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Spikenard (also nard and muskroot) is a flowering plant of the Valerian family that grows in the Himalayas of India and Nepal. The plant grows to about 1 m in height and has pink, bell-shaped flowers. Spikenard rhizomes (underground stems) can be crushed and distilled into an intensely aromatic, amber-colored essential oil. Nard oil is used as a perfume, an incense, a sedative, and an herbal medicine said to fight insomnia, flatulence, birth difficulties, and other minor ailments. In this iconAn icon (from Greek εικων, eikon "image") is an artistic visual representation or symbol of anything considered holy and divine, such as God, saints or deities. An icon could be a painting (including relief painting), sculpture, Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus with spikenard oil. The oil was known in ancient times and was part of the Ayurvedic herbal tradition of India. It was obtained as a luxury in ancient EgyptAncient Egypt (also see Ancient Egyptian) was the civilization of the Nile Valley between about 3000 BC and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. As a civilization based on irrigation it is the quintessential example of an hydraulic empi, the Near East, and Rome, where it was the main ingredient of the perfume nardinium. It is mentioned twice in the biblical love poem, the Song of SolomonSong of Solomon is also the title of a novel by Toni Morrison. The Song of Solomon or Song of Songs is a book of the Bible ( Tanakh and Old Testament). It is also sometimes called, after the Vulgate, the "Canticles. The book consists of a cycle of poems a (1:12 and 14:13). In MarkThe Gospel of Mark is the second in the most usual sequence of printing of the New Testament Gospels. The commonly accepted range of dates for the text in its existing form are ca. AD 65, the traditional date for the death of Peter, to ca. AD 80, a termin 14 and JohnThe Gospel of John is the fourth gospel in the usual sequence of the canon as printed in the New Testament, and most agree it was the fourth to be written. Like the other three gospels, it contains an account of the life of Jesus. The Gospel of John is th 12, Mary, sister of Lazarus uses nard oil to anoint the head or feet of Jesus (depending on which account). Today spikenard is not used as widely as the oil of many of its valerian relatives.

See also American spikenard .