HUMILYSQUE MYRICAE: Plants that could change the world
The Tamarisk is a graceful shrub, with fluffy foliage.
It has thousands of properties, and it is often undervalued, but it could change our life on earth. Native from the sandy and brackish areas of India, China and Southern Europe, the Tamarisk is an evergreen plant with small and dense foliage which facilitates resistance from very extreme damaging weather conditions and temperatures, as well as being a very effective atmospheric filter and being aesthetically relevant especially during the flowering period.The name of this plant could come from Latin Tamarix because is supposed to be originated from the Tambre river, formerly called “Tamara” which flows in Galicia, or could come from the Hebrew Tamaris (broom) because in ancient times its twigs were used as a broom. This plant is often referred to as a “desert shrub”.
Even if you don’t hear much about it, it is actually a plant that has often attracted the interest of writers, as Gabriele D’Annunzio in his poem “The rain in the pine groove”,
Eugenio Montale in “End of childhood”, a poem included in the collection “Ossi di seppia” (Cattlefish Bones) or Giovanni Pascoli in his collection of poems titled “Myricae”, a word which derives from a part of the second verse of Virgil’s IV Bucolica « (Non omnes) arbusta iuvant humilesque Myricae », which could be translated as “not everyone likes shrubs and humble tamarisk trees ” which means that not everyone likes a simple poem.
Pascoli wrote this verse as a metaphor related to his poetry, which is apparently simple just like the tamarisk wild plants that could grow anywhere and which at first glance may seem like common bushes while actually they are full of hidden properties and benefits. This plant is also known for its very particular characteristic called “sweating”, a sort of evaporation of small drops of clear and extremely salty liquid, which during the day and in the absence of wind seems to generate a real rain, a very fascinating phenomenon which inspired poets and writers. Also used as an ornamental plant for it’s beautiful pink flowers, it is also called “windbreak plant” which indicate one of its main characteristic which is slowing down the strong currents: useful for the creation of windbreak hedges, resistant to drought but also to brackish water.
Furthermore, it could be used to protect a vegetable garden from the strong winds of the Sahara, as fences for livestock, to delineate boundaries, screen unwanted views or protection from intruders and they could also be used as a tool to face the advancing of the desert or severe climate change. These beautiful plants, in addition to having a strong sound-absorbing capacity, represent a filter from polluting dust and can be a containment tool thanks to their uncommon resistance and therefore be used to stabilise slopes while preserving them from washout or erosion. Tamarisk are also commonly used in the herbal tradition for their bark rich in tannins which can be used as a natural remedy against flu and cold symptoms, its astringent, diuretic, sweat, and eupeptic properties are actually well known.
This wonderful plant also has an elective organotropism for the bone marrow. It stimulates the regular formation of platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells, promotes the absorption of all minerals such as calcium in the bones, magnesium, or silicon. In the development of the project of the Africa Project Foundation the Tamarisk will be largely used, as it will be useful to stop the desert advancing and to create such humidity as to create a humid microclimate even in desert areas where it has not rained for many years.
