Styrax officinalis, Official Storax,
اللبنى, לבנה רפואי
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| | Scientific name: |
| Styrax officinalis |
| Common name: |
| Official Storax |
| Hebrew name: |
| לבנה רפואי |
| Arabic name: |
| اميعة, May,a |
| Family: |
| Styracaceae, לבניים |
Date Picture Taken: April 17, 2007
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| | Life form: |
| Tree |
| Leaves: |
| Alternate, entire |
| Flowers: |
| White |
| Flowering Period: |
| April, May, June |
| Habitat: |
| Mediterranean maquis and forest |
| Distribution: |
| Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon |
| Chorotype, טיפוס התפוצה: |
| Mediterranean |
| Summer shedding: |
| Perenating |
Date Picture Taken: October 6, 2006
Derivation of the botanical name:
Styrax, called "storax", στύραξ, by Pliny; derived from a Semitic (Arabic) name of assthirak.
officinalis, derived from opificina, shortened to officina, originally a workshop, later a monastic storeroom, then a herb-store, pharmacy or drug-shop.
Storax (Styrax officinalis), the Hebrew word 'nataf'- נטף . Nataf /'stacte' is a synonym of tzori (means 'a liquid drop) - its gum is obtained by making incisions in the stems and branches and the spice Stacte is used in the holy incense:
Exodus 30:34
"And the Lord said to Moses: Take unto thee spices, stacte, and onycha, galbanum of sweet savour,
and the clearest frankincense, all shall be of equal weight."
Styrax officinalis is a good-sized shrub or small deciduous tree with white spring blooms, that look like snowdrops, are exquisitely scented and have bright orange anthers.
These flowers hang from the underside of the branches, and leaves are along the top.
Poplar is the rendering of the Hebrew word libneh, a tree which exudes milky-white gum, which occurs in
Genesis 30:37:
Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees,
and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks.
and Hosea 4:13:
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore
Both poplars and storax or styrax trees are common in Israel, and either would suit the passages where the Hebrew term occurs.
Storax is mentioned in Ecclesiasticus Chapter 24:21, together with other aromatic substances:
"And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes,
and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm".
Pliny, Book XII. LV: "The region of Syria beyond Phoenicia nearest to Judaea produces styrax in the part round Gabala and Marathus and Mount Casius in Seleucia. The tree has the same name; it is similar to a squince. Its tears have a pleasant, almost pungent scent, and inside it resembles a reed, and is full of juice."
H.B.Tristram (1822-1906), in the Natural History of the Bible mentions: "Stacte.- This Greek word signifying a drop or exudation, is employed in Ex.XXX. 34 to express the Hebrew nataf, which bears the same meaning.
In Job XXXVI. 27 it is used to express a drop of water; inExodus it is the same name of one of the ingredients used in preparing the holy incense. The best authorities identify it with the gum of the Storax tree (Styrax officinale).
This is a very beautiful, perfumed shrub, which grows abundantly on the lower hills of Palestine, and has by some been taken for the 'poplar' of Scripture from its white hue.
It can scarcely be called a tree, though it is a large shrub. The bark is very smooth and pale-coloured, the leaves single, ovate, and with a smooth white film on the under side.
The blossoms are very like those of the orange in colour, size, and perfume, but grow most abundantly in small spikes of four or five.
Nothing can be more lovely than the appearance of the Storax in March, when covered with a sheet of white bloom, wafting its perfume through the dells of the Carmel and Galilee, where it is the predominant shrub, and contrasts beautifully with the deep red of the Judas tree growing in the same localities..."
Date Picture Taken: April 8, 2008
Date Picture Taken: April 27, 2007
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