HIDDEN STORIES OF PLANTS

HIDDEN STORIES OF PLANTS

In the past, almost all known plants were believed to have some medicinal properties. Religion and associated myths, which reinforced faith, often significantly featured in descriptions of the effects of individual plants, which is also why we find in herbals also texts relating the legends associated with particular plants.

An example of this can be found in the classical myth of Pyramus and Thisbe, immortalised in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It is a story about the tragic love of two young people who were supposed to meet under a mulberry tree. Thisbe, who arrived first, was attacked by a lioness. The girl did manage to run away but, under the tree, she left her a blood-stained veil. Pyramus found it and, believing his love to be dead, fell on his sword. Shortly after, Thisbe, too, committed suicide. This story was listed in herbals as a colourful explanation of the red colour of mulberries.

A typical example of a plant surrounded by legends is the mandrake (Mandragora officinarum). This poisonous mediterranean plant has been considered magic and assigned extraordinary effects already in antiquity and it features even in the Bible. Its root, often resembling a human figure, inspired legends, superstitions, and works of art. Mandrake was believed to be able to secure contentedness, health, and riches. It was used to relieve sleeplessness, cramps, but also as an anaesthetic or an aphrodisiac.

With the arrival of Christianity, plants acquired new symbolic meanings, which became deeply rooted especially in the folk environment. The names of plants started to be linked to the names of saints and Church holidays, which helped people remember the best time for collecting them. For instance, redcurrant came to be known as ‘St John’s berries’ because in our climate, it ripens around the holiday of this saint. In a similar way, St John’s wort came to be known as ‘St John’s blood’, chicory as ‘St Peter’s root’, and angelica as ‘the root of the Holy Spirit’.

In the Middle Ages and Early Modern Era, it was also common to ascribe to plants medicinal properties based on their appearance, especially when their shape or another morphological feature was reminiscent of a certain part of the human body. For instance, if a leaf or the root looked like an ear, it was believed that the plant could cure afflictions of the ear.