Olives are a miracle. Harvested from trees that might have been planted by unknown hands centuries ago, olive fruit yield a most pure and precious oil. Kept in vessels, the oil can be burned for light, flavored for dressings, saponified for cleansing, heated for cooking, and blessed for anointing. And this oil is readily available, …
Author Archives: jamesfolsom
Gods & Monarchs
What’s the relationship between Asclepius and Asclepias? It isn’t all about words, or declension. There are real differences worth sorting through. First we should check on Asclepius (also spelled Asclepios). In short, Asclepius was the mythological son of Apollo, inheriting and amplifying the family trade as gods of healing, indeed passing that tradition on to …
Dualing Capers
I think of capers as the anchovies of the vegetable world, little parcels of flavored salt masquerading as food products. But they are much more than tidy, salty pickles… They are would-be flowers, buds that if left to open and develop could yield fruit that might itself be pickled and marketed as caper berries. So …
Castor Oyl
What beavers, botanists, sugar, and Greek gods have in common with Popeye and Castor Oil might be totally limited to the spelling “castor” (Gr. kastor), but that commonality has led to confusion in many quarters. Let’s sort things out. We start with the mythical Greek half-twin brothers Castor and Pollux (the Dioscuri), who might be …
RIP
Lectins are especially-powerful compounds in the broad class of RIPs (Ribosome-Inactivating Proteins), which various plants generate in many formats, in almost any organ, from leaves and roots to seed. The compounds are dangerous because they can grind cell function to a halt by interfering with the manufacture of proteins, which takes place at special sites …
There is Death in the Pot
In the world of food chemistry and economic botany, we can hardly encounter a more colorful character than German entrepreneur and experimenter Friedrich Accum, who worked in London during nearly three decades at the beginning of the 19th century. Setting the stage – Accum arrived in London in 1793 (age 24) where he trained as …
Calyxis
Calyxis ternaria was lost in time, at least the name and image were. But for a few delays and some rules, things might have been different, and C ternaria would be the scientific name for Bougainvillea spectabilis. The complex tale involves remarkably parallel and epic journeys of discovery. Cutting to the chase, the wonderful plants …
Powerful Periwinkles
I’m not certain who needed to poison dogs in ancient times, or when particular Mediterranean plants might have been brought into play for animal control, but the several European Periwinkles (Vinca) are part of a large family of plants, the Apocynaceae, a group that inherited the nickname Dogbane from their early association (apo = away, …
First Light
It’s a remarkable volume, a good-sized book bound in simple, soft (limp) vellum, the size of a thick textbook and externally looking a bit shop-worn. Once opened, however, the pages are pristine, with clear, crisp type showing every stroke of the publisher’s intention to create a solid work. This is The Huntington’s copy of La …
Temperate Teachings
Hidden in The Huntington’s burdened shelves of rare books are many tiny treasures. One small and precious volume, dating to 1580, translates experience and advice of farmer Thomas Tusser into couplets and proverbs. Tusser takes us through his year of toil, speaking to the crops he knows, corn (wheat), barley, peas, and hops. He talks …