And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
Jacob took him rods (Hebrew, a rod) of green poplar, [Hebrew, libneh (H3839), a poplar] - so called from the whitish colour of its bark or leaves, storax (cf. Hosea 4:13).
And of the hazel, [Hebrew, luwz (H3870)] - more probably the almond tree. [So the Septuagint has: karuineen]. Taking the word as in our translation, there are many varieties of the hazel, some of which are more erect than the common hazel, and it was probably one of the varieties Jacob employed. The styles are of a bright red colour when peeled; and along with them he took wands of other shrubs, which, when stripped of the bark, had white streaks. These rods, kept constantly before the eyes of the females at the time of gestation, Jacob's observation had taught him would have an influence, through the imagination, on the future offspring.
And chesnut tree, [Hebrew, `ermown (H6196)] - not the chesnut tree (Castanea fagus), because it grows only on dry mountain slopes; whereas the other trees mentioned here delight in low, humid situations. It was in all probability the plane, or, according to some, the maple tree (Platanus Orientalis). [So the Septuagint has platanos].