Jade Jade Jade refers to an ornamental mineral, mostly known for its green varieties. It can refer to either of two different minerals: nephrite, a silicate of calcium and magnesium, or jadeite, a silicate of sodium and aluminium. Jade is featured prominently in ancient Asian art, as well as having an important place in many other cultures. The English word "jade" is derived (via French "l'ejade" and Latin "ilia" "flanks, kidney area") from the Spanish term "piedra de ijada" (first recorded in 1565) or "loin stone", from its reputed efficacy in curing ailments of the loins and kidneys. "Nephrite" is derived
Ornamental bulbous plant in the 5th Century. Many ornamental bulbs were introduced into Europe via Turkey and the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (who reigned 1520–1566) was noted for his love of gardens, where tulips and other bulbs were grown. Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, the ambassador to the sultan from Emperor Ferdinand I in Vienna, observed ornamental bulbous plants such as narcissi, hyacinths and "those which the Turks call tulipam". The botanist Carolus Clusius, who was based in Vienna from 1573 to around 1580, devoted one volume of his 1576 botanical work "Rariorum Plantarum Historia" to bulbs, some of which he knew