Welcome back and Happy New Year to you. I’m in rain-soaked Kent after a very bumpy channel crossing from France on the ferry. It feels like a long way from the Middle East, let me tell you. But these plants are a great form of escapism, a distraction from dark and dank January in northern Europe, and a delve into another world, but one that’s still close to us in a way – as these plants will show you!

As a reminder, the aim of my series is to tell a story about the Middle East through its plants: its rich biodiversity, its plant heritage and its surprising contribution – via plants – to Western culture, food, history and heritage too. Perhaps plants can show us some things we have in common across cultures?

7. Laurel, Al-Ghar, Laurus Nobilis

• An aromatic evergreen large shrub or tree native to the Mediterranean and provider of bay leaves for cooks
• Laurel forests covered much of the Mediterranean basin region when the climate was more humid but this slowly disappeared and was replaced by more drought tolerant plants as things got drier and hotter. Remnants of the old forests remain, including in northern Syria.
• The famous Aleppo soap is made in Syria with olive oil and Laurel oil and was used by Queens of old including Cleopatra of Egypt and Zenobia of Syria.
• Graeco-Roman culture was crazy for the Laurel. A symbol of status for the Greeks, who associated it with the god Apollo, and of victory for the Romans, whose emperors were crowned with Laurel wreaths.
• Laurels have entered the English language too. The word baccalaureate is from the Greek laureate (Laurel) and the Latin bacca (Berry), there’s also poet laureate, and resting on one’s laurels.
• Bay or Laurel is quite easy to grow in more northerly climes, it can handle a bit of shade and a touch of frost.

8. The annual poppy, Papaver rhoeas

• This is me in an olive grove in Jordan in springtime, aged around 10, and this what agricultural land looked like before it was mechanised, industrialised and doused in herbicides. A paradise for plants, pollinators, other insects, birds, reptiles and humans too.
• The poppy grows in the Middle East and North Africa, but also in Europe, the Caucuses, India & Pakistan.
• It is an annual whose seed can remain years and years in the soil and germinate when that soil is disturbed. This is what happened in Flanders during World War 1 when heavy fighting in the trenches along the Western front caused the seed to germinate and the poppy to bloom in huge numbers. It became a powerful symbol of the fallen soldiers. In Persian literature the poppy symbolises lost loved ones. And the cycle of war, loss and the eternal poppies goes on.
• The seeds are edible. Delicious in bread and cakes.
• The pharaohs loved poppies and grew them in their gardens. They used them in bouquets for the gods along with lotus flowers and mandrakes.

9. The Prickly Pear, Sabr or Sabour (Arabic), Tsabar (Hebrew), Opuntia

Oh dear, this Middle Eastern plant is a prickly subject indeed! Cursed, politicised, adored…it’s going to divide opinions.

• One look at those prickly leaves and you can tell, it’s in the cactus family! Those huge spines help this to be one of the world’s most resilient plants, surviving in arid and inhospitable environments. They create a microclimate of still air around the plant, reducing evaporation and helping it to store water for longer in those fleshy leaves.
• The spines are also a brilliant self-defence mechanism and humans have used the plant for centuries to create boundaries, protect livestock and fence off land.
• It produces edible fruit but watch out for the spines and the sharp seeds within!
• The Arabic name for the prickly pear, Sabr, means ‘patience’ and the Palestinians see it as reflecting their long struggle for statehood, as well as toughness in the face of adversity.
• It’s also a living symbol of dispossession from the land. Many Palestinians were forced off their land (including most of the population of Gaza) and sometimes the only remaining signs of former Palestinian villages are the prickly bear boundaries that once enclosed them.
• For the Israelis the prickly pear is an identity symbol too. A ‘Sabra’ is used to describe a jewish person born in Israel and represents qualities of toughness and resilience.
• And yet the prickly pear is not native to the Middle East but originates from the Americas (where it is called Tuna!)

10. The date palm, Al-Nakhla, Phoenix dactylifera

Date palms are mentioned in the Bible, the Quran and the Torah. All 3 religions have common roots and yet…you wouldn’t think so looking at the Middle East right now.

• The land of milk and honey mentioned in the Bible is actually thought to refer to dates rather than honey!
• The date palm is mentioned in the Quran 22 times, more than any other fruiting plant. It is said that the prophet Muhammad ate 7 dates every morning.
• The date palm is native to Arabia and the Fertile Crescent, and was probably cultivated there from the 6th millennium BC!
• Date palms are dioecious meaning that there are male and female plants: a male is needed to pollinate the female. They are also wind pollinated but in cultivation most are hand pollinated by humans.
• The seeds are incredibly long-lived. A seed stored for 2,000 years was successfully germinated!
• Did you know that Christmas pudding contains dates? That’s good news, as dates improve your brain & gut health, help prevent chronic disease, and even give you more youthful-looking skin as they support collagen production!

11. The pistachio, Al-Fustuk, Pistachia vera

• The pistachio is the fruit of a tree native to the Middle East and Central Asia, especially Iran, Syria and Afghanistan.
  
• It has been cultivated for thousands of years and was probably grown in the hanging gardens of Babylon.
  
• Like the almond it’s only a nut in the culinary sense – botanically it’s a drupe with the seed being the edible part.
  
• Pistachio was an important crop for Syrian farmers but their lands were caught up in the midst of the recent war and many orchards were tragically slashed and burned. It takes 12 years or so for a newly planted tree to bear fruit so it’s a disaster for those farmers.
  
• The harvests are also suffering due to climate change, with drought and lack of water for irrigation causing big problems.
  
• California has overtaken Middle Eastern countries as the major global producer, using mechanised agriculture.
  
• Pistachios are harvested at dusk and dawn, when the shells crack open with an audible pop!

12. Frankincense & Myrrh, Boswellia sacra (+ other Boswellia species) & Commiphora myrrha

I published this one just before Christmas day, so I chose these two plants for their relevance (Christianity did start in the Middle East after all!).

• Frankincense and myrrh – along with gold, which sadly doesn’t grow on trees – were of course the gifts brought to the baby Jesus by the three magi.
  
• Both were highly precious commodities in the ancient world, symbols of power and wealth. They were used to make incense, perfumes, oils and medicines.
  
• Frankincense comes from the trunk of the scruffy Boswellia tree, while Myrrh is from a small thorny bush called Commiphora myrrha. Both grow in dry, mountainous desert regions in the Arabian peninsula (as well as parts of Africa).
  
• Both are resins produced by wounding the bark of the trees and tapping the inner sap, which oozes out and later dries into small clumps.
  
• Both were used as medicines. Arab physicians used frankincense to treat heart and kidney disease and to aid digestion. The ancient Egyptians used the anti-microbial properties of both resins to embalm the dead. And Myrrh was used to treat leprosy and syphilis!
  
• Frankincense comes from the Old French franc encens, with frank meaning noble/true here. Myrrh comes from the Semetic root m-r-r, meaning bitter (murr is the Arabic word for bitter too).
  
• During the Great Plague of London in the 17th Century, in which a fifth of the capital’s population perished, it is reported that London spice dealers were spared because they were exposed to frankincense.

So there are six marvellous Middle Eastern plants for you, aren’t they wondrous? I’m continuing my series with occasional posts on social media (@the_nostalgic_gardener on Instagram) and I’ll also collate them here on the blog.