“It grows wild on Mount Carmel and in Upper Galilee, and its use as a decorative shrub is widespread. The leaves usually grow in series of two and opposite each other. Some have leaves arranged in groups of three. Burning the shrubs produces a higher proportion of the latter form. The plant flowers during the summer months and later bears black berries. There are other varieties whose ripe fruit is white and whose small leaves are arranged in groups of four or more. The plant is called asu in Akkadian and asa in Aramaic. The eẓ avot, twice mentioned in Scripture, refers, according t…Read More