SPIKENARD, or Nard. A Plant that grows in the Indies, whose Root is very small and slender. It puts forth a long, small Stalk, and has several Ears or Spikes even with the Ground, which has given it the Name of Spikenard. The Nard of the Mountain is more odoriferous than that which grows near the Waters. All the Species of Spikenard are hot and drying; they provoke Urine, and are binding, when taken to drink. The Indian Nard, commonly call’d Spica Nardi, if it be genuine, must be of a yellowish Colour, inclining towards purple, and should have its Spikes long, so that the Bristles of the Spike should be large and odoriferous. The Taste should be something sharp and bitter, and dry upon the Tongue, and afterwards leave the Mouth full of a very agreeable Savour. ‘Tis thought that Rosemary and Lavender are Kinds of Spikenard. They made a Perfume of great Esteem with the Blade or Spike of the Nard, and of which the Scripture speaks pretty often. The Spouse in the Canticles says;1 While the King sitteth at his Table, my Spikenard sendeth forth the Smell thereof. And in the Gospel, St. Mark2 speaks of the Perfume of Spikenard; and St. John3 mentions Nardus pisticus, by which several understand the pure and unsophisticated Nard.
Plin. l. xii. c. 12.But there is great Probability, that the Copiers of St. John have put Nardi pistici instead of Nardi spicati, or Spikenard. The Spikenard, as we call it, or the Blade of the Nard, is the most esteem’d for making of Perfumes: And the Perfume taken from the Leaves is much less valuable. Cacumina Nardi in aristas se spargunt, says Pliny, ideo geminâ dote Nardi spicas & folia celebrant.
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