St Joseph and the Two-Flower Mystery

 

This is the final post in the series about St. Joseph leading up to the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Virgin Mary on March 19.

Today's entry is about certain flowers other than the usual white lilies used in St. Joseph iconography.

That is, in some cultures, a flower called "nardo" is associated with St. Joseph, but which flower is it?  Is it spikenard (above)? Or is it tuberose (below)?

 A Benedictine nun, Mother Hildegard, presents the mystery in a charming blog post.  She points out that in Spanish the tuberose is called nardo or Vara de San Jose (Staff of St. Joseph). But nardo is depicted in Spanish iconograpy as spikenard.  (Moreover, spikenard is referred to as nardo in Italy.)

Both plants are fragrant, so the solution seems to be that the word "nardo" over time became associated with blooms that are both white and fragrant. Accordingly, both tuberose and spikenard are appropriately termed "nardo".