Holmtree
Holm-tree (πρῖνος, ilex) occurs only in the apocryphal story of Susanna (ver. 58). The passage contains a characteristic play on the names of the two trees mentioned by the elders in their evidence. That on the mastich (σχῖνον...ἄγγελος σχίσει σε) will be noticed under that head. SEE MASTICK. That on the holm-tree (πρῖνον) is: "The angel of God waiteth with the sword to cut thee in two" (ἵνα πρίσαι σε). For the historical significance of these puns, SEE SUSANNA. The πρῖνος of Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. 3, 7, § 3, and 16, § 1, and elsewhere) and Dioscorides (1, 144) denotes, there can be no doubt, the Quercus coccifera, or the Q. pseudococcifera, which is perhaps not specifically distinct from the first- mentioned oak. The ilex of the Roman writers was applied both to the holm-oak (Quercus ilex), and to the Q. coccifera, or kermes oak. See Pliny (N.H. 16, 6). For the oaks of Palestine, see a paper by Dr. Hooker in the Transactions of the Linnaean Society, vol. 23, pt. 2, p. 381-387. — Smith, s.v. SEE OAK.
