Thursday, March 10, 2011

Greek flowers

I was reading somewhere that in order to get your muse to come out and play, you can do this and do that. One of the things this article suggested was flowers and candles.
And it got me thinking.. Yes, I know there is smoke coming out of my ears.. I heard it all before. Somebody needs to come up with something a litte more orignial..

Ok, back to me thinking.. Since I love candles I was wondering what kind of scents would be found in Greece? What kind of spices that are turned into candles scents. So I goggled wild flowers of Greece and I got many and many websites. But there is one that I find interesting. There you will find flora with mythical description of what that plant was used for in Greek Mythology and also gives you the Greek name also.. Which I find rather cool to know since, My character is an ancient Greek..

For example:

Black Mulberry:  There are at least 20 species of Mulberries in the world.
Greek : Moron  
The dark-red berries can be used in pies, tarts, wines, cordials and teas. There are two different kinds of Mulberry trees, One that has black berries which is  native to western Asia and A red-berry that is native to eastern North America, tends to have the strongest flavor. The white mulberry is an Asian native, which is found in reagion of North America and has a different flavor. The adult species can contain a large amount of reveratrol (which from what I can find is something that can lower blood suger, who knew?) The fuit and leaves are sold for many supplements and the unripe berries and green parts of the plant that has white sap, can be intoxicating and give a mild hallucinogen.

Myth1 : Death of Pyramos & Thisbe.  Pyramos and Thisbe were a pair of ill-fated lovers from the Assyrian city of Babylon. Their parents forbade their romance and the pair agreed to meet secretly beneath a white-berried mulberry tree outside the city limits. When Pyramos arrived he found Thisbe's shawl in the jaws of a lion and believing her killed plunged a sword through his breast. The girl upon discovering her dead lover also killed herself. The mulberry tree soaked up the lovers' blood and its berries were turned from white to black-red.
I don't know of any candles that Mulberry scented.. So the search is still on.. As I continued to read this article the author mentions real flowers. I was thinking good idea, but where can I find real flowers that are native to the mediterranean? Then I came upon this.....

A Sweet Violet! Not a cute flower.
The flower kind of reminds me of the mean pansy's in the movie Alice in Wonderland (Disney's cartoon version) To me they kind of look like thay can bite some one's head off.. I AM A SWEET VIOLET, HEAR ME ROOOOOOORRRRR!!!!

Greek : Ion
A little bit about the Violet.. It is used to cure sore throats and tonsilitis. The sent is sweet and unmistakable  this flower has proved popular throughout the generations, especially in the late Victorian era, and has consequently been used in the production of many cosmetic fragrances and perfumes. The French make a Violet syrup which is made up of violet extracts. Interesting.. I wonder how they get the extracts from the flower, does anybody know???  In the U.S., this French violet  syrup is use to make violet sconts and marshmellows.. Now this got me interested.. How does one make violet scones and marshmellows? One will have to wait till another day.. Till then αντίο (Good bye)

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