14. A bunch of cypress flowers, &c. ‏כֹּפֶר‎ is unanimously regarded by the ancient versions and the Rabbins to denote the plant called κύπρος by the Greek, and Al-henna by the Arabs. This plant, which grows in many places, both in Palestine and Egypt, (Plin. Hist. Nat. xii. 24,) is a tall shrub, growing from the height of eight to ten feet; it is exceedingly beautiful and odoriferous. “The dark colour of its bark, the light green of its foliage, the softened mixture of white and yellow, with which the flowers, collected into long clusters like the lilac, are coloured, the red tint of the ramifications which support them,—form a combination the effect of which is highly agreeable. The flowers, whose shades are so delicate, diffuse around the most grateful odours, and embalm with their strong fragrance the gardens in which they grow, and the apartments which they beautify.... The women take pleasure in adorning their persons and apartments with those delightful blossoms.” See Pliny, lib. xii. c. 14; Rosenmüller, Bib. Miner. and Bot.; Winer, Bib. Dict.; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. s.v. The flowers grow in dense clusters, whence ‏אֶשְׁכֹּל הַכֹּפֶר‎, cluster of cypress flowers. En-gedi, more anciently called Hazezon-Tamar, which modern explorers identify with the present Ain-Jidy, abounded with the best of those delightful shrubs, (Winer, Bib. Dict.; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. s.v.; Robinson, Palest, ii. 209–216.) Hence this beautiful appellation, “a bunch of cypress flowers,” than which nothing could be more expressive of sweetness and beauty to an Oriental. The word ‏אֶשְׁכֹּל‎ is most probably derived from ‏אָשַׁךְ‎, to bind, to twine together; hence ‏אֶשֶׁךְ‎, a bundle, a string, with the addition of ‏–ֹל‎ like ‏גִבְעֹל‎, ‏חַרְגֹּל‎, Gesen. § 30, 3; Ewald, § 163 f. This is confirmed by the Talm. ‏אַשְׁכּוֹלֶת‎, disciples, (Sota 47, a), i.e. a combination of youths; comp. ‏חֶבֶר‎, and Fürst, Lexicon, s.v. ‏כֶּרֶם‎ here is a field cultivated as a garden; comp. ‏כֶּרֶם זָיִת‎, an olive-yard. Judg. xv. 5; Job xxiv. 18, and supra, ver. 6.