{"id":4356,"date":"2017-12-07T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T08:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?p=4356"},"modified":"2017-12-07T08:00:33","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T08:00:33","slug":"shoshana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2017\/12\/07\/shoshana\/","title":{"rendered":"#AdventBotany Day 7: ‘like a Shoshana among the thorns’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robert Blackhall-Miles<\/a> FLS<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a>Last year for advent botany I wrote about the Madonna lily (Lilium candidum<\/em>) and its links to the Christmas story and the song of Solomon. This year, however, I propose another hypothesis as to the identity of the \u2018Lily of the valley\u2019 and the \u2018Rose of Sharon\u2019.
\nAnother set of leaves makes its presence felt on my research nursery at this time of year. Curled and grey-green in colour they stand out vividly against the sand in their \u2018long tom\u2019 pots. From the moment they emerge they become a niggling worry. There is no easy hope here. They are a struggle and a torment, and my hope is only that I may keep them alive. If they reward me with flowers for my efforts, then I am jubilant. If they die I am afraid I am disappointed but never surprised. The aphids love them; spreading virus if I am not eagle eyed. When dormant and dry they are safe: yet If I water them too early to bring them into growth they rot, too late and they wither. They are my passion and have been my nemesis.
\nI have been told many times that I won\u2019t be able to grow them successfully here in North Wales yet I carry on. They are a goal that I strive for and am pleased to say, tentatively, achieving.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Iris atropurpurea<\/i> ‘Ben Ram’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am talking of the Iris<\/em> in the section Oncocyclus<\/em>.
\nThere are 8 species of Oncocyclus<\/em> (some authorities suggest there are actually 9 or more) in Israel yet the section is found over a broad area of the middle east and Eastern Mediterranean. Growing from a rounded rhizome (Onco meaning mass and Cyclus meaning circular) they are found from Turkey and Georgia in the north through Iran and Iraq in the east and as far down as Egypt in the south-western edge of their range. Their flowers come in the same range of jewel colours as the wrappers of a box of chocolates and nearly all of them brandish a dark spot on their fall indicating an over night rest station for male solitary bees which facilitate their pollination. Scientifically the section is neatly defined, they have 2n = 20 chromosomes where their next nearest relatives in the section Regalia<\/em> have 2n = 22, yet the species within it are certainly not.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Iris susiana L. in the Linnean Society collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The type for the section is the Turkish species I. susiana<\/em> (from \u2018Susan\u2019 or \u2018Sawsan\u2019) and this then leads to their Hebrew name of \u2018Shoshan\u2019 Irises.
\n\u2018By incident, if your name happens to be Susan, Susanna, Anne, Ann or Anna then it is derived from this ancient Hebrew name for the lily.\u2019 \u2013 or is it an Iris?
\nThe idea that the Lily of the valley, the rose of Sharon was really a lily, as I proposed in last year\u2019s blog, starts to unravel.
\nThe word Sharon itself may be a Synonymous parallelism and actually mean valley. The Madonna lilies are most certainly not \u2018of the valley\u2019 but of the mountains and thus we need to look to a different plant for our \u2018Lily of the Valley\u2019<\/p>\n

The etymology of Shoshanna \u05e9\u05d5\u05e9\u05e0\u05d4 states quite clearly that the flower had six petals, where a rose has five, \u2013 shishi \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05e9\u05b4\u05bc\u05c1\u05d9 (from which Shosh is derived) being the ancient Hebrew for six. These six petals fit snugly with the lily yet they also fit so snugly with the six petals, the standards and falls, of an Iris which is certainly a plant found in valleys.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Iris atropurpurea<\/i> showing urban encroachment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Iris atropurpurea<\/em> grows in HaSharon, or the Sharon plane, where it is endangered by coastal development and a genetic bottleneck. It seems to fit even more appropriately when you think of other lines of the song. \u2018like a Shoshana among the thorns\u2019, \u2018Like two fawns, the doe\u2019s twins, grazing among the shashanim\u2019 and \u2018his lips are shoshanim\u2019. The thorns may not be those of a rose or the spines of the Smilax<\/em> or Ziziphus<\/em> on the Carmel hill but more probably those of the thistles of the Sharon plane, the Iris<\/em> grow best in these grazed habitats and only the lips of the dead are white like a lily; most people\u2019s lips are pink like the flowers of this iris.
\nAnd that Fleur-de-lis, the emblem of the scouts and so widely depicted on the robes of Mary, is so very closely reminiscent of an iris flower it is almost recognisable as such.
\nShoshan is mentioned 15 times during the course of the bible and only twice does it not refer to a flower.
\nJesus is referred to as \u2018Lily of the valley\u2019 and the \u2018Rose of Sharon\u2019 in many songs and Psalms from the Christian faith. Some believe the depiction of love in Solomon\u2019s song was a prediction of the one true love to come \u2013 the love of Christ \u2013 and the whole reason for our celebration of Christmas.
\nAlas we cannot turn back time and discover the true meaning of all of this. The Greeks and Romans both had their impacts on the ancient languages of the Middle East and modern Hebrew has taken on these changes. It is certain however that the wildflowers of this tiny strip of the eastern Mediterranean feature heavily in many cultures and not least of all Christianity.
\nWith the Mediterranean basin having such a high level of speciation and being so heavily impacted by the activities of man this flora is in grave danger of becoming myth just as the Shoshana of the bible. Iris atropurpurea<\/em> is likely to become the first Israeli endemic species to become extinct and 6 of the other 7 species of Iris<\/em> in Israel are threatened with extinction (Sapir, 2016).<\/p>\n

It seems that my passion and my nemesis may just have a deeper story than their chocolate wrapper flowers are able to tell.<\/p>\n

Sapir, Y. 2016. Iris atropurpurea<\/i>. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T13161450A18611400. http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.2305<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

All images courtesy Robert Blackhall-Miles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robert Blackhall-Miles FLS Last year for advent botany I wrote about the Madonna lily (Lilium candidum) and its links to the Christmas story and the song of Solomon. 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