Snow White's flower

Fairy tales are full of twists and turns, woven with glistening folklore and earthly wisdom. I shall focus on the main plant featured in another favourite fairy story. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is the subject today. There are many significant flowers involved, whether indirectly or symbolically. From the black ebony wood, to the dark forest, the main plant in the story is the apple. 

This apple was poisoned by the wicked queen, who wanted to kill Snow-White. Such poisoned apples are not unknown, but apples appear in many old myths and legends. From the golden apples in Greek and Norse myths that prolong life, to the apple in the Garden of Eden containing knowledge that changed humanity forever, and of doom in the Judgement of Paris that set off the devastating Trojan War. 

A poisoned apple was meant to kill Snow White but it actually changed her story. Her collapse and deathlike sleep caused a prince to find her and wake her up. The poison apple appears in an Arthurian tale that resulted in the death of a knight. 

In history, poisoned apples were once thought to be rumours of various people trying to kill someone. During the 18th century, "poisoned apples" was the name used to call contaminated tomatoes,  covered in lead. Few people really died from a poisonous apple and they were in the 20th century. 

Can apples be poisonous naturally? Yes. Within apples are pips that are full of cyanide, as is widely believed. Inside an apple pip are tiny amounts of amygdalin that could result in becoming cyanide. If the pips are crushed or eaten by chewing, it releases cyanide in just a low amount. It's understood you need to eat 100 apple pips at once to become poisoned. In Snow White's case, she was restored by the kiss of a prince and was reborn. 

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Rapunzel flower

 

Rapunzel is one of the most well loved characters by the Brothers Grimm. It's about a princess with extremely long hair and she's kept in a tower by a cruel witch until a prince arrives. Rapunzel's long luscious hair is what stands out in the story and is the main theme. Her name comes from the same root vegetable that her mother used to eat. It's believed that eating the Rapunzel plant gave her daughter very long long hair that she braided and used for the witch to climb up, and then for the prince who loved her. 

The Rapunzel vegetable isn't a fairy tale invention. It's most commonly named today the rampion bellflower, or the scientific name Campanula Rapunculus. It grows anywhere from woodlands to roadsides, as it's a hardy winter plant. It appears as pretty flowers throughout Spring and Summer. It grows edible roots that resemble turnips, radish and spring onions. Rampion Rapunzel can be used as a crop that should be first fertilised on fresh soil consisting of carbon, sand, phosphorus and nitrogen in June. The vegetables need to be harvested when they're grown full and ready by October or November. 

Besides the fairy story, Rapunzel plants were served on gold plates and were offerings to Apollo. In Italy there was a negative superstition that keeping rampion root at home was believed to cause aggro amongst children. They interpret dreams about rampion plants was a sign of conflict. But it stays as a positive heirloom in Germany, a special herb said to be "king's cure all". 

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Cosmetics in ancient times

In ancient times, makeup was very popular and common. Here is a list:

It was especially amongst both men and women to wear eyeblack, which reduced the glare of sunlight. This is still being used today amongst athletes and outdoor sports players. The Vikings mainly used charcoal for this and applies it over and around their eyes.

Eyeliner and/or Kohl was worn by women and this helped reduce glare, medicinal reasons and enhance their eyes. Kohl was made from antimony, plants, charcoal, galena and soot. Women have been using kohl since ancient times.

Woad was colourful and blue, coming from the Isatis tinctoria plant. Used by both men and women for decoration on the body. Celtic warriors in Britain and Ireland covered themselves in woad warpaint. There are tribes who tattooed themselves in blue patterns, such as the Picts. Women today use eyeshadow of woad.

Berry juice was very popular amongst women for cosmetics. It was used to redden the lips and rouge cheeks. Women from ancient Greece and Rome put on berry juice to appear more vivid and stunning, as their red lips and cheeks brightened their faces. They also used vermillion and red chalk. The use of berry juice continued through the ages to give women rosy complexions. 

Pallor was used to make women extremely ghostly pale, as this was considered a sign of innocence. However in ancient times there were harmful ingredients such as Venetian ceruse and lead. In ancient Egypt women applied lead based pallor as cosmetics but this caused much skin damage and illnesses. Even recent as Victorian times, women applied toxic materials such as arsenic wafers as makeup. 

Belladonna eye drops and eye shadow was used by women in ancient times until the Italian Renaissance period. The use of belladonna was to enlarge and sparkle the eyes. This substance comes from the toxic Deadly Nightshade plant. 

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Darwin's wishing tree

Modern science is often disconnected from anything artistic and spiritual. No one puts science with creative arts or religion together. Science has a clinical view of things, searching for hard cold facts, keeping also with rigid frames of data. However, early scientists were much more fluid and accepting of art and religion. They were wild and also full of dreams, ideals and romantic notions of the world. 

Charles Darwin had many adventures in his life, travelling the world and seeing amazing sights. He didn't regard himself as a scientist. He viewed himself as a naturalist and philosopher. He spent a few years at sea on HMS Beagle, enthusiastic and seeking excitement. 

One of the places he visited was Patagonia in South America. This is a cool mountainous region at the bottom tip of the continent. It's where a section of the Andes mountains are that stretches for 7,000 kilometre across, from Venezuela, Chile and Argentina. Patagonia contains volcanoes and pools, submerged mountains with the peaks above water level. It's got sea lions, penguins, whales, horses, guanaco, flamingos, condor, puma, armadillo and also grey foxes. Darwin encountered all of them and more. He also collected artifacts and so on. 

Darwin visited much more places and formed ideas about natural selection. He came across animals he'd never known existed before. He studied rocks, explored the volcanic terrains, ate fruit and ducked from arrows. One of the most mystical observations he made was on a wishing tree in Argentina. It was called a "Walleechu" by the native population. The tree was an alter full of offerings placed around the branches of various gifts from food, water, clothes and even cigars, tied with colourful thread. Around the tree were bones of horses. Darwin noted all of this and being respectful of their tradition.  

For further reading about this, read the book "Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science." by Renee Bergland.  

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