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Winter Wisdom Brought to you in cooperation with the Kansas State University Johnson County Research and Extension Master Gardeners. Each week we feature interesting topics for winter reading. |
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Week of 2/17/02 We can say with confidence that you did not receive any plants or flowers last week that bear the name of St. Valentine. While red Tulips, Amaryllis and Gloxinia and cut-flowers like roses and carnations that we associate with St. Valentine’s Day. It seems to be the red color that commends them to us, for as far as we know, the good St. Valentine himself was not horticulturally inclined, and no one has even thought to use Valentine as a genus or species name! One almost feels that the patron saint of love and romance was purposely overlooked when we contemplate the numerous other saints whose names are borne by a variety of flowers, herbs and vegetables. For instance, there’s St. Agnes’ flower; St. Andrew’s cross; St. Barbara’s herb; St. Barnaby’s thistle; St. Bernard’s lily; St. Bruno’s lily; St. Dabeoc’s heath; St. George’s herb; St. John’s bread; St. John’s wort; St. Martin’s flower; St. Mary’s wood; St. Patrick’s cabbage; and St. Peter’s wort, a vernacular name for three different plants, Ascyrum, Hypericum and Primula veris. Alas! No St. Valentine’s anything. The closest we can come in honoring the occasion, if not the name, is the garden perennial, Cupid’s Dart, the common name for Catananche caerula. Incidentally, we are sometimes asked why so many older plant names include the word, ”wort”. Hypericum, or St. John’s wort, is a good example. In recent years, its supposed medicinal value has brought it passing popularity. Wort is a Middle English word taken from the Old English word “wyrt” meaning a root, plant or herb. Wort is most often found in compound words like liverwort or leadwort given to an herbaceous plant or herb. The word resembles woad, another word of Old English and Germanic origin, that means a dye and is sometimes attached to plant or herb names used for this purpose. The Latin species name tinctorius, which means used in dyeing, has a similar connotation.
Articles submitted by Bill Latimer, Johnson County Extension
Horticulture Assistant and Dennis Patton, Johnson County Extension Horticulture Agent. * Winter Wisdom is an information service of the Kansas State Johnson County Research and Extension Master Gardeners. Research-based responses are provided by Extension Master Gardener volunteers weekdays from March 1 through October 31, from 9:00 am to 4:30pm . To telephone, call (913) 764-6306 or visit the Extension Office at 13480 South Arapaho Drive, Olathe, Kansas. Visit their website at www.oznet.ksu.edu/Johnson
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