The Oak, the strongest of all trees, has been revered as the emblem of the Supreme Being by almost all the nations of heathendom, by the Jewish Patriarchs, and by the children of Israel, who eventually came to esteem the tree sacred, and offered sacrifices beneath its boughs. Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Teutons, and Celts, all considered the Oak as sacred, and the Druids taught the people of Britain to regard this tree with peculiar reverence and respect. It is frequently mentioned by the Roman poets as the tree of Jove, to whom it was dedicated; and near to Chaonia, a mountainous part of Epirus, was a forest of Oaks, called the Chaonian or Dodonæan Forest, where oracles were given, as some say, by the trees themselves. The world-tree of Romowe, the old centre of the Prussians, was an Oak, and it was reverenced as a tree of great sanctity. The Indians adored the tree _Asoka_, consecrated to Vishnu; and the Banyan, in the belief that Vishnu was born amongst its branches.[5] [5] In the rites appertaining to the great sacrifice in honour of the god Vishnu at the end of March, the following plants were employed, and consequently acquired a sacred character in the eyes of the Indians:--Sesamum seed, leaves of the Asvattha, Mango leaves, flowers of the Sami, Kunda flowers, the Lotus flower, Oleander flowers, Nagakesara flowers, powdered Tulasi leaves, powdered Bel leaves, leaves of the Kunda, Barley meal, meal of the Nivara grain (a wild paddy), powder of Sati leaves, Turmeric powder, meal of the Syamaka grain, powdered Ginger, powdered Priyangu seeds, Rice meal, powder of Bel leaves, powder of the leaves of the Amblic Myrobalan, and Kangni seed meal.--_An Imperial Assemblage at Delhi Three Thousand Years Ago._ The _Soma-latâ_ (_Sarcostemma aphylla_), or sacred plant yielding the immortal fluid offered to the gods on the altars of the Brahmans, is regarded with extreme reverence. The name _Amrita_, or Immortal Tree, is given to the _Euphorbia_, _Panicum Dactylon_, _Cocculus cordifolius_, _Pinus Deodara_, _Emblica officinalis_, _Terminalia citrina_, _Piper longum_, and many others. The Holy Basil (_Ocimum sanctum_) is looked upon as a sacred plant. The Deodar is the _Devadâru_ or tree-god of the Shastras, alluded to in Vedic hymns as the symbol of majesty and power. To Indra, the supreme god of the Vedic Olympus, are dedicated the _Terminalia Arjuna_ (the Tree of Indra), the _Methonica superba_ (the Flower of Indra), a species of Pumpkin called _Indra-vârunikâ_ (appertaining to Indra and Varuna), the _Vitex Negundo_ (the drink of Indra), the _Abrus precatorius_, and Hemp (the food of Indra).