The Legend and Lore of Plants.

The follow is a reblog from archaeologist Rita Roberts entitled The Legend and Lore of Plants posted on 25 APR 2016

It is a fascinating post on the plants garlic and ginseng which have rich histories of fact,folklore, symbolism and mythology that often dates back thousands of years.

Enjoy!

Ritaroberts's Blog

INTRODUCTION

Many plants have a rich history of fact,folklore, symbolism and mythology that often dates back thousands of years. Generally, the plants that have the most lore connected with them are those which were most useful to man as food, medicine, or commercial products of those which impressed him with special characteristics such as striking size, beauty, or longevity. But plant folklore symbols  and myths also represent men’s efforts- ranging from naïve to sophisticated – to fulfill basic human psychological  needs, especially the need to explain the unknown.

As modern, 20th century folk  we may be tempted to react with amused condescention toward these stories, but in the wholesale discarding of old beliefs we may also run the risk of losing more than we gain. Both the tenacity and the symbolic richness of legendary  stories suggest that they have a psychological  validity that survives even when we can no longer…

View original post 725 more words