Sycamine
Sycamine
(συκάμινος; Vulg. morus) is mentioned once only in the Bible, viz. in Lu 17:6, "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye might say to this sycamine-tree, Be thou plucked up," etc. There is no reason to doubt that the συκάμινος is distinct from the συκομωραία of the same evangelist (19, 4), although we learn from Dioscorides (1, 180) that this name was sometimes given to the συκόμορος. SEE SYCAMORE. Thesycamine is the mulberry-tree (morus), as is evident from Dioscorides, Theophrastus (H. P. 1, 6, 1; 10. 10; 13, 4, etc.), and various other Greek writers (see Celsius, Hierob. 1, 288). A form of the same word, συκαμηνῃά, is still one of the names for the mulberry tree in Greece (see Heldreich, Nutzpfianzen Griechenlandzs [Athens, 1862 ], p. 19: "Morus alba L. and M. Nigra L., ἡ Μορῃά, Μουργῃά, and Μουρῃά, also Δυκαμηνῃά; pelasg. mure"). In his learned essay on the Trees and Shrubs of the A ncients (1865). Dr. Daubeny adopts the distinction pointed out by Bodoeus and confirmed by Fraas: the sycamorus of the Romans, the συκόμορον or συκάμινος (ἐν Αἰγυπτία) of Dioscorides, the συκάμινος Αἰγυπτία of Theophrastus. is the sycamore-fig, or Ficus sycomorus of modern botany. On the other hand, the συκάμινος of the Greeks, used simply and without the qualification "Egyptian," the συκαμηνέα of Dioscorides, is the morus of the Romans-our mulberry. Dr. Sibthorpe, who traveled as a botanist in Greece for the express purpose of identifying the plants known to the Greeks, says that in Greece the white mulberry-tree is called μουρέα; the black mulberry-tree, συκαμενία. Not only is it the species whose fruit is prized, but it may be questioned whether the Morus alba had found its way into those regions before the introduction of the silk-worm had made its favorite food an object of cultivation. Believed to be a native of Persia, the mulberry, commonly so called, Morus nigra, is now spread over the milder regions, of Europe, and is continually mentioned by travelers in the Holy Land. As the mulberry- tree is common, as it is lofty and affords shade, it is well: calculated for the illustration of the above passage of Luke. See Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 396; Thomson, Land and Book, 2, 296. SEE MULBERRY.
