RE: Some new (ancient) light on Bermuda grass

Title:
Katherine,
thank you for adding this interesting note to our knowledge of Bermuda grass! I knew about the grass crown (Julius Ceasar  was given one when he was about 20, for he had saved his army from a really dangerous situation, and this was the  beginning of his fortunes because he received automatically the right to sit in the Senate even if he was not yet the right age), but it had never dawned on me it could be what we call gramigna,  from the Latin gramen. Maybe it can be interesting for you to know that in  Latin, and therefore in Italian, all references made in the Gospels about obnoxious weeds were translated straightly with gramen ( I am not that good in Biblical quotations, but there is a famous quote about waiting to the end before sorting some crop and... gramen, I am sure there is someone out there who  will  remember the right quote).
Back to the roots of Bermuda..they are used in popular medicine here to make a depurative tea (against cellulitis), which is also good for stomach problems.
Now, where did the "Bermuda grass" name come from? What has Bermuda got to do with this?
Alessandra
 
 
 -----Original Message-----
From: Katherine Waser [mailto:kwaser@Ag.Arizona.Edu]
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 7:40 PM
To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Some new (ancient) light on Bermuda grass



I've been meaning to send this ever since Alessandra's story about hydroponic Bermuda grass...like many other list members, I absolutely detest the stuff (commonly used for lawns around here, and it's escaped to infest and choke many local canyons in the mountains around Tucson).


So you can imagine my amazement when I found the following information about it in the very interesting book "A Pompeian herbal," by Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski. While excavating ruins at Pompeii, Dr. Jashemski became interested in similarities between ancient and current folk medicine uses of local plants; this book is the result.


Anyway, lo and behold there is an entry for Bermuda grass (first time I've ever seen it listed in an herbal!) giving several ancient and contemporary folk medicine uses. But even more fascinating, she says:


'Pliny gives a good description of Bermuda grass (gramen) which he calls the very commonest of plants (HN 24.278, 19.98). This humble grass had been held in high esteem since early times; the greatest honor among the Romans was a crown made of Bermuda grass, for it could be "voted only by the whole army and only to him who had rescued it" (HN 22.7). In former days the crown was


made from green grass pulled up from the site where the besieged men had been relieved by some one. For in old times it was the most solemn token of defeat for the conquered to present grass to their conquerors, for to do so meant that they withdrew from their land, from the very soil that nurtured them and even from means of burial.(HN 22.8).'


[Reference to Pliny:

Pliny the Elder. _Natural History._ Loeb Classical Library. Vols. 4, 5 translated by H. Rackham, Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1960, 1961. Vols 6, 7 translated by W.H.S. Jones, Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1951, 1956.]


Alessandra, does this make the Bermuda grass in your pond seem any less obnoxious? Perhaps not...I still don't want it in my garden either, but it is fascinating to realize that even the most obnoxious plant might have...well...oh what the heck, I can't resist...even deeper and more interesting roots than we ever suspected! ;-)


Now, to redeem myself here's a complete citation for the book this came from:


Jashemski, Wilhemina Feenster. 1999. A Pompeian herbal: Ancient and modern medicinal plants. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-74060-3; US$17.95


Enjoy! It's a great addition to the library of any herb growers on the list.


Katherine Waser

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