Mastic tree

carlina gumdrop (L.) Less.

Syn. atractylis gummifera L.Asteraceae/Compositae

The spindle of the spindle the bobbin

In the genus Carlina belong to about 20 species of typical Mediterranean thorns. Η Karlina the bodice-ripper grows on dry barren soils, on roadsides, in uncultivated fields. The large spiny leaves 15 to 40 cm long form a rosette from the centre of which emerges the flower head with pinkish-purple tubular flowers. The leaves dry out and the flower remains in bloom for a long time until it is pollinated. Then, having completed its mission, it dries up and the fruiting achenes are scattered by the wind away from the parent plant.

The plant has a long rhizome that can reach 40 cm in length and 8 cm in diameter. When cut, it secretes a thick milky substance, which becomes chewy on contact with air.

It is probably the plant that Theophrastus describes as “chameleon the white” or akanos. Theophrastus distinguishes two species, the white chameleon and the black chameleon, with different properties, which he describes in detail. (Against intestinal worms, against diarrhoea, as a poison that kills dogs and pigs!!!)

Now the white man and the white man and the black man are chameleons, and the powers of the roots, and these roots are various. For the one is white, and sweet, and sweet, and of a strong odour.

Modern research shows the high content of the plant's root in toxic substances that act like strychnine. (J. Scarborough, 1978)

The name of the genus, Carlina, is attributed to Charles the Great, Charlemagne, since a legend has it that his troops were cured of the plague thanks to some species of the genus.

The Greek name of the genus atractilis - idos = from the Greek word atractos = spindle.

The name was used by Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder for a kind of spiny thorn ( moschagathos?) whose stem was used as a spindle. “And most of it [the staff] is naked, rough, and the women are also anointed against the spindle” (Dioscorides III, 107).

The characteristic adjective from the Latin gummis, -is = eraser, gum + fer-a-um = bearer

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