almond-rod

Updated: May 10, 2025

Out of the gray relics of man's highest hour of pride, the leafless almond-rod blossomed as of old in the holy place of the Hebrew Tabernacle; and its miracle of colour and tenderness was like the crimson glow that lingers at sunset upon Alpine heights, telling of a glory that had long vanished from the spot. Beneath these fern-draped vaults is the oldest prison in the world.

Hugh Macmillan - Roman Mosaics: Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood