Rose: Many varieties of the rose proper are indigenous to Syria. The famed
rose of Damascus is white, but there are also red and yellow roses.
In
(The Song of Solomon 2:1; Isaiah 35:1) the Hebrew word habatstseleth (found only
in these passages), rendered "rose" (R.V. marg., "autumn crocus"), is
supposed by some to mean the oleander, by others the sweet-scented
narcissus (a native of Palestine), the tulip, or the daisy; but
nothing definite can be affirmed regarding it. The "rose of Sharon"
is probably the cistus or rock-rose, several species of which abound
in Palestine. "Mount Carmel especially abounds in the cistus, which
in April covers some of the barer parts of the mountain with a glow
not inferior to that of the Scottish heather."
