Abstract
AN interesting short paper by Prof. F. E. Weiss (J. Roy. Hort. Soc, 66, Pt. 2, February 1941) directs attention to the “Court of Flowers” in the Festal Temple of Thutmosis III (1501-1447 B.C.) at Karnak. This ruler aspired to, and attained by conquest, a considerable empire in Syria and Palestine. He appears to have been unique in that he ordered botanical exploration to follow totalitarian imposition, and published his results as bas-reliefs upon the walls of the Court of Flowers at Karnak. Many species are unidentifiable, but others cannot be mistaken. These include the blue water lily, Nymphcea cozrulea, the pomegranate, vine, two species of arum (A, italicum and A. Dracunculus), a species of Kalanchoe and one of Iris. The fruits of sycamore (Ficus sycomorus) and a capitulum of Chrysanthemum coronarium are less certain, though probable, namings. It is rather curious that some of the species are now regarded as native in Egypt, but this lithological publication of botanical geography distinctly speaks in hieroglyphic inscription of “all the beautiful flowers which the power of His Majesty has collected when His Majesty was making war on upper Palestine so as to conquer the countries”.
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