The Passion In Plants

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

Palm Sunday - Pussy Willows and the Yew

20200406

Bob Gilbert, left, and Brother Samuel, inside an ancient hollow yew. Yew branches were used in Palm Sunday processions.

Over hundreds of years people have used wildflowers as a way of sharing our common stories, including those in the Bible. Just as stained glass windows reminded ordinary people of its characters and events, so did the plants of the hedgerow that they encountered every day. In this way many trees and flowers came to play a part in telling the Easter story.

In The Passion in Plants, five programmes running through Holy Week, the writer and urban naturalist Bob Gilbert considers the key moments of Christ's Passion and the plants that, in folklore, came to reflect them. With Brother Samuel, a Franciscan friar, Bob searches for these in wild locations ranging from rural woodlands and meadows to the pavements of Poplar in the East End of London. They explore their traditions, how they came about, and their meanings.

The programmes include readings from writers such as A. E. Housman, Tennyson, Sylvia Plath and the author of Dream of the Rood, together with song and music.

They begin with Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry to Jerusalem. In the woods at Hilfield friary in Dorset Bob and Brother Sam look for the goat willow or sallow - the pussy willow plant - which was, and still is in some places, cut early in the morning and carried in the Palm Sunday processions. They visit, too, ancient yews at Tandridge and Crowhurst in Surrey. Evergreens were rare and yew branches were also used to represent the palm fronds. Standing inside a huge, hollow yew they consider the significance of these venerable and mysterious trees.

Presenter: Bob Gilbert
Producer: Julian May

Bob Gilbert on wild plants and the Easter Story: Palm Sunday, pussy willows and the yew

Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.

The Last Supper and the Betrayal - Bitter Herbs and the Elder

20200407

The tansy, in British tradition used as an equivalent of one of the 'bitter herbs' of the Passover

Urban naturalist Bob Gilbert and Francisican friar Brother Samuel, delve into the folklore of British wild plants associated with the events of Holy Week in The Passion in Plants. In the second programme they focus on The Last Supper and The Betrayal. The meal Jesus took with his disciples in the upper room was the Feast of the Passover, when Jews eat ' the bitter herbs and unleavened bread' as reminders of the bitter experience of their enslavement in Egypt. Ilana Epstein,an expert in Jewish culinary traditions - and a great cook herself, reveals the identity of these herbs and their the subtle significance.

In British tradition sorrel and tansy (used to get rid of worms!) became the equivalent of the bitter herbs. They grow in Bob's garden in Poplar and he and Brother Sam follow traditional recipes, cooking a tansy pancake and a dish called simply, a 'tansy'.

Why does the elder never amount to more than a scruffy, scrubby bush. It's because, full of remorse after betraying Jesus with a kiss,
Judas Iscariot hanged himself from an elder tree. Ever since the wood has been weak and pithy (so easily hollowed out to make musical instruments). On the slope above Hilfield friary in Dorset Bob and Sam look closely at an elder and find a certain fungus that often grows on it - auricularia auricula-judae, Latin for 'the ear of Judas'.

Presenter: Bob Gilbert
Producer: Julian May

Wild plants in the story of the Last Supper and the Betrayal - bitter herbs and the elder

Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.

The Road To The Cross, Hawthorn And Speedwell

20200408

Speedwell, one of the genus Veronica, associated with St Veronica who gave Christ her veil to wipe his face as he carried his cross to Calvary.

This programme begins with the torture of Jesus and the weaving of a crown of thorns. This is represented in British tradition by the hawthorn, a plant that is particularly rich in folklore being associated with spring and the coming of new life as well as with death and decomposition.

Bob Gilbert and Brother Sam seek out the tree and consider its connections, both sacred and profane, and the ways in which seemingly contradictory elements come together in a single story and a single plant.

The story moves on to the road to Golgotha as Christ carries his cross to the place of his crucifixion. It it includes the traditional story of Veronica,

who steps forward to wipe the sweat and blood from Christ's brow with her veil. Bob and Sam search the city streets to find the plant that now bears her name and has come to be associated with aiding people on their journeys; the Veronica or speedwell.

The programme includes readings and music by artists responding to these events.

Presenter: Bob Gilbert

Producer: Julian May

Bob Gilbert on wild plants and the Easter Story: The Scourging and the Road to the Cross

Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.

The Crucifixion - the Orchid and the Aspen

20200409

The early purple orchid grew at the foot of the cross and was splashed with the blood of Christ, hence the splotches on its leaves.

The Easter story reaches it critical moment with the crucifixion of Christ at Golgotha, the'place of the skull'.

In British folklore several different trees are said to have provided the wood for the cross but none more commonly than the aspen which has ever since been condemned to tremble with remorse. Bob Gilbert and Brother Sam encounter an aspen in an urban park and consider its stories, as well as the wider role of trees in both Christianity and other world religions.

Several other plants, all with spots on their leaves, were said to have grown at the foot of the cross and to be stained by the dripping blood of Christ. Among them were the early purple orchid and the wild arum or cuckoo pint. Bob and Brother Sam find the first spring rosettes of these flowers unfurling beside a country lane before moving on to woodland to seek out the tiny plant whose name encapsulates the dramatic events of the day: the Good Friday plant or moschatel, the 'symbol of Christian watchfulness'.

Presenter: Bob Gilbert
Producer: Julian May

Wild plants and the Easter story. The Crucifixion: the orchid, the aspen and the moschatel

Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.

The Resurrection - Pearlwort, Touch-me-not and the Alleluia Flower

20200410

diminutive wood sorrel flowers at Easter and so is called the Alleluia Flower.

In the final episode of the Passion in Plants, the urban naturalist Bob Gilbert and his friend, the Franciscan friar Brother Sam, celebrate the culmination of the Easter story, seeking out the plants associated with the Resurrection.

As Christ rises from the tomb it is the pearlwort, according to Gaelic legend, that is there to cushion his first footfall. Bob and Sam find this diminutive plant in the cracks between paving stones in an East London street.

One of the most beautiful stories of the Resurrection is that of Mary Magdalene meeting the risen Christ and mistaking him for the gardener. As she reaches out to towards him he tells her not to touch him. This Biblical story is told again in the name of the 'touch-me-not' balsam. Rare and late flowering, Bob and Brother Sam have to resort to the herbarium at Kew Gardens to see a specimen.

In the culmination of the story, they do, however, manage to find in the woods at Hilfield friary, the beautiful wood sorrel. Flowering at Easter, it is known as the 'Alleluia plant'.

Peresenter: Bob Gilbert
Producer: Julian May

The wild plants telling of Resurrection: pearlwort, touch-me-not and the alleluia flower

Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Comments
01	Palm Sunday - Pussy Willows and the Yew	20200406	Bob Gilbert, left, and Brother Samuel, inside an ancient hollow yew. Yew branches were used in Palm Sunday processions. Over hundreds of years people have used wildflowers as a way of sharing our common stories, including those in the Bible. Just as stained glass windows reminded ordinary people of its characters and events, so did the plants of the hedgerow that they encountered every day. In this way many trees and flowers came to play a part in telling the Easter story. In The Passion in Plants, five programmes running through Holy Week, the writer and urban naturalist Bob Gilbert considers the key moments of Christ's Passion and the plants that, in folklore, came to reflect them. With Brother Samuel, a Franciscan friar, Bob searches for these in wild locations ranging from rural woodlands and meadows to the pavements of Poplar in the East End of London. They explore their traditions, how they came about, and their meanings. The programmes include readings from writers such as A. E. Housman, Tennyson, Sylvia Plath and the author of Dream of the Rood, together with song and music. They begin with Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry to Jerusalem. In the woods at Hilfield friary in Dorset Bob and Brother Sam look for the goat willow or sallow - the pussy willow plant - which was, and still is in some places, cut early in the morning and carried in the Palm Sunday processions. They visit, too, ancient yews at Tandridge and Crowhurst in Surrey. Evergreens were rare and yew branches were also used to represent the palm fronds. Standing inside a huge, hollow yew they consider the significance of these venerable and mysterious trees. Presenter: Bob Gilbert Producer: Julian May Bob Gilbert on wild plants and the Easter Story: Palm Sunday, pussy willows and the yew Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.
02	The Last Supper and the Betrayal - Bitter Herbs and the Elder	20200407	The tansy, in British tradition used as an equivalent of one of the 'bitter herbs' of the Passover Urban naturalist Bob Gilbert and Francisican friar Brother Samuel, delve into the folklore of British wild plants associated with the events of Holy Week in The Passion in Plants. In the second programme they focus on The Last Supper and The Betrayal. The meal Jesus took with his disciples in the upper room was the Feast of the Passover, when Jews eat ' the bitter herbs and unleavened bread' as reminders of the bitter experience of their enslavement in Egypt. Ilana Epstein,an expert in Jewish culinary traditions - and a great cook herself, reveals the identity of these herbs and their the subtle significance. In British tradition sorrel and tansy (used to get rid of worms!) became the equivalent of the bitter herbs. They grow in Bob's garden in Poplar and he and Brother Sam follow traditional recipes, cooking a tansy pancake and a dish called simply, a 'tansy'. Why does the elder never amount to more than a scruffy, scrubby bush. It's because, full of remorse after betraying Jesus with a kiss, Judas Iscariot hanged himself from an elder tree. Ever since the wood has been weak and pithy (so easily hollowed out to make musical instruments). On the slope above Hilfield friary in Dorset Bob and Sam look closely at an elder and find a certain fungus that often grows on it - auricularia auricula-judae, Latin for 'the ear of Judas'. Presenter: Bob Gilbert Producer: Julian May Wild plants in the story of the Last Supper and the Betrayal - bitter herbs and the elder Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.
03	The Road To The Cross, Hawthorn And Speedwell	20200408	Speedwell, one of the genus Veronica, associated with St Veronica who gave Christ her veil to wipe his face as he carried his cross to Calvary. This programme begins with the torture of Jesus and the weaving of a crown of thorns. This is represented in British tradition by the hawthorn, a plant that is particularly rich in folklore being associated with spring and the coming of new life as well as with death and decomposition. Bob Gilbert and Brother Sam seek out the tree and consider its connections, both sacred and profane, and the ways in which seemingly contradictory elements come together in a single story and a single plant. The story moves on to the road to Golgotha as Christ carries his cross to the place of his crucifixion. It it includes the traditional story of Veronica, who steps forward to wipe the sweat and blood from Christ's brow with her veil. Bob and Sam search the city streets to find the plant that now bears her name and has come to be associated with aiding people on their journeys; the Veronica or speedwell. The programme includes readings and music by artists responding to these events. Presenter: Bob Gilbert Producer: Julian May Bob Gilbert on wild plants and the Easter Story: The Scourging and the Road to the Cross Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.
04	The Crucifixion - the Orchid and the Aspen	20200409	The early purple orchid grew at the foot of the cross and was splashed with the blood of Christ, hence the splotches on its leaves. The Easter story reaches it critical moment with the crucifixion of Christ at Golgotha, the'place of the skull'. In British folklore several different trees are said to have provided the wood for the cross but none more commonly than the aspen which has ever since been condemned to tremble with remorse. Bob Gilbert and Brother Sam encounter an aspen in an urban park and consider its stories, as well as the wider role of trees in both Christianity and other world religions. Several other plants, all with spots on their leaves, were said to have grown at the foot of the cross and to be stained by the dripping blood of Christ. Among them were the early purple orchid and the wild arum or cuckoo pint. Bob and Brother Sam find the first spring rosettes of these flowers unfurling beside a country lane before moving on to woodland to seek out the tiny plant whose name encapsulates the dramatic events of the day: the Good Friday plant or moschatel, the 'symbol of Christian watchfulness'. Presenter: Bob Gilbert Producer: Julian May Wild plants and the Easter story. The Crucifixion: the orchid, the aspen and the moschatel Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.
05	The Resurrection - Pearlwort, Touch-me-not and the Alleluia Flower	20200410	diminutive wood sorrel flowers at Easter and so is called the Alleluia Flower. In the final episode of the Passion in Plants, the urban naturalist Bob Gilbert and his friend, the Franciscan friar Brother Sam, celebrate the culmination of the Easter story, seeking out the plants associated with the Resurrection. As Christ rises from the tomb it is the pearlwort, according to Gaelic legend, that is there to cushion his first footfall. Bob and Sam find this diminutive plant in the cracks between paving stones in an East London street. One of the most beautiful stories of the Resurrection is that of Mary Magdalene meeting the risen Christ and mistaking him for the gardener. As she reaches out to towards him he tells her not to touch him. This Biblical story is told again in the name of the 'touch-me-not' balsam. Rare and late flowering, Bob and Brother Sam have to resort to the herbarium at Kew Gardens to see a specimen. In the culmination of the story, they do, however, manage to find in the woods at Hilfield friary, the beautiful wood sorrel. Flowering at Easter, it is known as the 'Alleluia plant'. Peresenter: Bob Gilbert Producer: Julian May The wild plants telling of Resurrection: pearlwort, touch-me-not and the alleluia flower Bob Gilbert traces the associations of British wild plants with the Easter Story.