Acts of Apostle Thomas

V AD 51 SOCOTRA MISSION : M. M. NINAN
Arabian Peninsula. The island is very isolated and through the process of speciation, a third of its
plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. It has been described as the most alien-looking place
on Earth. Socotra is part of the Republic of Yemen. Socotra appears as Dioskouridou ("of the
Dioscurides") in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a 1st century A.D. Greek navigation aid. In
the notes to his translation of the Periplus, G.W.B. Huntingford remarks that the name Socotra is
not Greek in origin, but derives from the Sanskrit dvipa sukhadhara ("island of bliss"). The Socotran
people have their own language which is semitic and close to Aramaic.
One of the most striking of Socotra's plants is the dragon's blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari), which
is a strange-looking, umbrella-shaped tree. Its red sap was thought to be the dragon's blood of the
ancients, sought after as a medicine and a dye, and today used as paint and varnish. Also
important in ancient times were Socotra's various endemic aloes, used medicinally, and for
cosmetics. Other endemic plants include the giant succulent tree Dorstenia gigas, Moraceae, the
cucumber tree Dendrosicyos socotranus, and the rare Socotran pomegranate, Punica protopunica.
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