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Growing With Phipps: Sources of holiday scents lie in plants near, far
Saturday, December 16, 2000 By Celeste Vrabel, Phipps Conservatory, and Botanical Gardens
If you've ever pruned a wayward branch of a fir tree in summer and were transported by the scent to Christmas morning, you've witnessed the power of fragrance.
We stumble over the words to favorite holiday carols and can't quite remember who gave us which gift, but a slight whiff of pine can make travel to an exact moment in time possible. The most pungent fragrances are plant-based; our winter holidays are a huge bouquet of exotic plant aromas and flavors that define the season.
Mum's the word for autumn gardens, for this year and the next
History, architecture play part in 'mystique' of Japanese gardening
The tropics don't exactly pop into mind as an integral part of an American holiday, yet much of our traditional holiday fare relies heavily on herbs and spices from around the world. Cookies without cinnamon from Ceylon or vanilla from the pod of the vanilla orchid from Mexico and South America would not be as tasty. Children would be disappointed if they could not make gingerbread men whose key flavoring originated in Asia. The fresh Mentha piperita (peppermint) in candy canes hails from Africa and the luscious fig (Ficus carica) for the traditional figgy pudding is Mediterranean.
Sugar cane (Saccharum) is native to tropical river flats although most commercial sugar is now produced from beets. Chocolate, the most beloved flavoring of all, is known scientifically as Theobroma cacao or "food of the gods." A small tree native to Central America, chocolate is as beautiful as it is delicious and has become indispensable to holiday celebrations year-round.
Many a holiday would be incomplete without the savory aroma of a clove-studded ham, the clove being a dried flower bud of Eugenia aromatica of Southeast Asia. Even the humble vegetable garden has origins from around the globe. Pumpkins are so much a part of our winter holidays yet are indigenous to South America. The Pacific Islands make candied sweet potatoes possible and common garlic and yellow onions originated in Europe and Western Asia.
Ordinary grasses (grains) such as oats, wheat, and corn play an essential role in any holiday feast. Native to Western Europe, the Middle East and Mexico, respectively, grains supply flour for fancy breads and sweets, corn for garlands on the tree and many holiday spirits. Adding color to the strung popcorn is cranberry from the bogs of Massachusetts. Like so many other plants, cranberries serve as a decoration as well as a food source. Pine nuts, juniper berries, cinnamon sticks, sheaves of wheat and bay leaves are all aromatic plants that are used for decoration and nourishment.
The strong scents of candles are derived largely from plant material. Our native bayberry (Myrica pennsylvanica) is an attractive shrub that provides tiny, fragrant, blue berries to make the classic candle scent. It takes a bucketful to make one candle! Coconut, magnolia blossom, eucalyptus and gardenia are other popular candle scents from the plant kingdom.
Plant life and human life are inextricably entwined. Shelter, clothing, medicine, decoration and food made of plant material are gifts that we use year-round. That plant life delights all of our senses is yet another priceless gift of nature.
This is one of a series of periodic columns by staffers of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Celeste Vrabel, a Pleasant Hills resident, is Phipps' volunteer coordinator.
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