Teaching Discretion. Nigella sp. or Black Cummin, Jardin des Plantes, Paris, France
Today on Palm Sunday the sky here in the North is beautifully blue but the air is frightfully Cold. That color though took me back to last July when I saw this pretty Blue in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. It's a Nigella; I would hazard Nigella hispanica or Nigella papillosa. Whatever the case, Nigella has a comforting history.
Abraham Munting (1626-1683) - that indefatigable professor of botany here in Groningen - gives a fine description. In it he asserts that among a host of other uses the black seeds - black cummin - of Nigella sativa or Melanthium can be ingested for warmth if you're cold; but with moderation... In Arabic traditions Black Cummin is said to be a general curative. And in the Bible - Isaiah 28 - Black Cummin is adduced in connection with 'discretion'. That is to say, it is used as an example of not using more force than is necessary to attain one's ends: Black Cummin is harvested by a light beating of the plants with a stick and not by rolling a heavy cartwheel over them.
Well, I do hope that the blue sky today is a good omen for the coming of Spring and the Flowers of the Field! and warmth, of course.
Teaching Discretion. Nigella sp. or Black Cummin, Jardin des Plantes, Paris, France
Today on Palm Sunday the sky here in the North is beautifully blue but the air is frightfully Cold. That color though took me back to last July when I saw this pretty Blue in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. It's a Nigella; I would hazard Nigella hispanica or Nigella papillosa. Whatever the case, Nigella has a comforting history.
Abraham Munting (1626-1683) - that indefatigable professor of botany here in Groningen - gives a fine description. In it he asserts that among a host of other uses the black seeds - black cummin - of Nigella sativa or Melanthium can be ingested for warmth if you're cold; but with moderation... In Arabic traditions Black Cummin is said to be a general curative. And in the Bible - Isaiah 28 - Black Cummin is adduced in connection with 'discretion'. That is to say, it is used as an example of not using more force than is necessary to attain one's ends: Black Cummin is harvested by a light beating of the plants with a stick and not by rolling a heavy cartwheel over them.
Well, I do hope that the blue sky today is a good omen for the coming of Spring and the Flowers of the Field! and warmth, of course.