Figs, Dates, Laurel, and Myrrh:  Plants of the Bible and the Qur'an
by Lytton John Musselman. Foreword by Garrison Keillor
Oregon:  Timber Press, 2007.  Pp. 336

Review by Dr. Susan K. Hedahl

        In picking up this new book at the Adams County Library, the first thing I noticed inside the cover was that it was donated to the Donald R. Heiges Endowment.  Wonderful choice on all counts!  Musselman is Mary Payne Hogan Professor of Botany and the Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University.  He has traveled extensively in the Middle East, knows his Bible and Qur’an, and writes lovingly and engaging about his subject.

        This work contains an encyclopedic listing of plants from ‘Acacia’ to ‘Wormwood.’  Each entry has one or more excellent photographs to accompany it.  In some cases, the history of the plant in question is clear, while in other cases the background and even terms for the plant offer several historical options for identification.   The author uses a wide range of biblical translations and quranic vocabulary to examine how the ancient users of the plants might have termed the materials.   English, Arabic and Hebrew are all utilized to sort out the possible senses of the plants’ descriptions and usages. 

        An excerpt from the “Crown of Thorns” notes that:  “Despite its Latin name,  Ziziphus spina-christi (literally ‘spine of Christ’) was probably not the crown of thorns, even though it is often called that (this book treats it under ‘thornbush’)…. Spiny burnet, the common names for Sarcopoterium spinosum…is a flexible plant;  it would be easy to weave a crown from it.”

        This work would make a superlative addition to a church library as well as to any preacher’s study.  I found the author’s thorough-going knowledge of his subject something that could well be utilized in pastoral work for bible studies, Sunday School presentations and sermon preparation.