Rose

The rose of Scripture (Hebrew chabasseleth) is not certainly identified with the cultivated rose but most likely refers to a bulbous flowering plant of the crocus or narcissus family — possibly the meadow saffron or asphodel — that bloomed in the plains and valleys of Israel. Song of Solomon 2:1 opens with the beloved's self-description: "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys" — language of beauty and fragrant delicacy set in the fertile plain of Sharon along the Mediterranean coast. Isaiah 35:1 uses the same word to promise that the wilderness will rejoice and blossom as the rose in the day of messianic restoration. The imagery passed into Christian tradition, where "the rose of Sharon" became a devotional title for Christ.