Good day dear community, first of all I would like to welcome you all to my new post and hope you had a day that brought some positive experiences into your lives! In this post, I would like to talk a little about the mythology behind a plant and hope you can expand your knowledge.

Here you can see some pictures of the Borage, which is also known under the scientific name Borago officinalis and has a long history behind it and was already associated with mysticism in ancient times. Originally, it probably comes from the Middle East and has also been cultivated in Europe since antiquity and it already had an important meaning among the Romans and was mentioned by the well-known Roman scholar Pliny the Elder, who has dealt a lot with the philosophy of nature and Borage was seen for him as a kind of lucky charm and also described the medical effect. The ancient Greeks also appreciated the medicinal properties very much and it was used in many ways and since the leaves are somewhat reminiscent of the taste of a cucumber, it was used as a spice and for medicinal purposes the flowers were crushed and then mixed and so the Greek doctor Dioscorides already mixed it with honey to produce an effective remedy. It was used both for the prevention and treatment of acute diseases and in the Middle Ages it was specially cultivated for these purposes and the effects can be specifically attributed to the contained alkaloids that are present in the flowers in small quantities and in low doses these are harmless, but at higher dosages there can be damage to the liver.

It was also considered a panacea and travelers also often used it because there was the interpretation that they would be safer and could also keep negative influences away and it was also used against restless conditions and was considered a method to unfold the imagination more and as always, I would like to mention here that in the event of illness, you should always ask your doctor or pharmacist of trust about the correct medicine as well as possible side effects to avoid complications! It is believed that the plant had spread more and more within Europe from Spain and reached other countries over the centuries and the importance can also be seen in different art epochs of this time where borage was a popular motif and also in some writings of the alchemists it appears and it was often described as a miracle herb. In the Roman Empire it was also considered an important protective plant and there was the suspicion that if someone would carry the plant, the person is safe from misfortune and probably they gave it also to fighters in the battle because according legends it would be more difficult wound them. It is believed that it appears in ancient Greece as a kind of drink under a different name and I could find out that it was probably mentioned in one of Homers writings and once was given to Helena of Troy to overcome her pain. It probably also had an important meaning among the Celts and was considered there as a divine or mystical plant and dyes were made from the flowers and mixed the flowers with wine to make magic potions.

Thank you for the visit and I hope you could learn something new about this exciting topic! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.