Magical Botany X

         Welcome to the April A to Z Blog Challenge!  My theme this year is the Botany of the Realms of Imagination, in which I share a selection of the magical plants of folklore, fairy tale, and fantasy.  As for this whole A to Z Challenge thing, you can find out all about it here.

         X is often a bit of a grab bag for A to Z posts, and I’ll start with the most famous plant of Planet X in the Marvel Universe.  Groot is another tree person, but although he is presumably part of a whole species (Flora colossus), for the most part he’s one of a kind.  He can make his arms grow into enormously long vines, or shoot out suckers all over his body.  He can

regrow limbs, and even after being thoroughly destroyed he can be regrown if a small twig of his wood is carefully repotted.  He’s fiercely loyal to his found family, and famously the only words he ever says are “I am Groot” — but those three words can mean anything and everything necessary, to those who understand him.

        Xi Wangmu’s Peaches, or Peaches of Immortality, are served by Xi Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, at her magnificent banquets for the Immortals.  These feasts are held only once every six thousand years, because A) the peaches grow so slowly and B) there’s no need to rush things when you’re already immortal anyway.  The peaches grow in an orchard on Mount Kunlun, and Xi Wangmu loves them so much that she often wears them on her headdress.

        For more plants that begin with X we need to return to the Aztec herbals.  In Nahuatl xiuh means “herb” so there are actually tons of Aztec plants that begin with X, but I’ve chosen xiuh-ecapatli because it’s another of the ingredients in the potion that cures “those harassed by a tornado,” which seems to me like it must be magic.  Then there’s also yollo-xoxhitl, which

may mean “heart flower.”  I’m counting that one as magic because it’s good “against stupidity of mind.”  This is something for which the whole world could definitely use a magic cure!

         The other way to take X, however, is as the mark of the unknown, so I’m using that as my excuse to feature a magical plant that doesn’t have a name at all.  This unnamed flower is recorded by the Brothers Grimm in the fairy tale “Jorinde and Joringel.”  It has deep red petals and a pearl at the center.  It was first seen in a dream, and when it’s finally found in real life, after long searching, it is a powerful antidote and protection against dark magic.  Magic spells don’t

affect anyone holding this flower, and enchanted items have only to be touched with the petals to be restored to their true form.

        The moral of X (and Groot) is that you can find meaning in anything if you look hard enough.  And also, don’t give up on a “dead” plant too soon.  Sometimes plants really can surprise you, and indeed every year in colder regions around the world, trees appear to die in the winter and come back to life in the spring.

        Gardening tip of the day: if you should by chance acquire a peach of immortality, don’t bother trying to plant it.  According to Xi Wangmu, ordinary soil isn’t suitable, and besides, the tree blooms only once every three thousand years.

        So, immortality: good idea or bad?

[Pictures: Groot (of Planet X), film stills from “Guardians of the Galaxy” 1 and 2 by Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2014, 2018 (Images from Fandom);

Xi Wangmu’s Peaches of Immortality, hanging scroll by Kumashiro Yūhi, mid 18th century (Image from Wikimedia Commons);

Xiuh-ecapatli, illustration from Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis by Martin de la Cruz and Juan Badiano, 1552 (Image from Academia);

Yollo-xoxhitl, illustration from Florentine Codex by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, c. 1575 (Image from Digital Florentine Codex);

Flower X (actually kornblomen), hand-colored wood block print from translation of Ortus sanitatus by Johannes von Cuba, ca. 1601 (Image from MDZ);

Flower X, detail of cover illustration by Lotte Arndt from Jorinde und Joringel, 1978 (Image from AbeBooks);

Flower X, detail of illustration by Adrienne Adams from Jorinde and Joringel, 1968 (Image from Carol’s Notebook).]