Sirach 50:8
...like roses in the days of first fruits,
like lilies by a spring of water,
like a green shoot on Lebanon on a summer day...
Scripture alludes to a showy flower, common alongside streams with an extensive poplar-like root system which fits iris. Hebrew word in Sirach is shushan used not only for lily but any beautiful flower. It is now known that the lily of this scripture is the Israel iris native Yellow Flag.
Apart from Yellow Flag, fifty or more species grow in Israel on hillsides, mountains, plains, deserts and grainfields. Some growers place freshly dug bulbs in linen chests for fragrance. Iris is loved and grown by gardeners universally.
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