Flora of Gor
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Flora of Gor |
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Brak Bush Branches of this plant are nailed over doors during the Waiting Hand to discourage bad luck from entering the house in the New Year. The leaves of the brak bush are said to have a purgative effect. "Almost all doors, including that
of the House of Cernus, had nailed to them some branches of the Brak Bush,
the leaves of which, when chewed, have a purgative effect. It is thought
that...the branches of the Brak Bush discourage entry of bad luck into
the houses of the citizens."
Carpet Plant Found in the rainforests of Schendi; the name may well indicate a variety of creeping, ground covering plants rather than one particular plant. Tendrils of the only reference to a carpet plant throughout the books are mentioned as used for binding, which would indicate rather strong, pliable, perhaps vinelike stems. I then rose to my feet and walked a few yards away, to
a fan palm. From the base of one of its broad leaves I gathered a double
handful of fresh water. I retuned to the girl and, carefully, washed out
the wound. She winced. I then cut some leaves and wrapped them about it.
I tied shut some leaves and wrapped them about it. I tied shut this simple
bandage with the tendrils of a carpet plant.
Low leguminous herbs having trifoliate leaves and flowers in dense heads; includes many that are valuable for forage and attractive to bees. I set her down on a bed of green clover. Beyond it, some
hundred yards away, I could see the border of a yellow field of Sa-Tarna
and a yellow thicket of Ka-la-na trees.... Colored Grass On his tour of the gardens of the palace of Saphrar, Tarl Cabot mentions colored grass. He does not give a color reference for this grass, but given the splendor and beauty of all that is described, it is fairly safe to presume that if indeed colored grass is mentioned, it islikely that this was an unusual sight for him, and that green would not be the only color seen. ...among the trees and the colored grasses there wound
curved, shaded walks.... A glimpse at further mentions of colored grass ... "Stop," I heard, a man's voice.
Are Mentioned in Nomads of Gor, on Tarl's tour of the gardens of Saphrar.
A shrub mentioned found in the marshes of the Vosks Delta. No specific description is given. "What do you see?" I asked. "Shrubbery."
He said, "some grass, some rence, two trees."
Hemp ... a Gorean long bow of supple Ka-la-na wood, from the
yellow wine trees of Gor, tipped with notched bosk horn at each end, loose
strung with hemp whipped with silk, and a roll of sheaf and flight
arrows.
A shrub of the Gorean deserts whose roots hold a lethal poison. Kanda leaves have a strong, addictive narcotic effect that may make this plant a cousin of the Earth Coca plant. An extremely potent poison is extracted from the roots of the kanda plant, and used to coat the tips of various weapons; it is mentioned on numerous occasions, be it on the tip of the pins free women sometimes hide in their hair, on the tips of arrows, hidden in various items of jewelry or literally dropped by the barrel in water reservoirs as is seen in Tarnsman of Gor, during the siege of Ar. The effect of kanda is said to be extremely rapid. Most was I surprised to find him holding a tiny, round
pipe from which curled a bright wisp of smoke. Tobacco is unknown on Gor,
though there are certain vices or habits to take its place, in particular
the stimulation afforded by chewing on the leaves of the Kanda plant,
the roots of which, oddly enough, when ground and dried, constitute an
extremely deadly poison. "Kutaituchik absently reached into a small golden box near his right knee and drew out a string of rolled kanda leaf. The roots of the kanda plant, which grows
largely in desert regions on Gor, are extremely toxic, but, surprisingly,
the rolled leaves of this plant, which are relatively innocuous, are formed
into strings and, chewed or sucked, are much favored by many Goreans,
particularly in the southern hemisphere, where leaf is more abundant. Kutaituchik, not taking his eyes off us, thrust one end
of the green kanda string in the left side of his mouth and, very slowly,
began to chew it...."
A shrub of the desert lands. Its blue roots are said to be salty and used as one of the main ingredients in sullage. . "The principal ingredients of Sullage
are the golden Sul, …the curled, red, ovate leaves of the Tur-Pah,
a tree parasite, cultivated in host orchards of Tur trees and the salty,
blue secondary roots of the Kes shrub, a small, deeply rooted plant which
grows best in sandy soil."
A creeping vine of the rainforests used as a source of drinking water. ...Another useful source of water is the liana vine.
One makes the first cut high, over one's head, to keep the water from
being withdrawn by contraction and surface adhesion up the vine. The second
cut, made a foot or so from the ground, gives a vine tube which, drained,
yields in the neighborhood of a liter of water....
A shrub mentioned found in the marshes of the Vosks Delta. No specific description is given. "What do you see?" I asked. "Shrubbery."
He said, "Some grass, some rence, two trees."
A bright white or yellow flowering shrub mentionned found among other places, in the marshes of the Vosks Delta. Note that the word Tor, is the Gorean word for 'light'. "What do you see?" I asked. "Shrubbery."
He said, "Some grass, some rence, two trees."
Shrub that grows in patches in the western Cartius Valleys, its fruit, small, peachlike, bitter and usually candied, is a popular garnish to many Gorean drinks and foods. "I raced past a wooden wand fixed
in the earth, on top of which was placed a dried tospit, a small, wrinkled,
yellowish-white, peachlike fruit, about the size of a plum, which grows
on the tospit bush, patches of which are indigenous to the drier valleys
of the western Cartius. They are bitter but edible."
A brownish grass that grows, stubbornly, in shaded spots of the Tahari. On the shaded sides of some rocks, and the
shaded slopes of hills, here and there, grew stubborn, brownish patches
of verr grass.
Crops Katch "...a foliated leaf
vegetable called Katch..." Maize Corn fields are seen in the Barrens, the land of the Red Savages.
A long stalked plant of the marshes that fills the Delta of the Vosk, rence is used for food, fuel, cloth, and the making of paper that is sold to merchants of Port Kar. "The plant has many uses besides
serving as a raw product in the manufacture of rence paper…from the
stem the rence growers can make reed boats, sails, mats, cords and a kind
of fibrous cloth; further its pith is edible…" "Then, from within the collar, he
drew forth a thin, folded piece of paper, rence paper made from the fibers
of the rence plant, a tall, long-stalked leafy plant which grows predominately
in the delta of the Vosk." "In the morning, before
dawn, she had placed in my mouth a handful of rence paste." "In a moment the woman
had returned with a double handful of wet rence paste. When fried on flat
stones it makes a kind of cake, often sprinkled with rence seeds."
"I had carried about
bowls of cut, fried fish, and wooden trays of roasted tarsk meat, and
roasted gants, threaded on sticks, and rence cakes and porridges, and
gourd flagons, many times replenished, of rence beer." "Before the feast I
had helped the women, cleaning fish and dressing marsh gants, and then,
later, turning spits for the roasted tarsks, roasted over rence-root fires,
kept on metal pans, elevated above the rence of the islands by metal racks,
themselves resting on larger pans."
Rep A plant grown mainly for cloth. Seems to be cotton-like. The rep plant is cultivated for the fiber found in its pods, from which cloth is woven. "...for example, rep-cloth....Some
rep is grown, for cloth..." "Rep is a whitish fibrous matter
found in the seed pods of a small, reddish, woody bush, commercially grown
in several areas, but particularly below Ar and above the equator; the
cheap rep-cloth is woven in mills, commonly, in various cities; it takes
dyes well and, being cheap and strong, is popular, particularly among
the lower castes."
The yellow grain, staple crop of Gor. Used in making the yellow Sa-Tarna bread and in the brewing of Pagar-Sa-Tarna (Paga) A staple crop of Gor, Sa-Tarna is the Gorean word for 'Life Daughter'; its grains are used in the making of Sa-Tarna bread, usually yellow but not exclusively, as the Taharians are said to have a browner version of it, adapted to growth in the desert lands. Sa-Tarna is also used in the brewing of Sa-Paga or Pagar-Sa-Tarna (Pleasure of Life Daughter), a well known alcoholic beverage of Gor. "Economically, the base of the Gorean
life was the free peasant, which was perhaps the lowest but undoubtedly
the most fundamental caste, and the staple crop was a yellow grain called
Sa-Tarna, or Life-Daughter." "I thought of the yellow Gorean
bread, baked in the shape of round, flat loaves, fresh and hot;…"
Though we are given no names, description of the far North flora speaks of many hundreds of species. The tundra at this time of year belies its reputation
for bleakness. In many places it bursts into bloom with small flowers.
Almost all of the plants of this nature are perennials, as the growing
season is too short to permit most annuals to complete their growing cycle.
In the winter buds of many of these plants lie dormant in a fluffy sheath
which protects them from cold. Some two hundred and forty different types
of plants grow in the Gorean arctic within five hundred pasangs of the
pole. None of these, interestingly, is poisonous, and none possesses thorns.
During the summer plants and flowers will grow almost anywhere in the
arctic except on or near the glacial ice.
Small, multiple petaled flower of the northern regions akin to the earth rose. It is sometimes referred to as the slave flower and its print is commonly used as a brand. "...my own brand was
the 'dina', the dina is a small, lovely, multiply petaled flower, short-stemmed,
and blooming in a turf of green leaves, usually on the slopes of hills,
in the northern temperate zones of Gor, in its budding, though in few
other ways, it resembles a rose; it is an exotic, alien flower; it is
also spoken of, in the north, where it grows most frequently, as the slave
flower..." "But, perhaps the dina
is spoken of as the slave flower merely because, in the north, it is,
though delicate and beautiful, a reasonably common, unimportant flower;
it is also easily plucked, being defenseless, and can easily be crushed,
overwhelmed and, if one wishes, discarded."
A five petaled scarlet flower. "There was a shallow bowl of flowers,
scarlet, large-budded, five-petaled flaminiums, on the small, low table
between us."
Flowers which ressemble lotus are mentioned in Tarl's description of the many flowers within the garden of the palace of Saphrar, Merchant of Turia. From where I sat I could see two lovely pools, in which
lotuslike plants floated; one of the pools was large enough for swimming;
the other, I supposed, was stocked with tiny, bright fish from the various
seas and lakes of Gor.
A delicate flower of bright yellow that is the symbol of beauty and passion. "In the distance, perhaps some forth pasangs away, I saw of set of ridges, lofty and steep, rearing out of a broad, yellow meadow of talendars, a delicate, yellow-petaled flower, often woven into garlands by Gorean maidens." Outlaw of Gor, page 131 "The talendar is a flower which,
in the Gorean mind, is associated with beauty and passion. Free Companions,
on the Feast of their Free Companionship, commonly wear a garland of talendars.
Sometimes slave girls, having been subdued, but fearing to speak, will
fix talendars in their hair, that their master may know that they have
at last surrendered themselves to him as helpless love slaves."
Veminium A kind of bluish wildflower commonly found on the lower slopes of the Thentis range although said to be common to both the Northern and the Southern hemispheres of Gor. A purplish variety of it is found on the edge of the Tahari, it is called the Desert Veminium. "The atmosphere of
the pool was further charged with the fragrance of Veminium, a kind of
bluish wildflower commonly found on the lower slopes of the Thentis range;..."
"The petals of veminium,
the 'Desert Veminium,' purplish, as opposed to the 'Thentis Veminium,'
bluish, which flower grows at the edge of the Tahari, gathered in a shallow
baskets and carried to a still, are boiled in water. The vapor which boils
off is condensed into oil. This oil is used to perfume water. This water
is not drunk but is used in middle and upper-class homes to rinse the
eating hand, before and after the evening meal."
Trees
Said to have been brought from Earth in early voyages of acquisition and grown in the Southern Tropical areas of Gor. "This is warmed chocolate," I said, pleased.
It was very rich and creamy.
A flat topped umbrella-like tree with lanceolate leaves, mentioned as one of the trees found in Tahari desert oases. "Occasionally we passed a
water hole, and the tents of nomads. About some of these water holes there
were a dozen or so small trees, flahdah trees, like flat topped umbrellas
on crooked sticks, not more than twenty feet high; they are narrow branched,
with lanceolate leaves."
Flower Trees A curved branched tree which is described as 'clusters' of flowers on linear hanging stems. "And so we sat with
our backs against the flower tree in the House of Saphrar, merchant of
Turia. I looked at the lovely, dangling loops of interwoven blossoms which
hung from the curved branches of the tree. I knew that the clusters of
flowers which; cluster upon cluster, graced those linear, hanging stems,
would each be a bouquet in itself, for the trees are so bred that the
clustered flowers emerge in subtle, delicate patterns of shades and hues."
Hogarthe tree A tall poplar type of tree, found in the Barrens along rivers and streams, named after one of the first explorers to the Barrens. On the rise there were two trees, white barked trees, some fifty feet tall, with shimmering green leaves.... " They were Hogarthe trees,
named for Hogarthe, one of the early explorers in the area of the Barrens.
They are not uncommon in the vicinity of water in the Barrens, usually
growing along the banks of small streams or muddy, sluggish rivers. Their
shape is very reminiscent of poplar trees on Earth, to which perhaps,
in virtue of seeds brought to the Counter-Earth, they may be related.
"
A golden colored tree, its reddish fruit supplies Gor with its prime source of wine, the famed Ka-la-na. Ka-la-na wood is described as supple and strong, Goreans use it in building ships among other things. The long bow of Peasants is also made from a Ka-la-na branch. "The Ka-la-na thicket was yellow
in the distance..." "...a small bottle of Ka-la-na wine,
in a wicker basket...I had never tasted so rich and delicate a wine on
Earth, and yet here, on this world, it costs only a copper tarn disk and
was so cheap, and plentiful, that it might be given even to a female slave...It
was the first Gorean fermented beverage which I had tasted. It is said
that Ka-la-na has an unusual effect on a female." "Ho-Hak reached down
and unwrapped the leather from the yellow bow of supple Ka-la-na."
"Besides several of
the flower trees there were also some Ka-la-na trees, or the yellow wine
trees of Gor...."
A pinelike evergreen of the Northern forest used in the building of ships. The oil of its needles is also used in the making of perfumes. "...and the needle trees, the evergreens,
for masts and spars, and cabin and deck plankings."
Said to be present in some 1500 varieties in the Schendi Jungles alone. The fan palm, described in Explorers of Gor, was used as a source of drinking water. "There is an incredible variety
of trees in the rain forest, how many I cannot conjecture. There are,
however, more than fifteen hundred varieties and types of palm alone.
Some of these palms have leaves which are twenty feet in length. One type
of palm, the fan palm, more than twenty feet high, which spreads its leaves
in the form of an opened fan, is an excellent source of pure water, as
much as a liter of such water being found, almost as though cupped, at
the base of each leaf's stem."
Orchards of pomegranate are found growing at the Oasis of Red Rock. "Pomegranate orchards lie at the east of the oasis,"
I said. "Gardens lie inward. There is even a pond, between two of
the groves of date palms."
A dark wood tree used in building of ships among other things. "...Tem-wood for rudders and oars..."
"...there was also, at one side
of the garden, against the far wall, a grove of tem-wood, linear, black,
supple..."
A redwood tree used in the building of ships among other things. Its branches host the Tur-Pah, a vinelike parasitic plant with edible leaves. The City of Turia is said to have been named after this tree. "The forests of the northern temperate latitudes of Gor are countries in themselves, covering hundreds of thousands of square pasangs of area. They contain great numbers of various species of trees, and different portions of the forests may differ considerably among themselves. The most typical and famous tree of these forests is the lofty, reddish Tur tree, some varieties of which grow more than two hundred feet high. It is not known how far these forests extend.... We found ourselves now in a stand of the lofty Tur trees.
I could see broadly spreading branches some two hundred feet or more above
my head. The trunks of the trees were almost bare of branches until, so
far above, branches seemed to explode in an interlacing blanket of foliage,
almost obliterating the sky..." "...there was one large trunked,
reddish Tur tree, about which curled it's assemblage of Tur-Pah, a vinelike
tree parasite with curled scarlet, ovate leaves, rather lovely to look
upon; the leaves of the Tur-Pah incidentally are edible and figure in
certain Gorean dishes; such as sullage, a kind of soup; long ago, I had
heard, a Tur tree was found on the prairie, near a spring, planted perhaps
long before by someone who passed by; it was from that Tur tree that the
city of Turia took its name;..." "Tur wood is used
for galleys and frames, and beams and clamps and posts, and for hull planking..."
Roots, Pods and Bulbs
A plant which draws its name
from the fact that it feeds on blood. The leech plant has fanglike hollow
thorns that pierce through the skin of its victims. Once I shouted in pain. Two fangs had struck into my
calf. An ost, I thought! But the fangs held fast, and I heard the popping,
sucking sound of the bladder like seedpods of a leech plant, as they expanded
and contracted like small ugly lungs. I reached down and jerked the plant
from the soil at the side of the road. It writhed in my hand like a snake,
its pods gasping. I jerked the two fanglike thorns from my leg. The leech
plant strikes like a cobra, and fastens two hollow thorns into its victim.
The chemical responses of the bladderlike pods produce a mechanical pumping
action, and the blood is sucked into the plant to nourish it. As I tore
the thing from my leg, glad that the sting had not been that of the venomous
ost, the three hurtling moons of Gor broke from the dark cover of the
clouds. I held the quivering plant up. Then I twisted it apart. Already
my blood, black in the silvery night, mixed with the juices of the plant,
stained the stem even to the roots. In a matter of perhaps two or three
seconds, it had drawn perhaps a gill of liquid. With a shudder I hurled
the loathsome plant away from the road. Normally such plants are cleared
away from the sides of the roads and from inhabited areas. They are primarily
dangerous to children and small animals, but a grown man who might lose
his footing among them would not be likely to survive.
A plant which is not described as much as it is mentioned for its use in the making of slave wine, Gor's mode of contraception. The extremely bitter root of the plant is what Goreans extract to produce the permanent effect of slave wine. In the Barrens, slaves of the Red Savages are simply made to chew the root of the plant itself. " I held the object before her. She regarded it with dismay. "I have already chewed sip root within the moon," she said." "She did not need the sip
root of course for, as she had pointed out, she had had some within the
moon, and, indeed, the effect of sip root, in the raw state, in most women,
is three or four moons."
A plant of the Tahari; its roots, mashed & mixed with water, provide a red dye. "The drover threw back the
hood of his burnoose, and pulled down the veil about his face. Beneath
the burnoose he wore a skullcap. The rep-cloth veil was red; it had been
soaked in a primitive dye, mixed from water and the mashed roots of the
telekint; when he perspired, it had run; his face was stained..."
A plant/root/leaf? Teslik is merely mentioned in passing as being the active ingredient in breeding wine, which is the antagonist to slave wine and given to slaves when it is decided that they will be bred. There is no specific indication as to what teslik really is. "The active ingredient in
the breeding wine, or the "second wine," is a derivative of
teslik."
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