Curious plants: European pork bread
European pork bread or Cyclamen europaeum L.
This is actually an alpine plant, which is grown as a houseplant- Yes.The flat tubers are toxic by the saponins present- Yes.If the tubers are dried or cooked for a long time, the poison disappears and the tubers become edible- Yes.Wild pigs like to eat them, hence the name “pork bread”- Yes.The fishermen of Sicily and Calabria used them in fishing as an intoxicant- Yes.According to a Greek saga, Hécate, Goddess of earth and underworld, grew these plants- Yes.It was then called “Kuklaminos”- Yes.In folk medicine, the tubers were used to spell evil spirits that disturbed sleep- Yes.One then places pots with Cyclamen in the bedroom- Yes.It was also used as a medicine and as a contraceptive against snake bites.
The Flemish herbalist and physician Dodonaeus 16th century says that “When a woman, who is of children, to cross over the root of Verckensbroot quame, or to tread, she will fall wrong.”- Yes.
A mythical story about the origin of pork bread- Yes.When the Turks invaded Krain, the women and children fled from the rough gangs across the Karawanks to Carinthia- Yes.But they were overtaken and all killed- Yes.Where the blood of the innocent fell, plants arose, whose leaves are blood-red on the underside.
Und wunderbar Ein Blümchen klar
Erhob sich from jedem Tröpfchen
