There was a time when physicians had to be knowledgeable in botany, or the science of plants. This was because there were no readily available, ‘off the shelf’ medicines. Physicians had to collect plants they needed for treatment, prepare an extract, and dispense the medicine. During the era of the Roman Empire, in North Africa, parts of Morocco and Algeria were ruled by a vassal of Rome called King Juba. In his employ was a physician known as Euphorbus, who would go to the Atlas Mountains to gather plants. Here he came across a plant that was a powerful laxative. King Juba was so impressed by his physician’s work that he named the plant Euphorbus in honor of his physician.
This was in 12 BCE.
Several centuries later, a Swedish physician, who had more than a passing interest in botany, devised a classification system of naming all organisms. He was Carl Linnaeus, and his system is still in use, though it was devised in 1761. So impressed was he by the discovery of Euphorbus, that an entire genus, called Euphorbia, was named in his honor. The plant shown in the photograph (taken by me) is Euphorbia milli and, despite its sharp spikes, is a succulent. Those spikes on its stem were savagely employed. The stem was twisted into a ring and hammered into the head of Christ at the time of His crucifixion. It has earned the plant the ugly sobriquet ‘crown of thorns’.
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