Plant of the month 2015 April
The plant of the month: Clematis vitalba
Following my question about the use of mock-orange or lilac stems as syringes or flutes, the ethnobotanical forum of Tela Botanica derived about the uses of elder marrow and Clematis vitalba. This last plant awakened remembrance of forbidden rural plays, when children used to smoke internodes of old man's beard. Today, it appears that children in towns are smoking something else… But this fact is attested in many regions, and mentioned by Marcel Pagnol and Louis Pergaud in La Guerre des Boutons. A curious thing is that the popular names of Clematis vitalba have remained well alive in francophone areas : herbe aux gueux, ravissano, tiran d'bribeu…
Two names puzzled me, and I discovered unexpected developments:
- in many regions of France, the plant is called viorne or vioche. Renaissance botanists mention it (Viorna vulgi, Lobel ; Viburnum Gallorum, Bellon), and the Dictionnaire culturel of the Robert notes that the "popular" meaning of viorne is Clematis vitalba, and that Viburnum lantana is a "botanical" meaning. More astonishing, when we read one of the few occurences in classical latin of the word viburnum, we find Virgile's verses :
- Verum hæc tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi,
- classicaly translated by:
- But this Rome raised its head amonst the other towns as much as cypresses use to raise their own head amongst the flexible viburnum.
It is clear that Clematis are intended, contrary to what latinists use to write, and not Viburnum lantana, the Wayfaring Tree! This meaning of "Clematis" has actually been retained by Linnaeus to create a Clematis viorna for an American species.
- in Normandy and elsewhere, Clematis vitalba is liane ou lienne. This word has been taken by French colonists in the Antilles to designate tropical lianas, because in western France, only Clematis vitalba has long climbing woody stems. From the French, the word was borrowed by English liana and has become the generic name of this life form so typical of tropical areas.
Thanks to telabotanists, Pl@ntUse could be enriched with rich contents about Clematis vitalba and tobacco substitutes, which are many…
As a gift, you will find thorough notes on the etymology of names such as Clematis, vitalba,Viburnum, viorne, liane and mancienne.
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