Re: Ancient Medit Plants
- To: g*@dial.pipex.com
- Subject: Re: Ancient Medit Plants
- From: N* T*
- Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 16:35:27 CST6CDT
- Priority: normal
Colette,
> Am I right in thinking that the helenium is a North American native
> and would not have ben in Ancinet greece. I know that "Heleniums"
> sound as if they should be Greek I wonder if she is confusing them with the
> corn marigolds that grew so prolifically in the fields in the spring.
> Chrysanthemeum segutum ????
Yes, the genus named Helenium by Linnaeus is North American but the
name is older, referring to an Old World plant. Linnaeus changed name
traditions sometimes.
> Is acacia a
> mediterranean native......not too sure on that one either?
I think there are few native species in Egypt and Israel, but the rest are
introduced to the Med. region from elsewhere. That's assuming you mean
the actual genus Acacia rather than related acacia-like trees (e.g. Albizzia,
Robinia).
> There is some conjecture that the the tulip should not be featured in the
> basket and that many ancient works of art were altered to show tulips when
> tulips were introduced to the west from Turkey inthe middle ages. Surely
> there are wild tulips that are native to Greece its not unlikely that the
> ancients would have used them.?
There are several native species in Greece. Many grow as weeds in
cultivated fields and would surely have been familiar to people tending their
crops, e.g. T. orphanidea, T. saxatilis, T. undulatifolia, T. doerfleri...
> Can any one tell me why resin was used to flavour wine? Was any sort of
> Pine resin used or was it just from one tree?
I once heard that resin was used to cure goatskins in which wine was carried
and the taste was first accidental but then became acquired by drinkers and
was deliberately reproduced by adding resin. I also heard that it was to
preserve the wine. Yes, Pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine) is the source.
Nick
Nick Turland
Flora of China Project, Missouri Botanical Garden,
P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, U.S.A.
E-mail: Nicholas.Turland@mobot.org
Phone: +1 314 577 0269 Fax: +1 314 577 9438
MBG web: http://www.mobot.org
FOC web: http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/
