The Imagination of Plants: A Book of Botanical Mythology (SUNY Series on Religion and the Environment)

Matthew Hall is Associate Director of Research Services at Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand. He is the author of Plants as Persons: A Philosophical Botany , also published by SUNY Press. Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: A Botanical Mythology A Human-Centered World Plants in the Active Voice Against Anthropomorphism The Imagination of Plants 1. Roots Kinship: A Mutuality of Being Kinship: Common Origins Kinship: Divine (Common) Origins Kinship: The first gardeners Living with Kin Excerpts: Roots From the Flesh of Ymir Every Plant Yielding Seed Song of Puru?a Sacred Ox Pangu’s Hair Becomes the Plants Pellervoinen Scatters Seeds The Animals Bring the Corn A Present from Tsichtinako Tiger Shark Brings the Cycads Planting in the Dreaming Trees Brought From Heaven Seeds from Heaven 2. Gods The World Trees Divine Associations Use of the Sacred Excerpts: Gods In the Garden of Eden The Bodhi Tree Yggdrasil Oak Tree of Jumala Yaxche: The World Tree Tulsi Sacred Lotus The Oaks of Dodona Saka-ki Tree Mistletoe Soma 3. Metamorphosis Mortal Men: Sprung from Ash Trees Fine Bark over Smooth Skin Excerpts: Metamorphosis From Trees and Flowers Birth of Adonis Daphne and Apollo Death of Adonis Hyacinthos These Poplars Drip Tears Baucis and Philemon Cyparissus The Soul of Bata Narcissus The Origin of Kava Reborn as Rice The Igas Go Quietly Making Ourselves Plants Red Lily Woman 4. Legend Some Part of Truth: The Barnacle and the Wak-Wak Magical Healers Prayers to the Medicinal Plants Excerpts: Legend The Barnacle Tree The Scythian Lamb Wak Wak Tree Marvelous Medicine The Magic Balsam The Tree of Immortality Pregnant by the Lucma Tree Nine Herbs Charm Prayer to the Kushtha-Plant to Destroy Takman (Fever) Hymn to Magic and Medicinal Plants 5. Sentience This Nature in a Passive State Transcending the Vegetative Soul Black Blood from the Bark Talk among the Trees Coeval Nymphs Excerpts: Sentience The Trees Seek a King Battle of the Trees Tree, He Watching You Erysichthon Fells the Sacred Grove Pleasure and Pain The Violated Myrtle Search for Lemminkainen The Birch Tree Weeps The Talking Tree The Trees of Sun and Moon The Wind and the Salmali Tree The Nymphs of the Trees 6. Violence Using Plants Holding on to Violence Consequence of Senseless Violence Excerpts: Violence Destroying Plants Odysseus’s Raft Tsichtinako Teaches about Corn Stir up the Grains Full of Knots You’ll Find the Pine Sovereign of the Vegetable World Rātā Bhima’s Blows Jungle Trees Humbaba Uprooted Two Great Persea Trees The Thunder Tree Epilogue: Imagination and Beyond A Guide to the Texts Book of Genesis The Eddas The Vedas Bundahisn Pangu The Kalevala Mahābhārata The Puranas Popol Vuh Chilam Balam OF Chumayel Acoma Yanyuwa Warramurrungundji Maori History Nihongi Life of the Buddha Pliny, Natural History Dodona Kojiki Ethnobotany of the Zuni Fables and Rites of the Incas Virgil, Aeneid Hesiod Works and Days and Homeric Hymns Four Branches of the Mabinogi Ovid, Metamorphoses Nonnus, Dioynsiaca LIBRARY of Diodorus Siculus The Upani?ads The Tale Of Two Brothers Flinders Ranges Dreaming The Speaking Land Herbals Travels of John Mandeville Nine Herbs Charm Kakadu Man Shahnama Greek Alexander Romance Acaranga Sutra Epic of Gilgamesh Homer, Odyssey Notes Bibliography Index Plants Have A Remarkable Mythology. From The Ancient Greeks To Contemporary Indigenous Cultures, Human Beings Have Told Colorful And Enriching Stories About Plants For Thousands Of Years. This Volume Explores The Myriad Of Plant Tales And The Groundbreaking Ideas That Underpin Them. Amid The Key Themes Of Sentience And Kinship, It Connects The Anemone To The Meaning Of Human Life, Tree Hugging To The Sacred Basil Of India, And Plant Intelligence With The Finnish Epic The Kalevala. Bringing Together Commentary, Original Source Material And Illustrations, It Aims To Challenge Your Perspective On The Myths, The Plants That Feature And The Role Of Human Beings That Narrate Them-- A Bontanical Mythology -- Roots -- Gods -- Metamorphosis -- Legend -- Sentience -- Violence -- Imagination And Beyond. Matthew Hall. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Plants have a remarkable mythology dating back thousands of years. From the ancient Greeks to contemporary Indigenous cultures, human beings have told colorful and enriching stories that have presented plants as sensitive, communicative, and intelligent. This book explores the myriad of plant tales from around the world and the groundbreaking ideas that underpin them. Amid the key themes of sentience and kinship, it connects the anemone to the meaning of human life, tree hugging to the sacred basil of India, and plant intelligence with the Finnish epic The Kalevala. Bringing together commentary, original source material, and colorful illustrations, Matthew Hall challenges our perspective on these myths, the plants they feature, and the human beings that narrate them. "Plants have a remarkable mythology. From the ancient Greeks to contemporary Indigenous cultures, human beings have told colorful and enriching stories about plants for thousands of years. This volume explores the myriad of plant tales and the groundbreaking ideas that underpin them. Amid the key themes of sentience and kinship, it connects the anemone to the meaning of human life, tree hugging to the sacred basil of India, and plant intelligence with the Finnish epic The Kalevala. Bringing together commentary, original source material and illustrations, it aims to challenge your perspective on the myths, the plants that feature and the role of human beings that narrate them"-- Provided by publisher