دِفْلَى
, accord. to those who make the alif to be a sign of the fem. gender; and دِفْلًى, accord. to those who make that letter to be one of quasi-coordination; used alike as a sing. and a pl.; and
دِفْلٌ; [the first of these appellations applied in the present day to The rose-bay, or laurel-bay; oleander, nerium oleander, rhododendron, or rhododaphne: and also to the common laurel:] a certain tree, or plant,bitter,very bitter,and poisonous,green, and beautiful in appearance, the blossom of which is beautifully tinged,called in Persianخَرْزَهْرَهْ: there is a river-kind, and a land-kind: the leaves are like those of theحَمْقَآء [or gardenpurslane], but more slender; and the branches, or twigs, are long, spreading over the ground; at the leaves are thorns; and it grows in waste places: the river-kind grows upon the banks of rivers; its thorns are unconspicuous, or unapparent; its leaves are like those of theخِلَاف [or salix Aegyptia] and of the almond, broad; and the upper part of its stem is thicker than the lower part thereof:it is very deadly: its blossom is like the red rose,very rough (خشن جدّا [but this I think is a mistranscription for حَسَنٌ جِدًّاvery beautiful], and upon it is a kind of tuft like hair:its fruit is like theخُرْنُوب [q. v.]; having an aperient, or a deobstruent, property; and stuffed with a substance like wool:it is good for the mange, or scab, and the itch (حِكَّة), used in the manner of a liniment,and especially the expressed juice of its leaves;and for pain of the knee and the back,of long duration,applied in the manner of a poultice, or plaster; and for expelling fleas and the [insect called] أَرَض, by the sprinkling of a decoction thereof; and the rubbing over with the heart thereof twelve times, after cleansing, is good for removing the [malignant leprosy termed] بَرَص; and its leaves put upon hard tumours are very beneficial: but it is a poison: [yet] sometimes it is mixed with wine and rue, and given to be drunk, and saves from the poisons of venomous reptiles: the Ra-ees [Ibn-Seenà, or Avicenna,] says that it is perilous by itself, and its blossom, to men, and to horses and the like, and to dogs, but is beneficial when made into a decoction with rue, and drunk: IAar says that the [trees termed] آء and أَلَآء and حبر [app. a mistranscription for خَبْر, a species of lote-tree,] are all called دِفْلَى. AHn says that the زَنْد made from the دِفْلَى is excellent for producing fire: and hence the prov., اِقْدَحْ بِدِفْلَى فِى مَرْخِ ثُمَّ شُدَّ بَعْدُ أَوْ أَرْخِ [Endeavour thou to produce fire with wood of theدفلىupon wood of theمرخ: then tighten afterwards or loosen]: said when one incites a bad man against another bad man: or, accord. to IAar, said in relation to a man whom one needs not to press, or importune.
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