What a variety of flowering plants spring up in the forests of my Heimatland. Josiane has sent her latest offering. Each one shows a beauty that often goes unnoticed. One flower in particular has a well-known fairy tale connection.
According to legend, it was the plant "Phyteuma spicatum" that led, in the classic German fairy tale, to Rapunzel's imprisonment. It was the obsession of Rapunzel's mother-to-be with the rampions in the garden of an old enchantress that led her husband to steal some spikes of the plant. His wife made them into a salad and asked her husband to bring more. Eventually he came face to face with the old enchantress who made a bargain with the couple. They would be spared her punishing wrath, but the unborn child would be taken by the enchantress. So at the age of 12 years, Rapunzel was locked in a tower and we all know the rest of the story. In Germany this plant is called
Rapunseln, in English speaking countries it is called a spiked rampion.
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| Wild Rose called a Heckenrose in German |
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| Honeysuckle known as Geißblatt in Germany |
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| Oxeye Daisies |
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Cephalanthera Also Known as Helleborine |
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| Trees Surrounded by Spring Flowers |
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| "Flowers" of the Maple Tree |
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Horse Chestnut Tree Flowers
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| Blue-Spiked Rampion Also Known As Rapunzel |
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