This should be considered a weed, it grows in a few places in the garden and can become a small bush, so vigurous that it comes back quickly and more strongly when cut down to the base. I have two growing next to the house wall (below), but they are so lovely I don't want to get rid of them. Especially now in autumn, when the leaves also display many reddish, yellow and orange hues.
When looking up their name, I discovered it is called 'Phytolacca americana', 'cârmâz' in Romanian and I remembered a short novel I read in my youth, Kyra Kyralina by Panait Istrati, where Greek women living in the South of Romania, close to the Danube, would use 'cârmâz' to paint their lips and cheeks red - could it possibly be the same plant?
If you want to read more about the novel:
http://seraillon.blogspot.com/2012/05/panait-istratis-kyra-kyralina.html
Greek women painting their lips and cheeks red with dubious plant material.... Obviously these women hadn't heard of Estée Lauder.
ReplyDeletei was tempted to pick some berries and give it a try :-) (no, not to order some estee lauder:)
Deletesi eu tot la kira kiralina m-am gandit cand am citit traducerea:):) la frumusetea ei sangerie si misterioasa, leganata de valuri inalte care ar ourea sa o piarda_ sunt insa atat de frumoase, da, da, da!:)
ReplyDeletecand ai citit 'carmaz' te-ai gandit si tu imediat la Kyra?!! ce ciudat :-) oare este singurul loc unde apare carmazul, de ne-a marcat pe amandoua?
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