Dalmatian wild plants part 6: Crown of Thorns (Paliurus spina - christi)

dumar022 (70)in #whysoserious • 7 years ago

And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”, Matthew 27:29.

Paliurus spina - christi, commonly known as Jerusalem thorn, Christ's thorn or crown of thorns, is a deciduous shrub or small tree that grown in Mediterranean parts of Europe and in central and southwest Asia.

This little tree can be 3 - 4 meters tall. Around my home, it grows everywhere and it is practically impossible to avoid them. Now, in this winter time, it is impossible to find some of these plants with some green leaves on them, but on this way, when you look on this naked plant, you can realize it's true character.

In spring, this shrub will have egg - shaped leaves usually 2 - 4 centimeters long. The tree itself has brown - grey or orange grey bark.

The fruit of this plant is dry nutlet in circular wing with wavy edges.

They become mature in August and they are eatable. You can see a lot of bees around these fruits and this plant usually provides honey.

MACRO SHOT OF A FRUIT

Thorns are very sharp and they can grow up to 1.5 centimeter.

MACRO THORNS

This plant looks like from very scary movie.

Every child fell into one of these at least few time in life. Well, from my own experience, I can say that it's definitely not a nice feeling. We call it "drača" and if you know say it with real accent, it sounds very scary, too. There is an old saying which says that Dalmatian people are like "drača". They grow by the sea covered with spines.

Legend says that these branches were used for crown of thorns made for Christ on the day of crucifixion.

Well, it grows there, too, so it is very possible. In some other legend, the other plant was used for that. So, it must be hard for this plant to have a reputation like this. Two thousands years of cursing and being a negative symbol in the history. However, Paliurus spina - christi is a companion for Dalmatian man and it found it's place in lines of many folk songs.