علج

عَلَجَانٌ ذ (S, O, L, K) and ↓ عَلَجٌ (L, TA) A certain sort of plant; (S, O, K;) growing in the sand: n. un. with ة: (O:) AHn says, on the authority of certain of the Arabs of the desert, that it grows in the form of slender strings, intensely green, of a greenness like that of herbs, or leguminous plants, inclining to yellowness, bare, having no leaves: (O:) he says [also] that the عَلَج [or عَلَجَان, as will be shown by what follows,] is, with the people of Nejd, a sort of trees [or shrubs ] having no leaves, consisting only of bare strings, of a dusty green colour: (L, TA:) the asses eat it, and their teeth become yellow in consequence of their eating it; wherefore one says of him who has yellow teeth, كَأَنَّ فَاهُ فُو حِمَارٍ أَكَلَ عَلَجَانًا [ As though his mouth were the mouth of an ass that had eaten 'alaján; by the mouth being meant the teeth, as is often the case]: (O, L, TA:) and he says that it sometimes grows, not in the sand, but in soft, or plain, tracts; and accord. to some, (O,) the عَلَجَان is a sort of trees of a dark green colour, not having leaves, consisting only of twigs, one of such trees occupying the space of a man sitting; (O, L, TA; *) growing in plain, or soft, land, and not eaten by the camels unless of necessity: Az says that the عَلَجَان is a sort of trees resembling that called عَلَنْدًى, which he had seen in the desert: and its pl. [or rather the pl. of the n. un. (عَلَجَةٌ) of its syn. ↓ عَلَجٌ] is عَلَجَاتٌ. (L, TA.)