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very special endemic herb growing in Crete is the dittany or dictamnus. In
Greek the plant has many different names, for instance érondas (love),
stamatóchorto (herb that stops), stomatóchorto (herb of the mouth),
stomachóchorto (herb of the stomach), livanóchorto (herb of incense),
malliaróchorto (herb of hair) or atítamos.
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| Erondas,
because you have to be obsessed by love of the plant in order to risk
gathering it, as this often happens on vertical mountain sides, or because
the plant is considered sexually stimulating; stamatochorto, because it
can stop bleeding; stomatochorto, because it disinfects the mouth;
stomachochorto, because it is good for relieving stomach troubles and
poisoning; livanochorto because of its fragrance, and malliarochorto
because of its many small hairs on leaves and stem.
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Dittany
is utilized in four ways:
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As
a herbal tea both for internal and external use, |
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As
a disinfectant for healing wounds, |
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For
chewing in order to relieve ailments in mouth and throat and |
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As
a bitter, in which the leaves are infused in raki.
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| The
scientific term for dittany is Origanum Dictamnus L. The herb is perennial
and belongs to the labiates. It grows to a height of 30 cm, and its
grey-green leaves sit in pairs opposite each other and are covered with a
lot of small downs - just like many other wild plants in the South - as
this protects the plant from drying out in the strong sunlight. The
flowers, on long stalks, are purple or pink.
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| Dittany
contains an essential oil called carbacrol, which is a natural antibiotic,
50 times stronger than penicillin. In the leaves there is furthermore a
substance called dictamin, which is used for cardiovascular diseases. In
all there are 70 different curative substances in the plant.
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Because
of dittany's health-giving qualities it is quite common to name
restaurants and other places after it, like here at Katochori, south of
Chania.
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| Even
in ancient times dittany was well-known for its curative properties. Both
Homer and Aristotele mention that wild goats used to eat the plant if they
were wounded by an arrow and that the arrow-head subsequently came off,
and the wound healed.
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| In
Virgil's Aeneid (12.412 ff) we can read how Venus brought dittany from
Crete, when her son Aeneas was wounded:
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Then
Venus, by her offspring's guiltless woe |
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Sore
moved, did cull from Cretan Ida's crest |
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Some
dittany, with downy leaf and stem |
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And
flowers of purple bloom -a symbol known |
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To
mountain goats, when to their haunches clings |
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An
arrow gone astray. This Venus brought, |
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Mantling
her shape in cloud; and this she steeped |
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In
bowls of glass, infusing secretly |
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Ambrosia's
healing essence and sweet drops |
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Of
fragrant panacea. Such a balm |
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Aged
Iapyx poured upon the wound, |
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Though
unaware; and sudden from the flesh |
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All
pain departed and the blood was staunched, |
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While
from the gash the arrow uncompelled |
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Followed
the hand and dropped: his wonted strength |
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Flowed
freshly through the hero's frame....
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| The
name of the herb is a compound of the two words Dikti and thamnos. Thamnos
means 'shrub', while Dikti refers to the mountains around the Lassithi
Plateau, where Zeus was born. And the myth explains that he was the one
who brought the herb to Crete in return for the loving care at his birth.
A mantinada says of the plant: |
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| Another
interpretation of the last part of the word is that it comes from the word
amnós meaning a 'newborn lamb of male sex'. In this case it must refer to
the plant's downy matter.
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| A
third interpretation is that the name comes from Dikti and the Venetian
word mons, meaning 'mountain'. Apparently the Venetians only knew the herb
from the Dikti mountains.
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| Wild
dittany grows mainly on inaccessible slopes in the gorges of Crete - up to
an altitude of 1.600 metres. Here it is protected against bad weather and
the gnawing of goats.
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Distribution
of Dittany
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| Gathering
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| Dittany
is gathered while in bloom, that is to say from May until August, although
you find some dittany blooming as late as in December.
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| It
was a risky job gathering dittany, because the gatherers, who in Greek are
called mazochtádes, erondádes or atitanológi, would often hang from the
sheer, sharp rocks.
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| The
gatherers worked together in groups consisting of at least three people,
and they often travelled widely on the island to find the places with most
dittany. In a report from the Ministry of Agriculture from 1938 you can,
for instance, read: Apart from local groups from Lassithi County groups
also arrive from other areas of Crete, especially from Sphakia, travelling
from one end of the large island to the other in order to gather dittany.
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| When
the men left their village, they brought a long stick (katsoúna), rope (schiní),
a stick that ended in a forked contrivance (piroúni) and sacks (tsouvália).
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Erondades from Kato Poros
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katsouna - 3-4 metres long - was used while the gatherer was hanging
alongside the sheer slope, or even when the slope had a negative
inclination. This is referred to as hanging "sirriki". With the
katsouna he could use a crevice or a projection in the rock in order to
pull himself toward the plant.
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rope had to be extremely robust, as the gatherer's life and limb depended
on its quality. For that reason they often imported rope from e.g. Edessa
in Northern Greece, where they produced specially robust ropes.
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was also very important to avoid knots or other irregularities in the rope,
as this could cause the rope to get stuck in rocks or bushes and in this
way create problems for the gatherer, while he was hanging above the
precipice.
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the end of the rope they made a loop where the gatherer was sitting on a
sack in order to reduce the pressure from the constricting rope. Moreover,
the rope was tied across his chest.
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it was a matter of confidence for the gatherer to be lowered into the
chasm, so he therefore personally chose who was to hold the rope.
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the gatherer was lowered, he meticulously cleared the area of loose stones
in order to avoid falling stones. Then the rope was tied to a tree or a
rock and a piece of wood or some branches were placed where the rope was
in contact with the edge of the abyss in order to reduce abrasion. Finally
the gatherer would sit on the edge and let himself slide down the rock.
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lowering had to proceed at a slow pace, so that the gatherer would not hit
the rock. For that reason a person was standing at the edge of the rock
directing, and the gatherer himself would call out whether the lowering
could continue or not.
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the many precautions, it happened from time to time that the rope became
fretted by a sharp stone, and then the gatherer was in great trouble.
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forked stick was used when the gatherer was not close enough to get at the
plant. Instead he could get hold of the plant with the stick and twist off
the flowers.
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gatherer had to be careful not to tear the plant up by the roots, but only
to twist off the flowers and the top shoots. After the picking the plants
were spread on gratings in order to dry before they were sold.
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task for the gatherer was to retrieve goats and sheep, which had fallen
from the edge of the rock.
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| Growing
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| Because
of the plant's many health-giving qualities they tried to grow it in
Venice as early as in the 15th century, and later other countries tried,
but without any success. Even as geographically close as in Athens the
attempts to grow dittany failed, as the plant lost its fragrance and
colour. The only place outside Crete to grow dittany is on the island of
Kythira.
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the beginning of the 20th century the export of dittany increased. From
Chania alone exports reached 7-8 metric tons of dried dittany a year. As
the plant was therefore in danger of eradication they began to cultivate
it after 1920. First at Kato Poros, east of Argyroupoli. A few years later
the cultivation spread to the Archanes area, south of Iraklion, and to the
villages around Embaros, south west of the Lassithi mountains. Here they
attained a large production (44 metric tons in 1936), but the Second World
War put a temporary stop to the project. |
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After
the war they took up the cultivation of dittany again, mainly in the
villages around Embaros, where there is now an annual production of
approximately 30 metric tons. The villages are still called Villages of
Dittany (Erondochoria). |
| Dittany
is grown on porous and sandy clay soil, which has to be cultivated well in
depth, so that the soil can lead the water away. The plants, which are
feretilized with farmyard manure, are watered twice a week. Furthermore
the earth around the plants must be weeded meticulously in order to
prevent diseases from spreading. |
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Dittany
can be propagated by cuttings or by seeds. It is an advantage to use
cuttings, because the plants grow quicker than those propagated by seeds.
On the other hand the latter are more resistant to disease. But at any
rate the plants have to be replaced by new ones at least every second year,
as the quality will otherwise deteriorate considerably. The harvest takes
place four times during summer. |
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| By
far the biggest importer of dittany is Italy (approx. 50%), where the
plant is used as a flavouring in vermouth. In former times dittany was
also exported to France, where the pharmaceutical industry used the plant
as a remedy against diarrhoea (Diascordium).
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| In
the 1970's dittany was marketed in Greece with large publicity campaigns
in newspapers and on television, and the product also appeared in the then
modern tea bags.
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| Research
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| In
the 1990's intensive research af dittany took place at MAICH (Mediterranean
Agricultural Institute of Chania) in order to ascertain the active agents
in the plant and to work out a way to utilize the plant in a way, which
was commercially viably.
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| Also
at the Institute for Subtropical Plants and Olive Trees experiments are
carried out where both dittany and another medical plant, malotira, are
cultivated in aquaculture, meaning that the plants are grown with their
roots in water. In a thesis written by Kostas Oikonomakis you can, among
other things, read:
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don't intend to question Theophrast's words that dry and sun-parched
places are the best for aromatic plants, but we did in fact grow erondas
in aquaculture, and it grew so big that it actually gave us twice as much
ethereal oil as its wild brothers, which had grown in "the fissure of
the rock".
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