Gustaf Dalman , Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina, hard, [1933], II p. 249, Hebräisch ist der Lolch veilleicht Hi. 31, 40 gemeint mit ba'esa, das statt der Gerste wächst, während der Weizen sich in eine Distel (hoah) verwandelt
C. Plinius Secundus , The Natural History, 22.77, Even more than this--the very plants which are the bane of the corn-field are not without their medicinal uses. Darnel1 has received from Virgil2 the epithet of "unhappy;" and yet, ground and boiled with vinegar, it is used as an application for the cure of impetigo, which is the more speedily effected the oftener the application is renewed. It is employed, also, with oxymel, for the cure of gout and other painful diseases. The following is the mode of treatment: for one sextarius of vinegar, two ounces of honey is the right proportion; three sextarii having been thus prepared, two sextarii of darnel meal are boiled down in it to a proper consistency, the mixture being applied warm to the part affected. This meal, too, is used for the extraction of splinters of broken bones. [p. 4455]1 See B. xviii. c. 44. Darnel acts upon the brain to such an extent as to produce symptoms like those of drunkenness; to which property it is indebted for its French name of ivraie. It is no longer used in medicine.
2 Georg. i. 153; "Infelix lolium, et steriles dominantur aven
Door Leicester Ambrose Sawyer , The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, 369-370, 1 Zit &via Matt 13 24 30 36 43 poisonous darnel is rendered in the common version tares Tares are a species of vetches Vetches belong to the magnificent order of leguminous plants which contains according to an estimate in 1845 467 genera and 6500 species No family of the vegetable kingdom has a higher claim to respect both as objects of ornament and utility The acacias sweet pea etc are cultivated for their flowers beans peas etc for their fruit and among trees which belong to this order are the rosewood the laburnum and the locust in medicines liquorice senna tamarind gums Senegal and Arabic balsams of copaiva and tolu indigo Brazil wood logwood and red sandal wood
2 Tares belong to the first sub order of these plants to the 2d genus the vetch and is the 5th species the common vetch They are slender plants found in the cultivated fields of Europe with stems from two to three feet long decumbent or climbing The tare entirely fails to answer the description in the parable and the whole order protests against such dishonorable imputations as the makes
3 L some as a species of bastard wheat Bastard wheat is a grass of the 34th genus and 1st species It is a handsome grass resembling wheat and often found in it It is commonly called chess This grass infests wheat and is difficult to be separated entirely from it Many suppose that wheat is deteriorated into chess but the most eminent botanists hold the contrary and consider chess to be propagated in all cases from its own seeds like the other grasses Chess agree with the design of the parable much better than tares The fytfiviu however were not tares nor chess but a species of darnel grass called poisonous darnel The grasses consist of 291 genera and 3800 species diffused universally through the world to the utmost limits of vegetation and contribute more to the support of man and beast than all other plants To this order belong the grains wheat rye barley oats rice etc
4 One sub order of the grasses is the lolium Of this there are two species 1 The perennial lolium or darnel grass which grows from one to two feet high naturalized in meadows and cultivated grounds 2 The lolium tumulentum intoxicating lolium or poisonous darnel The poisonous darnel grows 2 feet high and is distinguished from all other grasses by its poisonous seeds
5 This grass was sometimes found among wheat and other grains in ancient times both in the East and elsewhere and still infests the grain fields of Palestine and other parts of Asia It was also sometimes sown maliciously by personal enemies after good seed to injure the crop and make it worthless Chess and other grasses which infest grain could be eaten by cattle and turned to some valuable account but the poisonous darnel was required to be burned and was unfit either for the use of man or beast The injurious effects of the poison are referred to by the Latin poets and agree with the design of the parable
6 Poisonous darnel when sown with wheat or immediately after it comes up at the same time resembles it in its leaf and stalk and can not be distinguished from it till it heads out Then the poisonous darnel appears and the work of the enemy if it is sown by an enemy shows itself There are two ways of disposing of it the first is to pull it up and throw it away before the seed ripens but the other and more usual method is to select it out from the wheat at the harvest and burn it to destroy the seeds All this is conformable to the description in the parable and shows clearly that the poisonous darnel is meant and not the bastard wheat or chess and still less tares.