سلع

سَلَعٌ ذ [originally inf. n. of سَلِعَ, q. v.,] Marks left by fire upon the skin. (TA.) -A2- A certain kind of bitter tree; (S, K;) which, in the Time of Ignorance, was used in one or the other of the manners described above in the explanations of تَسْلِيعٌ; (K, TA;) or they used, in the case of drought, or barrenness of the earth, to hang somewhat of this tree and of the عُشَر to the tails ذُنَابَى [a sing. used as a pl.]) of [wild] bulls or cows, then to kindle fire therein, and make them to ascend upon the mountain; and thus, they assert, they used to obtain rain: (S, TA:) the author of the K says that J has made a mistake in saying ذنابى, in the above-cited passage; that he should have said أَذْنَاب; but others had made this remark before the author of the K; and 'Abd-El-Kádir Ibn-'Omar El-Baghdádee says that the mistake is to be imputed to these, and not to J, who has only used a sing. in the sense of a pl., like as الدُّبُرَ is used in the Kur [liv. 45], for الأَدْبَارَ: (MF, TA:) AHn cites an Arab of the desert, of the سَرَاة, as saying that the سلع grows near to a tree, and then clings to it, and climbs it, with long, green, leafless shoots, twining upon the branches and interweaving themselves, and having a fruit like bunches of grapes, which is small, and, when ripe, becomes black, and is eaten only by the monkeys, or apes, not by men, nor by the beasts that are left to pasture at their pleasure; and adding, I have not tasted it, but I think that it is bitter; and when it is broken, there flows from it a viscous fluid, clear, and having strings: such is the description of the man of the سراة: (TA:) or it is a certain poisonous plant, (K, TA,) not to be tasted, like زَرْع [here meaning wheat or barley ] when it first comes forth, scantily scattered in the ground, and having a small, yellow, prickly leaf, its prickles being downy; it is a herb, or leguminous plant, which spreads itself upon the surface of the ground, like [ the plant called ] رَاحَةُ الكَلْبِ, having no root, and it is not improbable that the ostrich may feed upon it, notwithstanding its bitterness, for it sometimes feeds upon the colocynth: (Aboo-Ziyád, TA:) or it is a species of aloes: (K:) or a herb, or leguminous plant, (K, TA,) of those termed ذُكُور [ that are hard and thick, or thick, and inclining to bitterness, or thick and rough ], (TA,) of bad, or nauseous, or disgusting, taste: (K, TA:) so says Aboo-Nasr: (TA:) [Forskål found this name applied in El-Yemen to the sælanthus quadragonus: (Flora Ægypt. Arab., pp. cv. and 33:) and the cacalia sonchifolia: (Ibid., p. cxix.:) and the name of سَع أَبْيَض, or سَلَع البَقَر, to the senecio hadiensis. (Ibid., pp. cxix. and 149.)]