plane-trees and cypresses which border the river Orontes, in the plains of Antioch. Xerxes is said to have paid homage to a large plane-tree in Lydia. |