Plants

Plants are an important aspect of God's creation, and a major source of food and materials. Scripture refers to many plants, with their various uses.

Plants as a source of food

Genesis 1:29–30 See also Genesis 1:11–12, Genesis 3:17–19, Genesis 9:3; Psalm 104:14

Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth — everything that has the breath of life in it — I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Growth of plants dependent upon soil, sun and irrigation

Deuteronomy 32:2 See also Genesis 2:4–5; 2 Kings 19:26 parallel Isaiah 37:27; Job 8:16–19; Isaiah 61:11; Zechariah 10:1; Matthew 13:3–8 parallels Mark 4:3–8, Luke 8:5–8; James 1:11

Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.

Individual plants

Aloes

Numbers 24:5–6 See also Psalm 45:8; Proverbs 7:17; Song of Solomon 4:13–14

How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel! They spread out like palm groves, like gardens beside a stream, like aloes the LORD has planted, like cedars beside the waters.

Calamus

Jeremiah 6:20 See also Song of Solomon 4:12–14; Isaiah 43:24; Ezekiel 27:19

What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.”

Crocus

Isaiah 35:1–2

The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose. It will bloom profusely and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

Hyssop

1 Kings 4:33 See also Exodus 12:22; Psalm 51:7; John 19:29

He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

Lily

Luke 12:27 parallel Matthew 6:28–29 See also Song of Solomon 2:1–2; Hosea 14:5

Consider how the lilies grow: They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these.

Lotus

Job 40:21–22

He lies under the lotus plants, hidden among the reeds of the marsh. The lotus plants conceal him in their shade; the willows of the brook surround him.

Mandrake

Song of Solomon 7:13 See also Genesis 30:14–16

The mandrakes send forth a fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, new as well as old, that I have treasured up for you, my beloved.

Mustard

Matthew 13:31–32 parallels Mark 4:30–32, Luke 13:18–19

He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his field. Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Myrtle

Isaiah 55:13 See also Isaiah 41:18–20; Zechariah 1:8–10

Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up; this will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

Reed

Exodus 2:3 See also Job 8:11; Isaiah 19:6–7

But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

Rose

Song of Solomon 2:1

I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.

Rush

Isaiah 19:6–7

The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither. The bulrushes by the Nile, by the mouth of the river, and all the fields sown along the Nile, will wither, blow away, and be no more.