Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) A thorny shrub yielding a fragrant oil. 2. (n.) A genus of plants of the natural order Leguminosae. The species are chiefly natives of the Cape of Good Hope. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia ASPALATHUS as-pal'-a-thus (aspalathos): An aromatic plant mentioned in Ecclesiasticus 24:15 the King James Version, where "wisdom" says, "I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus," etc. It would appear, from a reference in Pliny, to have been a prickly shrub, the wood of which was scented, but nothing certain is known about it.