originally posted: December 31, 2001 | by chelsie

When Hernan Cortes and his soldiers marched into Tenochtitlan, they were greeted by the last Emperor of the Aztecs, Moctezuma Xocoyotzin. The Aztecs had had ten years of portents, omens of the fall of the empire. Moctezuma sent gold and slaves to Cortes. Perhaps, as a final gesture of friendship, the Spanish 'guests' were offered a drink made of chocolate, red peppers, honey, and tlilxochitl (Vanilla planifolia Swartz). [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: December 24, 2001 | by chelsie

At the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula is a vast and lonely desert, Rub Al Khali, the Empty Quarter. This is the land of the lost city of Ubar. From 2,800 BC to 300 AD, Ubar was a city said to rival paradise. Legends say it was built by King Shaddad, a grandson of Noah. Pliny the Elder in the first century AD described the area as being very fertile with unbroken tracts of forests and mist covered mountains. The city prospered for over 3000 years on the trade of frankincense. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: December 17, 2001 | by chelsie

The earliest traditions of mistletoe (Viscum album Linnaeus) are attributed to the Celts. These people left no records and much of their art and statues were destroyed. The only written records come from Pliny the Elder made during the Roman conquest of Britain in the first century. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: December 10, 2001 | by chelsie

The meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria (L.) Maximowicz) was regarded as sacred by the Druids, but the fragrant herb was probably used since the first humans settled in Europe. It is native to open wet ground and stream banks. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: December 3, 2001 | by chelsie

In southern India, Job's tears (Coix lachryma-jobi) [co icks' lack' ri ma joe' bi] have been cultivated for at least 4000 years. The seeds are commonly found in archaeological sites. The grass is often growing in rice fields nearby. Archaeologists call the seeds, rice beads. Perhaps this grass merely found a home with the rice and people let it stay because of its beautiful seeds. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: November 26, 2001 | by chelsie

The banana (Musa X paradisiaca) is a sterile (unable to reproduce by seed) hybrid, probably the result of a cross between the diploid, Musa acuminata and the tetraploid, M. balbisiana. Exactly where, when, and how the banana came into being is unknown. The oldest written accounts of the banana are from Buddhist texts dated to the 5th Century BC. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: November 19, 2001 | by chelsie

The oldest archaeological evidence of the use of the coconut (Cocos nucifera Linnaeus) is charred fruits dated to 3000 BC found in Western Melanesia. The coconut probably originated somewhere within the Indo-Malaysian area; fossilized coconuts have been found in both India and New Zealand. The coconut is now pan tropical, having traveled both on its own and in the company of people. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: November 12, 2001 | by chelsie

The sea beet is a plant native to the Canary and Madeira Islands, the Atlantic and Mediterranean coastline of Europe, and along the Black Sea into Russia. Linnaeus gave it the name, Beta maritima [bee' ta ma rit' i ma], the maritime beet to differentiate it from the common beet, Beta vulgaris. All beets are now considered descended from the sea beet, renamed Beta vulgaris var. maritima. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: November 5, 2001 | by chelsie

Angelica (Angelica archangelica) is an herb of ancient use, native to Syria, but now naturalized over much of the cooler regions of Eurasia. It is a short-lived perennial often found growing in damp meadows. It was considered a mystical herb and has probably been used for flavoring and in rituals since mankind settled in Europe. With the advent of Christianity, the name and lore came to be centered on religious themes. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: October 29, 2001 | by chelsie

The tropane alkaloids are a group of related compounds found in the Solanaceae, the family of potatoes and tomatoes. Medicinally used, the refined alkaloids--scopolamine, atropine, and hyoscyamine--have saved thousands of lives. But unrefined extracts of these alkaloids have a delusional side that have given humanity some of its outlandish legends that persist in our folklore. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: October 22, 2001 | by chelsie

There is archaeological evidence that the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lamarck) was first cultivated in Chilca Canyon, Peru around 8,000 BC. It is a reliable plant, producing tubers in poor soils. The sweet potato is now grown worldwide, especially in tropical regions. It does not require extensive cultivation; sweet potatoes can be planted and somewhat left on their own to develop.[Click here to read more...]

originally posted: October 15, 2001 | by chelsie

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an interesting plant, because it is the only economically important plant today that is extremely toxic. The toxic variety called bitter cassava contains prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide). Over the millennia that South American natives have cultivated this plant, they have developed varieties, called sweet cassavas which have little of the toxin found in the original wild species. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: October 8, 2001 | by chelsie

Since the introduction of the white potato (Solanum tuberosum) to Europe in the 1500s, it has been blamed for lust, leprosy, and weight gain. It was immediately recognized by European herbalists as belonging to the nightshade family. The potato's notorious relatives kept many people from even tasting the tubers. Sir Walter Raleigh planted potatoes in his garden, ate the fruits (small berries after the flowers bloom), became extremely ill, and had the plants pulled up and destroyed. But the potato tuber is a very kind vegetable; it has few calories overall, a good amount of protein and vitamin C, and is adaptable to many growing conditions. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: October 1, 2001 | by chelsie

Wolf'sbane (Aconitum lycoctonum) is one of those confusing plants of legend. Hollywood would have you believe that gypsies give you wolf'sbane as an amulet against the loup-garou. But werewolves are not herbivores and even the scariest of Lon Chaney's characters would find it too bitter to eat. Wolf'sbane is a beautiful perennial in the buttercup family. This sounds innocent enough, but wolf'sbane contains the toxin, aconitine. [Click here to read more...]