The birth of Jesus Christ is the reason most of us celebrate the joyous Christmas season. His nativity, long ago in a far away country, was an event that changed the history of the world. Unfortunately, little is known of his world and of its unique characteristics. Like everyone else, he used plants as part of his life. His story, as recorded in the Bible, begins with references to exotic plant materials, and his eventual death took place on a wooden cross. The plants that were a part of his life and which grew in this historical area have had and continue to have an effect on horticulture today.
Two plants are part of the Christmas story. The Magi brought gifts or offerings as they arrived from the east to worship the Christ child. Frankincense and myrrh were costly gifts that befitted the birth of this long-foretold royal child.Frankincense, or olibanum, is a white resin extracted from the trunks of tropical Boswellia trees. The frankincense carried by the Wise Men likely came from trees grown in India, but some species grow in Somalia and Ethiopia. The white resin is collected and used for religious rites. It is often burned because it gives off powerful incense. It is still widely used in Arabia today to fumigate homes and for cleansing the body in the hot, dry climate, where water is very limited.
Myrrh comes from a thorny woody shrub. Commiphora myrrha grows in the high desert regions of Somalia and Yemen and gets 6 to 8 feet high. The myrrh is extracted by cutting the stems and letting the resin form droplets. These droplets are then collected and sold.
It is used in modern times for perfumes and pharmaceuticals. In addition to its fragrance and medicinal properties, the myrrh resin is used for cosmetics. It has healing properties ascribed for both internal and external problems.
Living in the household of Joseph the carpenter, Jesus worked with and came to know much about the wood that was part of his mortal occupation. Although probably familiar with trees and wood, he used agriculture as the basis of many of his sermons and teachings. This likely was because most of his followers were more familiar with agricultural practices.
Many references to plant materials are part of the Sermon on the Mount. One of my favorites is "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Horticulturally, the "lilies" have never been positively identified. Traditionally they are thought to have been anemones; however, tulips, ranunculus, poppies and even irises have been described as the lilies of the field. It is quite possible that the reference is to all flowers collectively covering the hills of Palestine during the spring.
Another reference from this sermon shows an excellent understanding of horticulture. "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" The next discussion of good trees bringing forth good fruit and corrupt trees bringing forth evil fruit is not unlike a few trees I have had in my orchard. With the corrupt trees that never produced good fruit, I heeded the scriptural advice and "hewed them down" and cast them into the fire.
The reference to plucking ears of corn is somewhat different from what most would imagine. Corn, as we know it, comes from America and was unknown to Europeans and other peoples until after explorers came to the Western Hemisphere. The corn in the Bible was either barley or wheat and the ears were the heads of grain harvested as food. Numerous other references to growing these grain crops are part of other biblical accounts. The phrase "the fields are already white for harvest" refers to the grain drying out and changing color as the harvest nears.
The parable of the wheat and the tares is also a reference to the growing of grain. Tares were darnel grasses, a type of ryegrass. They look very similar to wheat as young plants and could only be distinguished from the wheat when the two were mature.
In addition to the fact that the tares were unproductive and interfered with grain production, tare seeds have a powerful alkaloid from a fungus that grows on the grain. We probably imagine a few undesirable weeds in the grain fields, but the people listening to these parables knew how bad the tares were because they were toxic if eaten with the grain.
The parable of the sower is also a lesson in gardening. Seeds that were planted among the stony places or the thorns could not compete and soon died. Those that were planted in fertile soil ended up bearing fruit and bringing forth 30 or 60 or 100 times as much fruit as was originally planted.
The references to plants continue throughout the teachings of Jesus. Some of his last hours were spent in the Garden of Gethsemane among the olive trees. Olives and other fruiting trees were so valuable that they were specifically prohibited from being destroyed by Mosaic law. This prohibition even extended into times of war.
Jesus Christ was not, of course, teaching about gardening and horticulture. His mission was of an eternal nature and his references to the plants were to help those hearing his words understand them better. At this season, his teachings of kindness, brotherly love and peace on earth are desperately needed. Perhaps the practice of gardening can, in some small way, contribute to that need.
I certainly wish all gardeners everywhere the very best at this wondrous holiday season and may you enjoy the many fruits of a prosperous and growing New Year.
Larry Sagers is a horticulturist with the Utah State University Extension Service.