Friday, July 27, 2012
Both edible and medicinal plants were classified by their qualities in the Middle Ages. A given plant might be heating, cooling, moistening, or drying in its action on human bodies; the intensity of this action was expressed in degrees. An herb or foodstuff that was a little cooling was “cold in the first degree,” while a very cooling plant was classed as “cold in the fourth degree.” Above, left: Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) was a mildly cooling fruit, being cold and moist in the first degree. Pear (Pyrus communis) was more refreshing, being cold in the second degree and moist in the first.
The medicinal model inherited by the Middle Ages, based largely on humoral theory, was essentially a “cure by contraries” rooted in the idea that illness was the result of an imbalance of the humors???blood, choler, bile, and phlegm???within an individual. Plants and other substances were either warming, cooling, moistening, or drying in their action on human bodies, which were sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, or choleric in complexion. Read more »
Tags: Fragaria vesca, Galen, Hippocrates, humors, Mentha x piperita, mint, pear, peppermint, Portulaca oleracea, purslane, Pyrus communis, Rumex acetosa, sorrel, strawberry, Tacuinum Sanitatis, Tillyard, William Turner
Posted in Medicinal Plants | Comments (1)
Friday, August 6, 2010
Above: The left and center image show the true or “right dittany” of Crete (Origanum dictamnus), a tender Mediterranean species grown in pots in Bonnefont garden. This pretty relative of the culinary oreganos is endemic to the island, and is found growing wild only in the mountains there. The small, purplish-pink flowers are borne on long-lasting bracts in late summer and fall. The image on the right shows Dictamnus albus, known as white dittany or fraxinella, which is a botanically unrelated species. Medieval herbalists seem to have transferred both the name and the??marvelous properties that the ancients ascribed to true dittany to this herb.
Origanum dictamnus, with its round, woolly gray leaves,??rosy??bracts and delicate purplish-pink flowers, is the prettiest of the tender medieval species grown in pots in Bonnefont garden, and the most difficult for us to grow. One of a number of species endemic to the mountains of Crete, the wild plant is only found growing in the crevices of limestone gorges and ravines (see image). Known as diktamnon in Greek, it is said to be named after Mount Dikti. Read more »
Tags: Aeneas, antidote, Aristotle, artemidon, Artemis, Bonnefont Garden, Cos, Crete, diktamnon, Dioscorides, Hellmut Baumann, Hippocrates, Mount Ida, Origanum dictamnus, snake, snakebite, Theophrastus, venom, Venus, Virgil, William Turner
Posted in Fragrant Plants, Gardening at The Cloisters, Medicinal Plants | Comments (1)
