Flowers in Israel: Rose of Sharon (Hebrew: “Chavatzelet HaSharon”, חבצלת השרון)

“I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters”. Song of Songs 2:1-2

Three flowers are mentioned by name in the Bible: the SHOSHAN or SHOSHANNA (lily or rose), SHOSHANAT HA’EMAKIM (rose of the valleys) and HAVATZELET HA’SHARON (rose or lily of the Sharon).
It is impossible that the Havatzelet or the Shoshan was a rose, for the rose was not found in Israel in Biblical times. The rose of Sharon (Song 2:1) is a mistranslation: Havatzelet is an onion-like flower bulb.

Which one is likely to have been the “Havatzelet” from the Bible? What is the exact identity of the two flowers mentioned herein?The Rose of Sharon, one name by different people for different plants: Hibiscus syriacus, Hypericum calycinum, Lilium candidum, Pancratium maritimum, Narcissus tazetta, Tulipa Montana and Tulipa sharonensis.

Some people think that Solomon’s rose of Sharon is a tulip, either Tulipa montana, common in the mountainous regions of Syria and Lebanon, or its close relative, Tulipa sharonensis, found in sandy places on the Sharon coastal plain. Some have supposed the Narcissus tazetta, as the flower Solomon had in mind as Rose of Sharon.

Somebody in the horticultural world decided to name the Hibiscus syriacus, a deciduous flowering shrub native to east Asia, Rose of Sharon.British and Australian English referred to Hypericum calycinum, an evergreen flowering shrub native to southeast Europe and southwest Asia as “Rose of Sharon”.

It is also generally accepted that this flower is identified with the Pancratium maritimum — a bulbous plant with white, highly scented flowers which blooms at the end of summer in the coastal lowland.And others suggested that perhaps the Lilium candidum, known as the Madonna Lily, may be the “lily” referred to in Song of Songs 6:2: My beloved is gone down to his garden,to the beds of spices,to feed in the gardens,

and to gather lilies.

According to the Brockhaus Encyclopedia, the lilium of the Old Testament is none other than the Iris pseudacorus.

What are you “Rose of Sharon”?