Lytton John Musselman
Mary Payne Hogan Professor of Botany
From the jacket:
This book celebrates the plants of the Old Testament and New Testament, including the Apocrypha, and of the Quran. From acacia, the wood of the tabernacle, to wormwood, whose bitter leaves are the flavor of absinthe, 81 chapters cover the more than 100 plants in the sacred texts that have true botanical counterparts.
Especially fascinating are the surprises and mysteries: why the fruit of Eden may not have been an apple and why Babylon's weeping willows were probably another tree entirely, just to name a few. These stories of the fruits, trees, grasses, grains, flowers, and fragrances of ancient lore include botanical characteristics, plant habitats, and traditional uses. Each account interprets evocative quotations to reveal the fast-disappearing collective wisdom of the ages.
Grounded in a reverence for the region, this handy reference covers a broad geographic range beyond Israel, encompassing the biblical Holy Land from southern Turkey to central Sudan and from Cyprus to the Iraq border. "It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey," as Deuteronomy describes it, and so much more, a region as unique for its diverse flora as for its historical and religious significance.
Richly illustrated with extensive color photography and with a foreword by the incomparable Garrison Keillor, this delightful ecumenical botany offers the welcome tonic of a deep look into an enduring, shared natural heritage.
336 pp. 243 color photos, 1 map. Timber Press http://www.timberpress.com/books/isbn.cfm/9780881928556
"Friend Musselman's book is shocking to me. Here is a distinguished American botanist with years of research experience in the Middle East pointing at the picture book I still carry in my mind and saying, 'It wasn't an apple that Eve gave to Adam. It may have been an apricot. It sure wasn't an apple.' This is a jolt to an old believer like me."
From the foreword by Garrison Keillor
"This volume will be welcomed by readers not only in the West but also in the Islamic world as an important addition to scriptural literature."
Dr. M. I. H. Farooqi
National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India
Author of Plants of the Quran and Medicinal Plants in the Traditions of Prophet Muhammad
"A readable reference work for preacher and scripture reader alike. Beautifully illustrated."
Nigel Hepper
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Author of Encyclopedia of Bible Plants
Lytton John Musselman
Education:
Doctor of Philosophy, 1974 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Master of Science, 1968 University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Bachelor of Science, 1965 Beloit College
Teaching Responsibilities:
Biol 221, Field Botany
Biol 322 Ethnobotany
Biol 414/514, Plants of the Bible and the Koran
Biol 419/519, Wetland Plants
Administrative Responsibilities:
Department Chair
Manager, Blackwater Ecologic Preserve
Research Interests:
Plants fascinate me. I am intrigued by their diversity of form, function, and habitat. I especially enjoy studying them where they live--on mountain slopes, tidal rivers, or deserts. This means I spend a lot of time in the field with my three main research interests.
I have devoted the majority of my career to parasitic plants, especially the witchweeds (genus Striga), broomrapes (genus Orobanche), dodders (genus Cuscuta), and the family Hydnoraceae. Witchweeds are mainly African and include some of the most serious pathogens of subsistence crops in the semiarid tropics. With one of my students and a British colleague, we recently published a monograph on African witchweeds. Broomrapes are chiefly Mediterranean plants that parasitize a diversity of hosts and are serious problems in crop legumes. Witchweeds and broomrapes are of limited concern in the United States. Dodders are yellow vines resembling parasitic spaghetti. They cause problems on five continents. Species of Hydnoraceae include some of the most bizarre plants on our planet! One species, H. triceps, flowers underground-one of only two species known to have hypogeous flowering. See the "Strangest Plant in the World".
In contrast to the desert and semidesert regions where the Hydnoraceae and witchweeds occur, another of my active research efforts involves an aquatic fern-like plant, quillworts, species of the genus Isoetes. Along with Dr. Rebecca Bray and students in our department, I have been investigating quillworts of the southern United States, South Africa, and the Middle East. See the ODU Quillwort Page.
Another research endeavor involves the life and botanical activities of pioneer botanists of the Middle East including George Edward Post (1838-1909). He was one of the founders of the medical school of the American University of Beirut and also a professor of botany. While in Syria, he contributed the treatment of plants and animals to the most widely circulated Bible dictionaries. For information on Post and his activities, Click Here. The revision of Post's flora was done by John Edward Dinsmore (1862-1951) and published in 1932 by the American University of Beirut. This flora is available on line at: http://ddc.aub.edu.lb/projects/saab/post-flora/ . For many years it was the most widely used flora in that region yet very little is known about Dinsmore. He moved from Maine to Jerusalem in the 1890's to join a Protestant commune called The American Colony. At present, I am working on a short biography of Dinsmore based on my presentation at the International Congress on Biodiversity in the Middle East (see http://www.senckenberg.de/root/index.php?page_id=3987 )
Selected Publications:
Bolin,J. F., E. Maass, and L. J. Musselman. 2009. Pollination Biology of Hydnora Africana Thunb. (Hydnoraceae) in Namibia: Brood-site Mimicry with Insect Imprisonment. International Journal of Plant Science 170(2):157-163.
Bolin, J. F., R. D. Bray, M. Keskin, L. J. Musselman. 2008. The Genus Isoetes L. (Isoetaceae, Lycophyta) in South-Western Asia. Turkish Journal of Botany 32: 447-457.
Musselman, L. J. and J. F. Bolin. 2008. New Infestation of Branched broomrape Orobanche ramosa L. (Orobanchaceae) on black medic (Medicago lupulina L.) (Fabaceae) in Virginia. Plant Disease 92(2): 315. http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/abs/10.1094/PDIS-92-2-0315B
Tennakoon, K. U., J. F. Bolin, L. J. Musselman, and E. Maas. 2007. Structural attributes of the hypogeous holoparasite Hydnora triceps & Meyer (Hydnoraceae). American Journal of Botany94(9): 1439-1449.
More Information:
ODU Plant Photo Site: A large compilation of plant pictures and information.
Blackwater Ecologic Preserve: Information on the preserve, now part of the Zuni Pine Barrens state natural area.
My Home Page includes my curriculum vitae and other information as well as links to my courses.
Recent lectures include presentations on George Edward Post, pioneer botanist of the Middle East, lectures on Bible plants, and other material.
Haustorium Parasitic Plants Newsletter: Official Organ of the International Parasitic Seed Plant Research Group.
Contact Information:
Department of Biological Sciences
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA 23529-0266
Phone: (757) 683-3597
Cell: (757) 771-6156
Fax: (757) 683-5283
e-mail: lmusselm@odu.edu
