Fireside read
“Paul Green’s Plant Book: An Alphabet of Flowers and Folklore” is an engaging fireside read for any Tar Heel plant lover. Green, who died in 1981, was a homegrown Harnett County playwright and professor. He collected folk wisdom of the Cape Fear Valley and documented flowers, shrubs and trees found within. Many readers will encounter well-known plants in a familiar vernacular—rabbit tobacco, heal all, dog fennel, creasy greens, maypops, poke salad and cow itch, to name a few—while newcomers will receive a delightful introduction to these native treasures. Green recounts bygone botanical remedies for human miseries and livestock ills. There’s even a family recipe for persimmon beer. For this work, published in 2005, daughter Betsy Green Moyer gleaned and compiled the plant-related entries from her father’s “Wordbook: An Alphabet of Reminiscence” and adorned them with her splendid, expert photography. Published by the Botanical Garden Foundation, the 144-page book is sold in the N.C. Botanical Garden’s gift shop or can be ordered online at www.ncbg.unc.edu.