24 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



designs based upon its form still frequently 

 decorate the altar and the sacred vessels. 



Also those plants introduced as metaphors 

 in the Song of Solomon, ' the flower of the 

 field,' ' the lily of the valleys,' ' the lily among 

 thorns,' ' the orchard of pomegranates,' myrrh 

 and camphire, spikenard, saffron and cinnamon, 

 trees of frankincense and * the chief spices,' 

 which refer to the * Beloved ' and the ' Spouse,' 

 are all considered holy plants, and by the 

 Roman Catholic Church are assigned to the 

 Virgin Mary. 



In the beautiful twenty-fourth chapter of 

 Ecclesiasticus, too. Christian symbolists have 

 recognized the Virgin Mary beneath the figure 

 of Wisdom, and hold as sanctified those growing 

 things to which she is likened. 



* I was exalted like a palm tree in Engeddi, 

 and as a rose plant in Jericho, as a fair ohve 

 tree in a pleasant field, and grew up as a plane 

 tree by the water. 



' As the turpentine tree I stretched out my 

 branches, and my branches are the branches of 

 honour and grace. 



' As the vine brought I forth pleasant savour. 



