rose of Sharon
(ˈʃɛərən)
[Heb. Shārōn, the name of a fertile level tract along the coast of Palestine between Joppa and Mount Carmel.]
1. a. An Eastern flower variously identified with the crocus, polyanthus narcissus, and cistus.
The identity of the flower is quite uncertain. The Hebrew word is ḥaba{cced}{cced}eleth, which the translators of the Revised Version explain as ‘the autumn crocus’.
| 1611 Bible Song Sol. ii. 1, I am the rose of Sharon, and the lillie of the valleys. 1764 Churchill Gotham Poems 1767 II. 13 The Rose of Sharon which perfumes the Vale. a 1826 Heber ‘By cool Siloam's shady rill’ 4 How sweet the breath, beneath the hill, Of Sharon's dewy rose. 1835 V. Monro Ramble in Syria I. 75 Unless the ‘rose of Sharon’ is the Cistus roseus of Linnæus, which grows abundantly, I know not what it may be. 1856 N. & Q. 2nd Ser. II. 437/2 Even less like a true-rose than Helianthemum roseum.., which Monro and Wilde think the ‘Rose of Sharon’. |
b. U.S. The Syrian hibiscus, H. syriacus or Althæa frutex.
| 1847 Darlington Amer. Weeds & Usef. Pl. (1860) 67 Syrian Hibiscus. Rose of Sharon. Shrubby Althæa. 1876 E. G. White Testimonies for Church (1948) I. 19 There was a beautiful pink flower in the garden called the rose of Sharon. 1974 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 23 July 20/6 The other Rose of Sharon is a real beauty whose true name is Hibiscus syriacus. |
c. A species of St. John's wort, esp. Hypericum calycinum.
| 1882 Garden 15 July 41/2 The Olympic St. John's Wort is..nearly as large as the common Rose of Sharon. 1886 R. Holland Cheshire Gloss. 291 Rose of Sharon, Hypericum calycinum. 1938 A. T. Johnson Garden To-day xl. 141 The old ‘Rose of Sharon’.., a lowly carpeting shrub, is fairly well known. 1979 C. E. L. Phillips New Small Garden xv. 243 There are ‘carpeting’ plants for covering rough places or growing under trees. The Rose-of-Sharon is one of the most useful of these. |
2. Used figuratively. (See quots.)
| 1781 Cowper Hope 463 See Germany send forth Her sons to..plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose On icy plains. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xx[i]v, I am not an outlaw, then, fair Rose of Sharon. |
3. Chiefly U.S. The name of a pattern used in quilting. Also attrib.
| 1894 Scribner's Mag. Sept. 363/1 Other floral designs, the sunflower, double peony, rose of Sharon hint at flower-borders lovingly tended by the over-taxed hands of a busy housewife. 1915 M. D. Webster Quilts caption facing p. 75 Rose of Sharon. Made in Indiana about 65 years ago. It has a wool interlining instead of the usual cotton. 1929 R. E. Finley Old Patchwork Quilts xi. 126 The quilt shown..presents the original somewhat crude but very old type of ‘Rose of Sharon’ block. 1964 D. Brightbill Quilting as Hobby 88/1 The most popular pattern [of Bride's Quilts]..was the Rose of Sharon... Its name was probably derived from the Song of Solomon: ‘I am the Rose of Sharon And the Lily-of-the-Valley.’ 1966 D. A. Hinson Quilting Man. iii. 45 The Rose of Sharon quilt patterns are legion. 1974 Times 11 Jan. 9/5 Quilting is a special craft of [the Mennonites]..and they love the traditional patterns like Rose of Sharon. |