What is swallowwort?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
May 6, 2005
Sponsored By: Shop the National Geographic Store!—>Click here.
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~6~~7~~8~~9~~10~~
Suggested Reading—>Click here.
Killer Smart Store Links—>Click here.
N.G. Handheld Birds & Software, and Spotting Scope with Digital Camera—>Click here.
The medieval bestiaries were books of animals both fabulous and real. Usually compiled by monks, these tomes had stilted illustrations and provided brief descriptions taken from actual or believed observations. Each animal was presented as a real, yet allegorical
character—a moral lesson for the masses.
Most bestiaries were simply re-writes of ancient documents from the Greeks or Romans, after all, medieval beliefs held that the ancients "knew it all". High among the ancient authorities stood Pliny's Natural History (1st century). Pliny had written several passages concerning European swallows. Swallows were good animals in the bestiaries.
Swallows provided a lesson in parenthood for they "build with clay and strengthen the nest with straw....The nest itself, however, they carpet with soft feathers and tufts of wool, to warm the eggs and also to prevent it from being hard for the infant chicks. They dole out food in turns among their offspring with extreme fairness. They remove the chicks' droppings with remarkable cleanliness, and teach the older ones to turn round and relieve themselves outside of the nest."
Swallows were also known for their hawking, taking insects from the air. This was seen in the medieval mind as a forsaking of earthly pursuits (ground feeding) for heavenly pursuits (aerial insects). The mother was believed a bird with medical skills for Pliny had written "Celandine was shown to be very healthy for the sight by swallows using it as a medicine for their chicks' sore eyes."
Celandine (Chelidonium majus Linnaeus) is a short-lived evergreen perennial with bright yellow flowers and sea green, scalloped to deeply divided, leaves. Native to Europe and western Asia, it is monotypic—the only species in its genus. Celandine is a member of the Papaveraceae, the poppy family.
Celandine [sel' an dine] comes from Middle English, celydoun or seladony, which was borrowed from the Old French, celidoine. The French had, in turn, borrowed the name from the Latin, chelidonia [kel' e do nee a], and the Romans had taken the name from the Greek chelidonion or swallowwort.
According to some, swallowwort was named because it was said to bloom when the swallows (Chelidon urbica and C. rustica) returned in the spring and ceased blooming when they left in the autumn. But even well into the Renaissance, a bestiary was held as a contemporary authority. When John Gerard wrote The Herball (1597), he stated that celandine was so named "...because some hold the opinion, that with this herbe the dammes (swallow mothers) restore sight to their young ones when their eies be [picked] out...."
Henriette Kress has posted a photograph of celandine taken at Liljendal, Finland. To view the photograph, click on the link:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/pictures/p04/pages/chelidonium-majus.htm
(Compiled from: Hortus Third, Staff L.H. Bailey Hortorium, NY State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Macmillan, 1976; "Bestiary", Malcolm Jones, Medieval Folklore, C. Lindahl, J. McNamara, J. Lindow, eds., Oxford University Press, 2002; Natural History, Books VIII and X, Pliny the Elder, trans. By H. Rackham, Harvard University Press, London, reprinted 1997; A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, C. Brickell and J.D. Zuk, eds, American Horticultural Society, Dorling Kindersley, 1996; The Herball, John Gerard, 1633 ed. reprinted Dover Publications, 1975; and The 1889 Century Dictionary posted in searchable DjVu format on the internet by Global Language Resources, 2001-2005.)
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~6~~7~~8~~9~~10~~
Suggested Reading:
What herb offered protection from a basilisk? What's in a Name? - July 11, 2003
Why was classic Southwestern architecture created? Plants that Changed History - March 29, 2005
Bird Wars Potting Bench - August 27, 2001
Why was a legendary bird named for a palm? What's in a Name? - December 26, 2003
Why do pillbugs turn into zombies? Renfield's Garden - October 25, 2004
Why do wood storks need old bald-cypress? Renfield's Garden - March 10, 2004
Killer Smart Store Links: National Geographic—>Click here
Discovery Channel Store—>Click here.
A&E/The History Channel—>Click here.
Museum Store Company—>Click here.
NOVICA—>Click here.
The NASA Space Store—>Click here.
Wollemi Pine
National Geographic®
Exclusively from National Geographic, this survivor from the age of the dinosaurs is one of the greatest living fossils discovered in the 20th century. The Wollemi pine is one of the world's oldest and rarest tree species, belonging to a 200-million-year-old plant family thought to have been extinct for more than two million years. Previously known only from fossil records, it was presumed extinct until a single tree was found in the Wollemi National Park, Australia, in 1994. Subsequent research discovered 100 adult trees that have survived in a single canyon in this wild and rugged area.
Click here to view canyon, trees and fossil record.
You can assist in the conservation effort and enjoy the unique opportunity to ensure the continued survival of this rare species by giving the tree as a gift or growing your own. Suitable for indoor container gardening or as a landscape tree in certain areas of the U.S. Comes with a care manual with the full story about the discovery and fascinating history of the Wollemi pine. Comes in a copper-colored container and will be approximately 10''H when shipped. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these plants will fund ongoing conservation research.
Click here to get your Wollemi Pine and assist in the conservation effort.
National Geographic's Mission
National Geographic®
Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Our mission is to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while promoting the conservation of the world's cultural, historical and natural resources.
National Geographic has funded over 7,000 scientific research projects, supports an education program combating geography illiteracy and reflects the world through magazines, television programs, books, videos, maps, interactive media and merchandise. Your purchases help make this important work possible.
Shop the National Geographic Store. All purchases support research and education.
[Sale items...]
[National Geographic Magazine]
|
BACK TO TOP
