The plants of middle earth - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Alfirin · 07-10-2007, 05:33 AM

Thanks to all who have responded so far

I agree that laburnum is a far more likely identity for laurinque than either of the ones metioed if for no other reason than tolkien would have been familar with laburnum but probably not with either of my two. since the cassia is tropical and kolurenia was not a popular tree planting back when tolkein was alive. I would point out however that it would have to be a kind of laburnum which grew to far larger proportions than the current type as the currnet type is too short and spindy to produce wood planks of the size that would be needed for ship building

I did not put pipeweed on the list for the same reason I left out brethel (beech) region (holly) and many other still extant trees, everyone knows thier identites so no speculation could ensue.

I actually did mention lebethron its in the secion on Yavannamire. As I stated my money on some sort of persimmon which would have black wood (i.e. ebony) and which does have finger like leaves.

I have no clue as to what plat Athelas is based on. I though it might be somewhere in the Lamiacae (mint family) since a lot of members of that family are medicinal (including some with the telling name of "heal all") though such mints do not generally have leaves that could be described as long.

I had never heard of that Tolkein letter before thank you for pointing it out. Its intersting that tolkein envisioned a yellow/white pimpernel as being eleanor since european pimpernels usually only come in pale blue or orange (the orange is the famous "scarlet pimpernel" though both are in fact the same species.) I guess tolkein chaged his mind a some point about what niphredel was since he as Imentioned had said elswhere it was a kind of wood anemone (which does not look like a snowdrop at all)

The real problem with getting the identitiy of Alfrin right is that Tolkien seem to have used the same for two different plants. I think based on the context that Tolkein is using Alfirin in its other sense as a synonym for Uilos (as he does in bits of the Silmarillion. If this is the case than it means that evermind is an imortelle (I have now idea what an imortelle is but it think it may be the same thing as a strawflower if tolkien says it's papery) A bellfower is a good guess for the Lebennen alfrin, though it also tends to like shady woods (maybe Lebennen doesn't get a lot of sun)

07-10-2007, 05:33 AM	#6
Alfirin Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 435	Thanks to all who have responded so far I agree that laburnum is a far more likely identity for laurinque than either of the ones metioed if for no other reason than tolkien would have been familar with laburnum but probably not with either of my two. since the cassia is tropical and kolurenia was not a popular tree planting back when tolkein was alive. I would point out however that it would have to be a kind of laburnum which grew to far larger proportions than the current type as the currnet type is too short and spindy to produce wood planks of the size that would be needed for ship building I did not put pipeweed on the list for the same reason I left out brethel (beech) region (holly) and many other still extant trees, everyone knows thier identites so no speculation could ensue. I actually did mention lebethron its in the secion on Yavannamire. As I stated my money on some sort of persimmon which would have black wood (i.e. ebony) and which does have finger like leaves. I have no clue as to what plat Athelas is based on. I though it might be somewhere in the Lamiacae (mint family) since a lot of members of that family are medicinal (including some with the telling name of "heal all") though such mints do not generally have leaves that could be described as long. I had never heard of that Tolkein letter before thank you for pointing it out. Its intersting that tolkein envisioned a yellow/white pimpernel as being eleanor since european pimpernels usually only come in pale blue or orange (the orange is the famous "scarlet pimpernel" though both are in fact the same species.) I guess tolkein chaged his mind a some point about what niphredel was since he as Imentioned had said elswhere it was a kind of wood anemone (which does not look like a snowdrop at all) The real problem with getting the identitiy of Alfrin right is that Tolkien seem to have used the same for two different plants. I think based on the context that Tolkein is using Alfirin in its other sense as a synonym for Uilos (as he does in bits of the Silmarillion. If this is the case than it means that evermind is an imortelle (I have now idea what an imortelle is but it think it may be the same thing as a strawflower if tolkien says it's papery) A bellfower is a good guess for the Lebennen alfrin, though it also tends to like shady woods (maybe Lebennen doesn't get a lot of sun)