'Many enjoyable kinds'. Aquilegia canadensis, Canadian or Red Columbine, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In his great Naauwkeurige beschrijving der aardgewassen (=Precise description of plants) (1696), Abraham Munting (1626-1685), well-known hortulanus and professor of botany at Groningen, writes of Columbines that there are 'many enjoyable kinds'. He discusses a few and also adds a list of its medicinal qualities, something contemporary authors don't do.
The tale of how our plant came by its Latin name - Aquilegia - is a love story among the classical Gods. I haven't been able to find an ancient source, but the tale is told by a French Carthusian monk, François le Gentil (1600-1726), in his Le jardenier solitaire (English version in 1706). The word 'solitaire' fits the solitude in which Carthusian monks were supposed to work with an eye to religious devotion but which without doubt might also allow their imaginations free, galloping rein. I gave a summary of his story at
www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/4568301084/in/photolis...
'Many enjoyable kinds'. Aquilegia canadensis, Canadian or Red Columbine, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
In his great Naauwkeurige beschrijving der aardgewassen (=Precise description of plants) (1696), Abraham Munting (1626-1685), well-known hortulanus and professor of botany at Groningen, writes of Columbines that there are 'many enjoyable kinds'. He discusses a few and also adds a list of its medicinal qualities, something contemporary authors don't do.
The tale of how our plant came by its Latin name - Aquilegia - is a love story among the classical Gods. I haven't been able to find an ancient source, but the tale is told by a French Carthusian monk, François le Gentil (1600-1726), in his Le jardenier solitaire (English version in 1706). The word 'solitaire' fits the solitude in which Carthusian monks were supposed to work with an eye to religious devotion but which without doubt might also allow their imaginations free, galloping rein. I gave a summary of his story at
www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/4568301084/in/photolis...