The Shunamite calls herself a lotus; her lover agrees: She is like a “lotus among the thorns” (Song of Songs 2:2)
Thorns and thistles grow up from the earth and make it difficult for Adam to produce his bread. Thorns means that he eats only by the sweat of his nose. And there is a parallel between the work of love and the work of the land: Just as Adam will produce bread only by working through the thorns and thistles, so he will find and cultivate his beloved lily only by beating back the thorns (other maidens in context, but likely also rivals and the various obstacles to love).
For her part, the woman has to brave the dense forests, full of wild animals, to find her apple tree (2:3).
The imagery is sexually specific in ways that, I trust, need no elaboration.
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