[Alisdair]

Someone cataloguing paintings for a large London church asks for help in identifying the plant held by St Jerome Emiliani, in what seems to be an 18th-century Italian painting of him. He's the patron saint of orphans, but as far as I know is not associated with any particular plant symbol.
The cataloguer thought the plant was a lily, which it obviously isn't. I wondered if it could be some sort of balsam. I've done my best to make the detail picture clearer, but as you can see from the full version it's a bit obscure.
Any ideas?

[MikeHardman]

Here's an enhanced version.

I wonder about the pink madagascan periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus, ex- Vinca rosea).
Wiki: "the alkaloids vincristine and vinblastine from its sap have been shown to be an effective treatment for leukaemia and lymphoma. ... The extracts are not without their side effects, however, which include hair loss." And I note that dear old St. Jerome seems to be looking up forlornly at his receding hairline

[Alisdair]

Much better picture, Mike, thanks. But it doesn't look enough like Catharanthus, or any of the Apocynaceae, for me to pass on that suggestion.
Any thoughts from anyone else, now that Mike has so much improved the image? Oleander did cross my mind, but that's associated so closely with St. Joseph that unless the saint has been wrongly identified in the picture I rather ruled it out.

[MikeHardman]

How about a Daphne?
I think the individual flowers (4-petalled) look about right.
D. mezereum comes to mind, but that tends to flower ahead of leafing-out (though there may be an overlap). But then these paintings may use artistic licence to combine flowering with expanded leaves.
http://www.gardeninginfozone.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Daphne-mezereum.jpg

[Fleur Pavlidis]

A Clarkia I used to grow in England looked rather like this but now that I look at the 2011 seed catalogues of Sutton and T & M the new varieties don't look anything like it.

[Fleur Pavlidis]

Impatiens?

[Alisdair]

All these are at least vague possibles; but I still hope someone can come up with a plant that has an emblematic link to the saint. 

[Alisdair]

I showed the picture to Chris Brickell (co-author of Daphne - the genus in the wild and in cultivation), who writes:
It appears that the flowers possibly have 4 petals (as far as I can judge) so I think it could be a Daphne species as someone suggested but not D. mezereum which would be without foliage when in flower as you mentioned. The leaves could have been added, of course, to present a more imposing effect but my guess is that it might be the evergreen D. sericea which is recorded from Italy and most of the eastern Mediterranean countries. It is quite variable in foliage, most of those in Italy having narrowly obovate leaves, while in the Balkans, Crete and Turkey they are usually lanceolate to broadly lanceolate. The flowers probably have pink exteriors and appear to be white or white flushed pink within as in D. sericea but it is not really possible to give more than cautious guidance as to the identity I am afraid.

[Alisdair]

Here is one of the many bushes of Daphne sericea seen on our MGS trip to SW Turkey in spring last year - it does show some similarity to St Jerome's staff, as suggested by Chris.

[oron peri]

I would have thought of a compleetly different direction: Aristolochia.
A few species of Aristolochia were  used as medicinal plants at that time, it is hard to see the flower in particulars, still it might be for example A. indica, used as atreat againts Cholera. [Easier to notice the formin the second flower from below]
Another plant that crossed my mind is Impatiens balsamina, used as well as a medicinal plant.

[Alisdair]

Impatiens balsamina (I guess the one that both Fleur and I had in mind, without being able to put the exact name to it) does seem a very strong candidate, with its many uses as a herbal remedy, as well as its general similarity to the plant in the picture.

[oron peri]

Yes, i'll go with that..
Impatiens balsamina!

[Alisdair]

Terrific match, Oron!
I'll pass it on.

[Umbrian]

What a fascinating topic Alisdair introduced, I have followed the replies with great interest and am glad that the mystery seems to have been solved. As the Italians are very "into" saints, their calenders have a saint for every day of the year, I have been asking various friends here if they knew af St Jerome Emiliani and any stories connected to him but had drawn a complete blank.

[David Bracey]

Alisdair, this is real botanical detective work and the MGS should be able to use it to promote the organisation.  Perhaps an article in the FT, TMG or the RC Times ?  Do members have other ideas?