Clearly the most key link between preserved dried grapes and Christmas is their use in Christmas cake, Christmas Pudding and sweet mincemeat for mince pies. These are all based heavily…Read More >
Public Engagement with Science
2014 Advent Botany – Day 16 – Chocolate (Theobroma cacao)
Surely, no series of Advent Botany would, could or should be complete without the divine chocolate! Linnaeus named the cocoa tree Theobroma cacao which literally means “Food of the Gods”…Read More >
2014 Advent Botany – Day 15 – the Christmas tree
There is much debate and disagreement about the origin of Christmas trees and they have variously been linked to oak branches used in mystery plays and even the Yule log,…Read More >
2014 AdventBotany – day 14 – String
By @DrMGoesWild #AdventBotany Day 14 – Yesterday we wrapped our Advent Botany Christmas parcels in botanical paper, today we tie them up with string! Modern Christmas string is most likely…Read More >
2014 Advent Botany – Day 13 – Paper
Produced by the simple process of pressing together moist plant fibres, typically cellulose pulp, derived from the plant-based materials wood, rags or grasses and drying them into flexible sheets. Paper…Read More >
2014 Advent Botany – Day 12 – Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
Ginger is used in many Christmas recipes due to its warming properties. Records of cultivation in China date back to 5000BC. During the 13th and 14th centuries, it was second…Read More >
2014 Advent Botany – Day 11 – Christmas rose (Helleborus niger)
#AdventBotany Day 11 brings the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger). This handsome herbaceous perennial is native to the Balkans but widely planted in gardens in Britain for its large white flowers…Read More >
2014 Advent Botany – Day 10 – Mulled Wine
Dr M offers a botanical extravaganza with mulled wine, a drink supposedly invented by Hippocrates and for which there are recipes in English from as early as the 16th century….Read More >
2014 Advent Botany – Day 9 – Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea)
Dawn Bazely tells us that in North America the Red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea) plays a major role in Christmas decorations. It’s not surprising that the red stems of this native…Read More >
2014 Advent Botany – Day 8 – Cranberry (Vaccinium spp.)
The cranberry is a small bog plant in the U.K.; Vaccinium oxycoccus, the wild cranberry is a diminutive plant of acid bog-lands, and most British botanists will tell you that…Read More >
