Category:Tamarisk

Tam"a*risk, n. Etym: [l. tamariscus, also tamarix, tamarice, skr. Tamala, tamalaka, a tree with a very dark bark; cf. tamas darkness: Cf. F. tamarisc, tamarix, tamaris.] (bot.)

Defn: any shrub or tree of the genus tamarix, the species of which Are european and asiatic. They have minute scalelike leaves, and Small flowers in spikes. An arabian species (t. mannifera) is the Source of one kind of manna. Tamarisk salt tree, an east indian tree (tamarix orientalis) which produces an incrustation of salt.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Tamarisk - Heb. 'eshel (Genesis 21:33; 1 Samuel 22:6; 1 Samuel 31:13, in the R.V.; but in A.V., "grove," "tree"); Arab. asal. Seven species of this tree are found in Palestine. It is a "very graceful tree, with long feathery branches and tufts closely clad with the minuteness of leaves, and surmounted in spring with spikes of beautiful pink blossoms, which seem to envelop the whole tree in one gauzy sheet of colour" (Tristram's Nat. Hist.).