Sycamine, Tree

sik'-a-min, (sukaminos (Lu 17:6)): This is generally accepted as the black mulberry tree (Morus nigra; Natural Order, Urlicaceae), known in Arabic as tut shrami, "the Damascus mulberry," a fine tree which grows to the height of 30 ft. It produces the dark blood-red mulberry juice referred to in 1 Macc 6:34 (moron), "the blood of .... mulberries," which was shown to the elephants of the Syrians. The white mulberry, M. alba, has white and less juicy fruit, and it is cultivated largely for the sake of its leaves with which the silkworms of the Lebanon are fed.

E. W. G. Masterman