This  plant,  which  grows  in  many
places,  both  in  Palestine  and  Egypt,
(Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  xii.  24,)  is  a  tall
shrub,  growing  from  the  height  of
eight  to  ten  feet ;  it  is  exceedingly
beautiful  and  odoriferous.  "  The  dark
colour  of  its  bark,  the  light  green  of
its  foliage,  the  softened  mixture  of
white  and  yellow,  with  which  the
flowers,  collected  into  long  clusters
like  the  lilac,  are  coloured,  the  red
tint  of  the  ramifications  which  support
them,- — form  a  combination  the  effect
of  which  is  highly  agreeable.  The  flow-
ers, whose  shades  are  so  delicate,  difl'use
around  the  most  grateful  odours,
and   embalm  with   their   strong  fra-


grance the  gardens  in  which  they  grow,
and  the  apartments  which  they  beau-
tify. .  .  .  The  women  take  pleasure
in  adorning  their  persons  and  apart-
ments with  those  delightful  blossoms."
See  Pliny,  lib.  xii.  c.  14  ;  Rosenmuller,
Bib.Miner.  and  Bot.;  Winer, Bib.  Diet.;
Kitto,  Cyclop.  Bib.  Lit.  s.  v.  The
flowers  grow  in  dense  clusters,  whence
iDijnbriist,  cluster  of  cyjjress  flozvers.
En-gedi,  more  anciently  called  Haze-
zon-Tamar,  which  modern  explorers
identify  with  the  present  Ain-Jidy,
abounded  with  the  best  of  those
delightful  shrubs,  (Winer,  Bib.  Diet.;
Kitto,  Cycloji.  Bib.  Lit.  s.  y. ;  Robinson,
Palest,  ii.  209—216.)  Hence  this
beautiful  appellation,  "a  bunch  of
cypress  flowers,"  than  which  nothing
could  be  more  expressive  of  sweetness
and  beauty  to  an  Oriental.  The  word
b3-i'«  is  most  probably  derived  from^i'iTN,
to  bind,  to  ttvine  together  ;  hence  ^'i-'N,  a
bundle,  a  string,  with  the  addition  of
b-  like  bM?,  '73-in,  Gesen.  §  30,  3 ;
Ewald,  §  163  f.  This  is  confirmed  by
the  Talm.  nbi3\p«,  disciples,  (Sota  47,  a),
i.  e.  a  combination  of  youths ;  comp.
