Happy Holiday Plants (and more).
BY MARK G. STITH
I love the unmistakable aroma of a freshly-cut pine tree. That rich, resinous fragrance evokes such powerful and happy memories, as well as the advent of wonderful days to come.
They say that the sense of smell is the most powerful stimulus of memory, evoking the sense of recall from early childhood. That's what that pine scent does for me.
And all of a sudden, I am a child once more, transformed into a little boy staring for hours at the lights on the tree. My first sleepless nights were all Christmas eve-related, when I could not succumb due to the excitement and anticipation of Christmas day (now that I am older, sleepless nights don't have such pleasant reasons). I can't imagine the holidays without a tree, as well as all the other plants play a festive part in our enjoyment of the holidays.
So this year, I'll stray a little bit from the usual "Holiday Plant Care" advice. Instead of offering plant pointers, here's a little quiz that just might offer some surprises as to how certain plants have become so well-connected to the Christmas season.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF HOLIDAY PLANTS AND LORE
1. One holiday plant is named after its discoverer, who at the time was the U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Oh, he was also from South Carolina, and a festival in his honor is held every year in downtown Greenville. Gotta guess?
2. One holiday plant is actually a "moocher," infesting the branches of deciduous trees without the usual root-soil connection. What is it? Hint: This is a kiss and tell question.
3. Which holiday plant is associated with the oldest tradition?
4. People think I'm poisonous, but I'm not. In fact, Mark Stith used to eat my leaves in front of gasping audiences to bust the myth. Who am I?
5. What's the deal with the partridge in a pear tree? Who thought of that one? Have you ever put a partridge up in a pear tree for a Christmas decoration? Have any of your neighbors? Why?
ANSWERS
1. The poinsettia is named after Joel Robert Poinsett, from Greenville, South Carolina. Poinsett served as U.S. ambassador to Mexico in the early 1800s, and first noted the brilliantly-leaved plant growing wild in the countryside. He brought several back to the U.S., and the plant became an instant hit.
2. Mistletoe. This plant actually attaches itself to the branches of a host tree, where its roots penetrate the bark and enters the vascular layer (called the cambium). Mistletoe "mooches" nutrients and water from the tree.
3. As you might have guessed, it's the Christmas tree. According to Wikipedia, today's custom originated in 16th century Germany. In America, several locations claim to have been the site of the first Christmas tree: Windsor Locks, Connecticut, two cities (Lancaster and Eaton) in Pennsylvania, and Boston, Massachussetts. However, the practice of decorating the tree with a star and ornaments is credited in some accounts to German immigrant Charles Follen, who in 1847 cut a blue spruce from the woods outside Boston and had the village tinsmith construct a star for the top. He decorated the tree with paper ornaments and candy canes (by the way, the candy canes were all white). The tree tradition actually has European pre-Christian origins dating back centuries before its popularizatioin, but was incorporated into Christian traditions.
4. Look at question #1. Yes, it's the poinsettia again. This common myth rears its head every holiday season, despite ongoing efforts to educate the masses. And no, it's not poisonous. The milky sap is a skin irritant and can cause redness and swelling if it touches chafed skin or unprotected cuts and abrasions. And yes, yours truly and many other educators have eaten poinsettia leaves and berries in a melodramatic and crowd-shocking act. What does it taste like? Let me tell you this: I wouldn't add this to your Thanksgiving or Christmas salad. It chews and tastes like cardboard, with a sour and nasty accent. Yuck.
5. This is a trick question. I have no idea how the partridge ended up in the pear tree or what it's doing there. Pear trees don't even have foliage or fruit in winter, so there's no incentive for a partridge to be up in a pear tree in the first place. Besides, considering that birds are central to Thanksgiving and holiday dining, I'd be making myself pretty scarce-looking right now if I had feathers and looked plump and tasty. And sitting up in a naked tree just isn't a good idea this time of year. Could you pass the turkey, please?
