Being trapped inside will not be good for the psyche; so, since March, I’ve spent as a lot time outside as attainable. And even when this winter is the rainiest, coldest, darkest on report in Seattle, I’ll be outdoors awhile every day…to maintain sane.
Gardening and gardens have at all times been necessary to me. I used to be launched to planting and caring for vegetation by my maternal grandmother, a tricky, never-tired/always-working girl (I do consider she ‘slept’ with one eye open and a to-do record working by her ideas). Nearly the second I planted my very own seeds underneath her supervision, I began studying about my vegetation. Their historical past was fascinating and studying about them took me all around the world. A number of the vegetation I “knew personally” had ancestors from Japan, China, South America, the Mediterranean and this thrilled me.
I simply completed studying the great (and superbly illustrated) Exceptional Timber by Christina Harrison and Tony Kirkham (The College of Chicago Press, 2019). This e book tells the story of 68 tree species from all over the world – their rising habits AND associations with tradition, shelter, meals, medication.
I’d wish to introduce you to eight species from Exceptional Timber…some with connections to fragrance.
CEDAR: Cedrus libani; C. deodara; C. atlantica
Native to the jap Mediterranean, Cedrus libani (Cedar of Lebanon) has been cherished — and exploited — since historic instances, by Phoenicians, Israelites, Persians, Romans and Egyptians (cedar resin was used within the mummification course of). The ancients cherished the tree’s fragrance, and its power and sturdiness as a constructing materials. Leprosy was handled with cedar extractions.
The final grove of C. libani in Lebanon is on Mt. Lebanon and is known as the “Cedars of God” (it’s listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Web site). Different true cedars are C. atlantica (Atlas cedar) that grows in Morocco and Algeria; C. deodara from the western Himalaya (deodara means “timber of the gods”); and C. Brevifolia from central Cyprus.
A number of different tree species are incorrectly known as “cedar”: Western pink cedar (Thuja) and Incense Cedar (Calocedrus). The well-known Juniperus virginiana has been known as the “pencil cedar” because of its use in making, you guessed it, pencils; it has an exquisite aroma.
CACAO: Theobroma cacao
Cacao has been used for over 5,000 years. The Mayan identify for cacao is “kakaw”/”kakawa” (“Theobroma” means ‘meals of the gods’). The Aztecs most popular their cacao in liquid/drink type and it was consumed chilly, not sizzling. Cacao was reserved for high-caste males; commoners, girls and youngsters weren’t allowed to style the drink. Montezuma II was a chocoholic and flavored his cacao drink with vanilla, chili, spices, honey, flowers and herbs.
Within the 19th century, chocolate processing was improved by two Dutchmen, chemists Casparus Van Houten and his son, Coenraad Van Houten; their patented “Dutch course of” produced (less-bitter) cocoa powder which led to smoother chocolate drinks and laborious chocolate, too. As you savor chocolate, assuage guilt by remembering darkish chocolate is filled with antioxidants, wealthy with phenols and flavonoids.
WHO KNEW?: Cacao is a member of the mallow household that features hibiscus and okra.
NUTMEG: Myristica fragrans (that means “myrrh-like perfume”)
Nutmeg is an Indonesian native. It’s a dioecious tree — female and male flowers develop on separate timber. Nutmeg fruits resemble apricots and also you get your cash’s price with nutmegs: the outer pores and skin could be made into jam/jelly or sweet, and surrounding the nutmeg seed itself is a brilliant, orange-red lacy seed cowl – mace (a favourite spice in my apple pies).
Nutmeg important oil is constituted of floor nutmegs and is used to taste and scent meals/drinks, cosmetics, cough syrups/medicated elixirs and perfumes. (Thailand makes many great nutmeg-scented merchandise, together with perfume-like medicated oils.)
Nutmeg was as soon as one of the crucial prized buying and selling gadgets on the earth, price greater than its weight in gold. On the peak of its commerce, a bag of nutmeg costing the equal of $1 in Indonesia would promote for $1000 in Europe.
There have been ‘nutmeg wars’ between the Dutch and English within the 17th century. When the English purchased the island of Rhun in 1603 to develop nutmeg, the Banda Islands-based Dutch East India Firm did all in its energy to drive the English away from Indonesia and preserve the Dutch monopoly on the spices of mace and nutmeg. Lastly, in 1667, the British gave up on sustaining Rhun and traded the island for one more island…Manhattan. Shouldn’t a nutmeg be on the Seal of New York Metropolis?
Nutmeg is being studied as an anti-depressant. Let the nutmeg-grating start! We’re in for a protracted fall and winter.
WHO KNEW?: It’s suspected that considered one of Heinz Ketchup’s thriller substances is — nutmeg.
HEADACHE TREE: Umbellularia californica (also called the California laurel, pepperwood tree, spice tree)
Indigenous “Californians” used the headache tree’s leaves and fruits in poultices to ease complications (main irony: the pungent aroma of this tree can induce migraines in these vulnerable to that horrible situation). The leaves comprise the chemical umbellone which might irritate eyes and noses, too.
I go to an attractive, enormous headache tree all yr right here in Seattle and by no means fail to select just a few leaves and crush them between my fingers or palms. The scent is creamy, minty, “inexperienced.” I at all times thought the aroma can be nice in citrus colognes however think about the “complications” at IFRA headquarters at that suggestion!
QUININE: Cinchona spp.
Quinine (from the bark of the cinchona tree) is a pure alkaloid preventative and treatment for malaria. It’s native to the Andes the place I’d love to go to it in situ (the beautiful flowers have a fantastic scent).
The tree is called after the Spanish Countess of Chinchón (1576-1639); sure, Carl Linnaeus misspelled her identify (the Latin identify ought to be Chinchona…why hasn’t somebody modified it?) Quinine’s most attention-grabbing side to me is the British/booze connection. British colonists in tropical climes took their preventative medicinal dose of quinine in tonic water — with added gin, sugar and lemon. The gin and tonic was born…together with many different scrumptious quinine-flavored drinks: Dubonnet, Byrrh, Cocchi Americano, Barolo Chinato and my favourite comfortable drink, Pellegrino chinotto.
Cheers to quinine — a fantastic drink additive and savior of thousands and thousands!
FRANKINCENSE: Boswellia sacra
Frankincense has been used for millennia to scent the air and people. The profitable commerce in frankincense began about 5,000 years in the past on the Arabian peninsula. The gorgeous metropolis of Petra, Jordan, was constructed by Nabataeans with cash earned through the incense commerce and the UNESCO World Heritage Web site of “The Land of Incense” is in Oman.
A wound to the Boswellia sacra leads to exudations of a gum/resin which hardens into “tears.” As with sandalwood, reputation results in over-harvesting and endangerment. Using frankincense in perfumery has had dire penalties for the timber in Somalia.
LORE: the Phoenix constructed its nest in frankincense timber and fed off its tears (I’m imagining a Phoenix rolling some frankincense tears round its mouth as we might a candy lozenge).
ANNATTO: Bixa orellana (the lipstick tree)
Originating in South America, annatto’s orange-red seeds are used all over the world to paint lipstick and different cosmetics, and meals (like cheeses, butter, margarine, popcorn, custards, cereals). When annatto’s pink dye is blended with oil, it could add a pleasant pink gleam to hair or be rubbed on pores and skin as a double-duty sunscreen/insect repellent. Annatto is second solely to saffron as a pure colorant.
Indigenous individuals used the dye as a physique paint and as a spice for meals (it is also known as achiote). Aztecs added annatto to their chocolate drinks and used its pink colour for manuscript artwork within the 16th century. Spaniards appreciated annatto within the 17th/ 18th centuries as a dye for silks.
JUNIPER: Juniperus communis
The widespread Juniper has the biggest geographic vary of any woody plant, however as with quinine, my curiosity lies with juniper’s use in alcoholic drinks.
Juniper berries type on feminine timber as small “cones” containing solely 2-Three seeds. Berry-like at first, these cones can take 2-Three years to mature and ripen to a purple-black colour with the attribute blue-hued bloom on the “berries.” The juniper berries are utilized in cooking and in…GIN.
The phrase “gin” is expounded to the French phrase genièvre, Italian ginepro and Dutch jenever — all names for juniper. Juniper berries are the one botanical that MUST be in gin for gin to be known as gin…so there.
FUN FACT: juniper wooden is burned to smoke meals and it produces an nearly invisible smoke. I ask you: who would respect almost-invisible smoke? Within the Scottish highlands of days passed by, those that illicitly made whiskey on the sly, that’s who. Product builders: what about some “smokeless” juniper incense?
JAPANESE PERSIMMON: Diospyros kaki (“divine fruit”)
One of many timber from my childhood that I typically keep in mind (why did not I it?) was a chic, towering persimmon tree. It grew on their own, alongside a path that went from my home to my great-aunt’s house, the place my father had a harmony grape arbor, fruit timber, a vegetable backyard, pet chickens and his seven cats. This persimmon tree seemed like a palm tree…with a protracted, branch-less physique main as much as the leafy high the place the fruits fashioned. What number of 1000’s of instances did I contact it as I walked by it over time? I can see my father leaning on the tree, his cats gathered close by to greet him, and fields and woods past. Since my mother and father’ deaths, I’ve by no means returned house even as soon as, however I preserve hoping the persimmon remains to be alive…and cherished by somebody.
I do not know if my persimmon was a Japanese persimmon or a Diospyros virginiana (the American “widespread” persimmon). What is called the Japanese persimmon truly got here from China, however Japanese artists and gourmands revered the fruit over the centuries. Japanese persimmons are naturally dried and eaten as sweets (hoshigaki). Probably the most prized persimmons are the “astringent” ones, that should ripen on the tree earlier than consuming; they’re superior in taste to the non-astringent varieties. Persimmons should not solely beautiful timber with scrumptious, lovely fruits, their autumn foliage is sensational to behold.
In America, the native persimmon was no much less cherished: Indigenous individuals used its wooden, bark and fruit. Through the American Civil Struggle, the persimmon’s dried seeds had been made into buttons for troopers’ uniforms.
Timber have supplied people (and animals) with meals and shelter and medicines. They’ve impressed poets, painters and sculptors, explorers and gardeners. In our quickly heating world, timber present oxygen that we breathe, they entice air pollution and are carbon “sinks.” Of an estimated 60,000 tree species on earth, eight,000 are at the moment threatened by extinction, and that quantity is rising.
I dedicate this put up to the inspiring artist Luchita Hurtado who died in August at age 99. In one of many final movies she made (consider it or not, she’s 98 within the clip), smiling broadly, delightedly, she paints a tree…after which hugs it. “We’re all on this planet collectively; we’re all associated and our closest relative is a tree — as a result of they breathe out and we breathe in.”
Word: pictures from high to backside…E-book pictures through writer; Cedars of the Gods by hey Tiffany! at flickr; some rights reserved; starr-070321-6112-Theobroma_cacao-fruit-Hana_Hwy-Maui by Forest & Kim Starr at flickr; some rights reserved; Nutmeg Tree From an album of 40 drawings made by Chinese language artists at Bencoolen, Sumatra, for Sir Stamford Raffles through Wikimedia Commons; bubblegumtree by Ken-ichi Ueda at flickr; some rights reserved; Quinine plant from medicinal vegetation by Robert Bentley, 1880. [cropped] through Wikimedia Commons; Frankincense tree, above Rosh, Socotra, Yemen by Valerian Guillot at flickr; some rights reserved; Achiote Seeds by Invoice Gracey at flickr; some rights reserved; Juniper berries, early fall by Carl Berger Sr. at flickr; Persimmons through U.S. Division of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Assortment. Uncommon and Particular Collections, Nationwide Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705; Luchita Hurtado in her studio in Santa Monica, California by Oresti Tsonopoulos through The Telegraph.
