CAMPHIRE

Camphire \Cam"phire\ (k[a^]m"f[imac]r), n.
   An old spelling of {Camphor}.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Camphire
(Heb. copher), mentioned in Cant. 1:14 (R.V., "henna-flowers");
4:13 (R.V., "henna"), is the al-henna of the Arabs, a native of
Egypt, producing clusters of small white and yellow odoriferous
flowers, whence is made the Oleum Cyprineum. From its leaves is
made the peculiar auburn dye with which Eastern women stain
their nails and the palms of their hands. It is found only at
Engedi, on the shore of the Dead Sea. It is known to botanists
by the name Lawsonia alba or inermis, a kind of privet, which
grows 6 or 8 feet high. The margin of the Authorized Version of
the passages above referred to has "or cypress," not with
reference to the conifer so called, but to the circumstance that
one of the most highly appreciated species of this plant grew in
the island of Cyprus.