On Thorns and Crowns Avinoam Danin 2006

On Thorns and Crowns © Avinoam Danin (2006) Flora of Israel online http: //flora. huji. ac. il

An attempt to display spiny plants associated with the ”Crown of Thorns” • Images of plants seen on the Shroud of Turin are the most authentic source of information on the identity of these plants. • A survey of relic spines saved in monasteries and churches carried out in the 1800’s (Fleury 1870) provides additional information on some of the thorns. • Contemporary merchants supplying souvenirs to tourists tend to use the locally available trees, without any historical background.

: For full information see • Danin, A. 2006. The nature of thorny plants, the images of which are observed on the Shroud of Turin. March 2006 issue of CSST Newsletter (Vol. 10 No. 2: 1 -4)

The image of Gundelia tournefortii flowering head with faint images of the long subtending leaves and dots at the tip of several stiff spines. A component of one of two “Crowns of Thorns” observed by A. Whanger on the Shroud of Turin

The first leaves emerge from a bud at the top of a thick root, form a leaf-rosette, with leaves the main vein of which is purple.

The spines of the leaf lobes, and those of the inflorescences, as “unpleasant” as they look, may penetrate the skin, break inside one’s body, but may hardly cause any bleeding. I call such a thorn in this presentation, “fine thorns”

The inflorescence is a compound capitulum, composed of groups of several yellow flowers, arranged in the axile of a long spiny bract. These thorns are “fine” as well

A dry and ripe plant ready for wind-dispersal. Each of the simple capitulae at the axile of a long fine thorn contains one seed and is ready to fall once the plant rolls

Faint images of four flowering heads (capitulae) of Carduus located on the Shroud of Turin

Carduus argentatus

A young leaf of Carduus argentatus. Note the white cells at the base of each fine thorn

FEROCIOUS THORNS After the first meeting you prefer not to let these thorns touch your skin or clothes.

Ziziphus spina-christi Beware of the ferocious thorns when trying to collect the tasteful fruits

One stipule is straight and the second curved, thus forming a “hook”. Note 3 veins per leaf

In winter Rhamnus lycioides subsp. graeca In summer

Medal of artist Bonaldi Giovanni for the miracle of the Holy Thorn of S. Giovanni Bianco in Bergamo, Italy An actual thorn

From: Ch. Rohault de Fleury (1870) Instruments de la Passion

Parkinsonia aculeata, a savannah tree of C America which escaped from cultivation as an ornamental in Israel

The thorns are the hard axis of a compound leaf and a pair of hooked stipules. Often seen as composing a “true” crown of thorn for tourists.

Gleditschia triacanthos, a N American tree often used in the USA for making “Crown of Thorns”