N. 29 - Capri

M. MASTRORILLO
GREEN
AND DANGEROUS by Tullia Rizzotti
A plant of infinite hues that
conceal its potent poison,
Euphorbia dominates
the sun-drenched cliffs
In Canti dell’isola, Ada Negri describes
Euphorbia as “nourished by rock” and
dedicates an entire ode to the plant: “The
mystery of mother stone is imprinted on your
flower’s face. / You shine in April like a golden
disc (…) / O poisonous one, you are beautiful;
but let no one try to touch your perfect
flowers”.
Known on Capri as vavolla, to botanists as
Euphorbia dendroides and more commonly
as spurge, this plant seems to burst forth from
the naked rock, like a dazzling hymn to life.
Rock faces and ledges are its realm: it blazes
on the sheer precipices of Parco Astarita and
envelops in a golden shell the sparkling white
Villa La Solitaria, also perched on the rocks.
As early as spring its flowers offer a sunny
welcome on the rocks on the side of the road
that climbs up from the port of Marina Grande,
as if making it clear from the start that it is one
of the island’s symbols.
Plant and palette
The shape of this sturdy plant is a perfect
dome softened by the delicate tracery of the
flowers. Euphorbia arborea grows in large
clumps, covering wide areas with a sea of
gold in which the domes undulate like restless
waves. It can be described as literally being
“clothed in sun”, since its leaves and flowers
together contain all the infinite and magical
nuances of the golden orb: from the pale
blush of dawn to the dazzling gold of midday
and the more sanguine red of sunset.
When the sulphur yellow flower falls, the
leaves come into their own: with the arrival of
the warm weather the plant begins to shed its
blooms with a slowness that seems calculated
to give the deciduous leaves time to change
colour from green to scarlet, rust and bronze.
Then the palette turns gold once more, but
this time composed of the palest tones.
Norman Douglas was fascinated by this slow
dance, observing in Siren Land that “No two
bushes are tinted alike, not even when their
roots are intertwined; earthy and ghostly
white, orange and brown and vermilion,
from coral pink to a rich burnished copper,
from palest saffron to tawny gold. The red
kinds are visible from afar and often shine
with a lustrous iridescence, a rare freak of
coquetry, the true ‘reflet métallique’ of Oriental
pottery.” The dark reddish colour derives from
a concentration of anthocynanin pigments:
in May, when Euphorbia has lost its golden
colour, the leaves turn a fiery red, vying for
attention with the bright yellow broom.
Insidious poison
The splendid exterior conceals the potent
poison within. All varieties of Euphorbia weep
a milky sap as soon as a stem is broken off,
which is a caustic and bitter irritant – if you are
foolish enough to taste it. Even goats keep
well away from the plant, and maquis made
up of Euphorbia spreads like wildfire in the
most arid areas.
The milky sap’s cauterizing effect was put
to positive use in folk medicine on Capri,
where it was used to extract verrucas and
corns. Norman Douglas recalls another
unusual – and dangerous – way in which it
was applied: “… the boys, in order to escape
military service, injected a drop into their eyes,
provoking inflammation and greatly puzzling
the good doctors, till the trick became too
popular.”
Since ancient times spurge had been used
even more unscrupulously after some
fishermen on the Mediterranean coasts,
where Euphoria dendroides grows, discovered
that fish were susceptible to the sap. When
poured into stretches of still, fresh water,
like ox-bow or small lakes, it made the fish
unconscious and they floated to the surface,
making them an easy catch!
From legend to medical science
Going back even further in time, we find that
the name Euphorbia is associated with the
enchantress Circe, who knew so much about
potions and poisons, and also with Mount
Circeo in Italy where she reputedly lived and
where spurge still grows abundantly today.
The legend goes that Circe visited the
temple of Angitia, the goddess who warded
off sickness, on the shore of Lake Fucine in
the land of the Marsi, where she remained
for some time. The Italic tribe of the Marsi
actually existed and was famous for its
knowledge of medicinal herbs. Pliny the Elder
narrates in Naturalis historia that the Masi
invoked Angitia to learn about the properties
of the various officinal species that grew
extensively in their territory, and the cures for
various illnesses. The goddess communicated
through incantationes, or incantations.
Later Circe went southwards and stopped
on the mountain that was later named after
her, attracted by the abundance of medicinal
species. She decided to live there, devoting
herself to the study of medicinal herbs and of
poisons.
This legend is accompanied by the true story
of Euphorbus, physician to Juba II, King of
Mauretania (part of what is today Algeria
and Morocco) from 25 BC, and his brother
Antonius Musa, in his turn the physician
of Emperor Octavian Augustus. The
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