* flax.
   The word {pishteh,} flax, Mr. Parkhurst thinks may be derived
   from {pashat,} to strip, because the substance which we call
   flax is properly the filaments of the bark or rind of the
   vegetable, stripped off the stalks.  From time immemorial,
   Egypt was celebrated for the production and manufacture of
   flax; and hence the linen and fine linen of Egypt, so often
   spoken of in scripture and ancient authors.

 * the barley.
   The Hebrew {se┴ah,} barley, in Arabic {shair,} and
   {shairat,} is so called from its rough, bristly beard, with
   which the ears are covered and defended; from {sa(8372),} to
   stand on end as the hair of the head:  hence {se(8372),} the hair
   of the head.  So its Latin name {hordeum} is from {horreo,}
   to stand on end as the hair.  Dr. Pococke has observed that
   there is a double seed time and harvest in Egypt; rice, India
   wheat, and a grain called the corn of Damascus, are sown and
   reaped at a very different time from wheat, barley, and flax.
   The first are sown in March, before the overflowing of the
   Nile, and reaped about October; whereas the wheat and barley
   are sown in November and December, as soon as the Nile has
   gone off, and reaped before May.

  Ru 1:22  2:23  Am 4:9  Hab 3:17