LOTUS TREE

[Heb., tse·ʼelimʹ (plural)].

The thorny lotus (Zizyphus lotus) is a thickly branched shrub or low tree, often growing to a height of only 1.5 m (5 ft). The leaves are small, oval, and leathery, and at the base of each leaf is a pair of thorns. The only reference to it is at Job 40:21, 22, which speaks of Behemoth (the hippopotamus) as lying in the shade cast by the tree. While this tree is found in dry places in Palestine, A Dictionary of Life in Bible Times speaks of it as “flourishing in the hot and humid marshland” of N Africa.​—By W. Corswant, Suffolk, 1960, p. 177.