Dictionary
Camphire
(Heb. copher), mentioned in Cant. 1:14 (R.V., "henna-flowers"); 4:13 (R.V., "henna"), is the al-henna of the Arabs, a native of Egypt, producing clusters of small white and yellow odoriferous flowers, whence is made the Oleum Cyprineum. From its leaves is made the peculiar auburn dye with which Eastern women stain their nails and the palms of their hands. It is found only at Engedi, on the shore of the Dead Sea. It is known to botanists by the name Lawsonia alba or inermis, a kind of privet, which grows 6 or 8 feet high. The margin of the Authorized Version of the passages above referred to has "or cypress," not with reference to the conifer so called, but to the circumstance that one of the most highly appreciated species of this plant grew in the island of Cyprus.
Dictionary
Saffron
Heb. karkom, Arab. zafran (i.e., "yellow"), mentioned only in Cant. 4:13, 14; the Crocus sativus. Many species of the crocus are found in Palestine. The pistils and stigmata, from the centre of its flowers, are pressed into "saffron cakes," common in the East. "We found," says Tristram, "saffron a very useful condiment in travelling cookery, a very small pinch of it giving not only a rich yellow colour but an agreable flavour to a dish of rice or to an insipid stew."
Dictionary
Cedar
(Heb. e'rez, Gr. kedros, Lat. cedrus), a tree very frequently mentioned in Scripture. It was stately (Ezek. 31:3-5), long-branched (Ps. 80:10; 92:12; Ezek. 31:6-9), odoriferous (Cant. 4:11; Hos. 14:6), durable, and therefore much used for boards, pillars, and ceilings (1 Kings 6:9, 10; 7:2; Jer. 22:14), for masts (Ezek. 27:5), and for carved images (Isa. 44:14). It grew very abundantly in Palestine, and particularly on Lebanon, of which it was "the glory" (Isa. 35:2; 60:13). Hiram supplied Solomon with cedar trees from Lebanon for various purposes connected with the construction of the temple and the king's palace (2 Sam. 5:11; 7:2, 7; 1 Kings 5:6, 8, 10; 6:9, 10, 15, 16, 18, 20; 7:2, 3, 7, 11, 12; 9:11, etc.). Cedars were used also in the building of the second temple under Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:7). Of the ancient cedars of Lebanon there remain now only some seven or eight. They are not standing together. But beside them there are found between three hundred and four hundred of younger growth. They stand in an amphitheatre fronting the west, about 6,400 feet above the level of the sea. The cedar is often figuratively alluded to in the sacred Scriptures. "The mighty conquerors of olden days, the despots of Assyria and the Pharaohs of Egypt, the proud and idolatrous monarchs of Judah, the Hebrew commonwealth itself, the war-like Ammonites of patriarchal times, and the moral majesty of the Messianic age, are all compared to the towering cedar, in its royal loftiness and supremacy (Isa. 2:13; Ezek. 17:3, 22, 23, 31:3-9; Amos 2:9; Zech. 11:1, 2; Job 40:17; Ps. 29:5; 80:10; 92:12, etc).", Groser's Scrip. Nat. Hist. (See [105]BOX-TREE.)
Dictionary
Helbon
Fat; i.e., "fertile", (Ezek. 27: 18 only), a place whence wine was brought to the great market of Tyre. It has been usually identified with the modern Aleppo, called Haleb by the native Arabs, but is more probably to be found in one of the villages in the Wady Helbon, which is celebrated for its grapes, on the east slope of Anti-Lebanon, north of the river Barada (Abana).