Category: The Peculiar Herbarium
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Blue Lotus: The Mind-Altering Secret of Ancient Egypt
While modern botanists call it Nymphaea caerulea, ancient Egyptians referred to it as their ticket to the divine. The blue lotus or Egyptian lotus or sacred lily of the Nile may appear to be a simple flower, but it has the ability to induce altered states of consciousness, thereby earning a reputation as one of…
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A Plant That Grows Lambs? The Bizarre Medieval Legend of the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary
The Middle Ages is infamous for wild myths, but nothing could be more bizarre than the legend of “The vegetable lamb of Tartary.”