With the above warning out of the way, we need to deal with Hebrew and Greek words for flowers that we think are probably generic.
The Hebrew words tsits and tsitsah occur twelve times with the meaning “blossom” or “flower.” Aaron’s staff “produced blossoms” in NUM 17:23 (8). The walls and doors of Solomon’s Temple were engraved with designs of “open flowers” (1KI 6:18; 1KI 6:29; 1KI 6:32; 1KI 6:35). Several writers use tsits to picture the short life of human beings (JOB 14:2; PSA 103:15; ISA 28:1; ISA 40:6; ISA 40:7; ISA 40:8). The verbal form (tsuts) is found in NUM 17:23; ISA 27:6; EZK 7:10. The Greek equivalent for this Hebrew word is anthos, which is found in JAS 1:10; JAS 1:11 and in 1PE 1:24; 1PE 1:24 (quoting ISA 40:6). Did the writers have particular species in mind with the words tsits and anthos? We don’t know, because there are dozens of kinds of flowers that qualify. Of course, this makes it easier for translators since they free to use what is appropriate in the context, as the translators of the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and KJV also did. This is why we find “rose of Sharon” in SNG 2:1 in many versions.
The Hebrew word nets occurs in GEN 40:10, where the vine in the dream of Pharaoh’s butler puts forth “blossoms.” This word also occurs in SNG 2:12 which speaks of “flowers” appearing on the earth at the time of singing. An abundance of red flowers appears in the spring in the land of the Bible. Interestingly, the Iraqis have a cognate word for this group of flowers (nissan), which, Zohary suggests, supports the proposal that the Hebrew month of Nissan has to do with the appearance of flowers. A related Hebrew noun nitstah is found in JOB 15:33, where it refers to the blossoms of the olive tree, and in ISA 18:5, where it refers to the blossoms of the grapevine. A related Hebrew verb natsats (“to blossom”) is found in ECC 12:5; SNG 6:11; SNG 7:13.
Mention should be made also of the Hebrew verb parach, which occurs fourteen times with the sense of “blossom,” and its noun form perach, which occurs fifteen times. One important floral reference that uses perach has to do with the golden lampstand in EXO 25:31; EXO 25:31; EXO 25:32; EXO 25:33; EXO 25:34; EXO 25:35; EXO 25:36; EXO 25:37; EXO 25:38; EXO 25:39; EXO 25:40, EXO 37:17; EXO 37:18; EXO 37:19; EXO 37:20; EXO 37:21; EXO 37:22; EXO 37:23; EXO 37:24, NUM 8:4. In those passages the lampstand is compared to a flowering plant with stem and blossoms. The tips of the seven branches are described in Hebrew as perach and in the Septuagint as krinon. This suggests that to the translators of the Septuagint, the Greek word krinon had a general sense of “blossom-shaped object” or “flower.” On the other hand, in 1KI 7:26, where the rim of the Temple’s great bronze water basin is described, the Hebrew text says its brim was like perach shushan (“blossom of shushan ”), and the Septuagint has blastos krinou (“blossom of krinon ”), which might suggest that both shushan and krinon designate a specific type of flower or group of flowers with curved petals (rendered “lily” in RSV and GNB). Further, in SNG 2:1 chavatseleth and shushan are used in parallel, suggesting that each is specific. The issue is pertinent to the interpretation of many other verses where it is unclear if a specific flower is intended or flowers in general, for example, the phrase “lilies of the field” in the Gospels (MAT 6:28; LUK 12:27). Matthew and Luke used the Greek word krinon, but it is likely that krinon here is generic, referring to many possible flowers, or some common flower, since there were no true lilies growing “in the fields” at that time. (The white lily grew only in forests.) A few of the species that krinon may have referred to are the crown anemone, scarlet crowfoot, common poppy, crown daisy, and dog chamomile.
The Greek word anthos is found in WIS 2:7; SIR 24:17; SIR 39:14; SIR 50:8; SIR 51:15; and 3MA 7:16, where in every case but the first one the meaning is “blossom,” that is, the part of a flowering plant that has petals. WIS 2:7 seems to refer to the entire flowering plant. In SIR 50:8 the species is mentioned, which is the rose (see Rose (Phoenician rose)).
The Latin word flos is found in 2ES 5:24; 2ES 5:36; 2ES 6:3; 2ES 6:44; 2ES 9:17; 2ES 9:24; 2ES 9:26; 2ES 12:51; and 2ES 15:50, where in most cases it refers to flowering plants in general.
Those flowers that we deal with in this section are: