Spikenard
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Spikenard. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an herb related to valerian. It is found in the Himalayan region. The plant has been used by the Hindus as a medicine from the remotest ages. An oil with a heavy odor derived from the leaves is much employed as an ointment. The spikenard of the druggist consists of pieces of the root-stock, still covered with fibrous remains of leaf stalks. The ancients made an aromatic ointment in which spikenard was the chief ingredient. It was highly prized and commanded a high price among the western nations. Some of the bystanders are represented in Mark xiv as finding fault with the woman who came "having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box and poured it on his head." They thought that so costly an ointment should have been sold, and the money bestowed on the poor. Various aromatic plants are known as spikenard. The American spikenard is a much-branched herb with large leaves and aromatic root-stocks. It is known botanically as Aralia. It is related to the wild sarsaparilla and grows with it in deep, rich woods. Several of the valerians are known as spikenards. See Oil ; Perfume; Medicine ; Spurge
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in botany: (1) Nardostachys jatamansi, called in Hindustan jatamansi and balckhar. The root, which is from 3 to 12 inches long, sends up many stems, with little spikes of purple flowers, which have four stamens. It grows in the Himalayas at an elevation of from 11,000 to 15,000, or in Sikkim to 17,000 feet. (2) Valeriana celtica, and in various countries other plants. In perfumes, an aromatic substance derived from the root of Nardostachys jatamansi. It was highly prized by the ancients, and used by them both in baths and at feasts as an unguent. The "ointment of spikenard" with which our Lord was anointed as He sat at meat in the house of Simon of Bethany was prepared from it.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The botany in both entries still holds: true spikenard is Nardostachys jatamansi of the high Himalaya, and "American spikenard" is still Aralia racemosa of rich woods. What Aiton's in 1910 and Collier's in 1921 could not foresee is scarcity. Decades of digging up the aromatic rootstock for Ayurvedic medicine and the perfume trade have made the wild Himalayan plant a protected species, regulated in international trade under CITES since the 1990s and now grown in cultivation trials in Nepal and India rather than gathered freely. Collier's flat statement that the ointment poured on Christ's head "was prepared from it" is treated more cautiously today, since the Greek nardos may have covered several imported aromatics.
Written for this edition, 2026.