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                                               Intro Mary Garden

The Flowers of Our Lady in Spain


Introduction

The flowers directly associated with the Blessed Virgin in Spain,
as found in the acompanying listing from the field research
"floras" of botanists, include in their names the phrases: de
Nuestra Senora, de Santa Maria, de la Mare (Madre) de Deu, or de
la Virgen; and those with Christ: de Christo, de Jesus and de la
Cruz.

Saints for whom flowers in the listing were named include: San
Albert, San Antonio, San Bernardo, San Blas, San Bonificio, San
Bruno, San Catalina, San Cristobel, Santa Clara, San Domingo, San
Felipe, San Guillermo, San Jorge, Santiago, San Juan, San Jose,
San Lorrenzo, Santa Lucia, Santa Paula, San Pedro, Santa Rosa,
San Segimons, San Simon and San Vincente.  Such names were
typically given from the blooming of the flowers around the times
of the saints' feast days in the liturgical calendar, as can be
verified today.

It would appear that the many places named for the saints in the
Americas by Spanish explorers and missionaries were so named to
reflect the feasts of the saints on which they arrived.
It is known, for example, that Christopher Columbus prayed the
religious office or the Breviary each day.  However they may have
originated, places named for the saints give testimony to Spanish
devotion to Our Lord, Our Lady and the saints - each place
honoring and being referred to the special protection of the saint
for which it was named.   Similarly, the multiple Christian names
given to each newborn infant at baptism often included the saint
on whose feast day the infant was born..

With respect to flowers, it is evident that religious names were
also given to signify the perceived symbolism of their forms and
colors, as well as for the liturgical seasons of their blooming.
This can be seen in the naming of the Passion Flowers, Marigolds
(Marygolds) and many other flowers of the New World, as
providential correspondences or "signatures" from nature for
religious teaching and thought.  Thus, in the missionary era -
before the days of literacy and the mass production of religious
books, cards and articles - the Passion Flower, for example, would
continue to recall the story of Our Lord's Passion long after a
missionary priest would have left an area.  Rosary and Pater Noster
plants produced round seeds each year which could be strung in
Rosary beads.

Such plant symbolisms and uses were so much a part of religious
outlook, teaching and reflection that in different localities
plants of similar symbolic forms and colors, and liturgical times
of bloom, were given the same symbolic or liturgical names.

In the flower names listed here from the popular oral religious
traditions of Spain, as recorded by cataloging botanists, Paliurus
aculeatus was known as Espina de Cristo, "Christ's Thorn" (by
which name it is generally known today) and Espina Santa, "Holy
Thorn"; Pichomon acarna, as Azota-Christos, "Christ's Lash";
Gentiana cruciata, Cross Gentian, and others, as Hierba en Cruz,
"Herb of the Cross"; Ophioglossum vulgatum, Adder's-Tongue Fern,
as Lanza de Cristo, "Christ's Lance"; and Fumaria officinalis,
Fumitory, as Sangre de Cristo, "Christ's Blood".  Familiarity with
these and other plant symbols of the Passion and Cross of Christ
no doubt attuned Spanish missionaries to the Americas and their
converts to discover new symbolical signature plants such as the
Passion Flower, as well as other indigenous plants adopted as
vehicles of religious thought.

In addition to the general testimony given to Spanish religious
devotion by these listings, some of the flowers afford additional
richness for the symbolic content of present-day Mary Gardens.
Thus the name, Damas no Bosque, or Lady in the Woods, for Nigella
damascena (Love-in-a-Mist, Our Lady in the Shade) includes this
flower with others symbolic of Our Lady's presence, such as Our
Lady of the Meadow, Our Lady in the Corn, Our Lady by the Gate and
Our Lady of the Lake.

Horticulturally and symbolically, Colocasia antiquorum, Elephant's
Ear Manto de N. Senora, adds richness to the group of Our Lady's
Mantle flowers, and brings to mind the renowned painting of Our
Lady encompassing with her protective mantle the Santa Maria and
the other two ships of Christopher Columbus as they left the
harbor on their voyage of discovery.

An addition to the global symbolism of the Flowers of Our Lady is
made by Fagonia cretica, Risa de la Virgen, The Virgin's Smile.

Representative of the parallel naming of numerous flowers in the
various countries of Christendom, Silybum marianum, Milk Thistle -
found and named in other countries from the white spots on its
leaves as a symbol of drops of milk of the Nursing Madonna - is
likewise found in Spain as Cardo de Maria or Mary's Thistle.

- The Listing of symbolic Spanish Flowers of Our Lady