FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: ARTICHOKE
LISA KAREN MILLER
When I lived in Arizona, one of our sister community college campuses had its own football team. They wanted a name that said “tough, dangerous, don’t mess with us.” Meet the Scottsdale Artichokes, along with their mascot, Artie (gochokes.com).
Globe artichokes were commonly grown in Elizabethan kitchen gardens. They had been cultivated by the Romans in Britain, and enjoyed a revival in the 16th century.
As with so many of the plants we have explored, the Greeks provide us with an illustrative myth. Zeus, that philandering leader of his people, is casting about for a new mistress. His wife and sister, Hera, is understandably jealous, as she is well acquainted with his wandering ways. As long as she is occupied with queenship, he can be free to indulge the baser side of his nature.
His gaze lands on a lovely mortal, sunbathing on hot rocks. Her face is turned toward the sun. When Cynara sees the great Titan, she holds his gaze with her steady, fiery one. He is instantly struck. (Taking notes, ladies?)
Zeus promises her the sun and moon if only she will become his mistress.
She refuses.
The lecherous old leader ups the ante. He offers her the flowers in all the fields.
She refuses.
Finally, he becomes so frustrated with his own misguided desire that he wildly offers to make her a goddess: to be mortal no longer, and live with him on Olympus for eternity.
She snaps up this final offer and moves to the big house. Over time, she begins to miss her earthly home, her mother, her sisters. She begins sneaking out to visit them. When Zeus enters her chamber, where he expects her always to be waiting to do his bidding, and finds her gone, he loses his cool, as men at the top are wont to do.
In a fit of rage, he “crushed and crumbled her limbs like a handful of dry leaves” before throwing her soft human heart back down to the island of her birth, Kinaros.
From that heart grew a stalk with a flower that turned toward the sun. Her soft yet resilient heart was then protected by thorny barbs, as she had learned a hard lesson. Now, it can only be approached carefully and respectfully.
Cynara cardunculus serves as a reminder to protect our tender beating hearts from those who would seek to control us.
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