Plants in Middle-earth

The plants in Middle-earth, the fictional continent in the world devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, are a mixture of real plant species with fictional ones. Middle-earth was intended to represent Europe in the real world in an imagined past, and in many respects its natural history is realistic. The botany and ecology of Middle-earth are described in sufficient detail for botanists to have identified its plant communities, ranging from Arctic tundra to hot deserts, with many named plant species, both wild and cultivated. Scholars such as Walter S. Judd, Dinah Hazell, Tom Shippey, Matthew T. Dickerson, and Christopher Vaccaro have noted that Tolkien described fictional plants for reasons including his own interest in plants and scenery, to enrich his descriptions of an area with beauty and emotion, to fulfil specific plot needs, to characterise the peoples of Middle-earth, and to carry symbolic meaning.

Context

Tolkien and plants J. R. R. Tolkien learnt about plants, their history and cultivation from his mother, from his reading, from visiting show gardens, by gardening, and by studying medieval herbals, which taught him about the lore and supposed magical properties of certain plants. He stated that the book that most influenced him as a teenager was C. A. Johns's Flowers of the Field, a flora of the British Isles, which he called his "most treasured volume". He explained that he was intrigued by the diversity of plant forms, as he had a "special fascination ... in the variations and permutations of flowers that are the evident kin of those I know". Among his artworks are a series of paintings of grasses and other plants, often with the names he gave them in Quenya, one of his invented Elvish languages. These could be realistic or, as with his pencil and ink drawing of ranalinque or "moon-grass", stylized, in the manner of Art Nouveau.

Europe and Middle-earth

Tolkien intended Arda to represent the real world in an imagined past, thousands of years before the present time. He made clear the correspondences in latitude between Europe and Middle-earth, establishing the presence of both British and Mediterranean zones:

The action of the story takes place in the North-west of 'Middle-earth', equivalent in latitude to the coastlands of Europe and the north shores of the Mediterranean. ... If Hobbiton and Rivendell are taken (as intended) to be at about the latitude of Oxford, then Minas Tirith, 600 miles south, is at about the latitude of Florence. The Mouths of Anduin and the ancient city of Pelargir are at about the latitude of ancient Troy.

Literary functions

In his Middle-earth writings, Tolkien mentions real plant species, and introduces fictional ones, for a variety of reasons. Dinah Hazell describes the botany of Middle-earth as being "the best, most palpable example" of Tolkien's realistic subcreation of a secondary world. In her view, this at once serves a "narrative function, provides a sense of place, and enlivens characterization", while studying the flora and their associated stories gives the reader a deeper appreciation of Tolkien's skill.

Realism

Tolkien mentions many plants appropriate to the geographical and climatic zones through which his characters pass, especially in The Lord of the Rings, the accurate plant ecology conveying a strong sense of the reality of Middle-earth. Scholars such as Matthew Dickerson, Jonathan Evans, and Walter S. Judd with Graham Judd, have described the botany and ecology of Middle-earth in some detail, from the agriculture of the Shire to the horticulture of the Elves, the wildwood of the Ents, and the polluted volcanic landscape of Mordor. Walter and Graham Judd have examined the Middle-earth flora and its various plant communities from Arctic tundra to hot deserts, have listed and illustrated the many identifiable plant species from alders to yews, not forgetting cultivated plants from beans to flax, and have provided identification keys to the plants and flowering herbs involved. The Shire is described as a fertile agricultural region, able to produce not only the food needed by its comfortable population, complete with Gaffer Gamgee's "taters" (potatoes), but cultivated mushrooms, wine such as the delicious Old Winyards, and tobacco. Nearby Bree indeed uses botanical names for many of its people, such as the "doubly botanical" name of the innkeeper Barliman Butterbur, named for barley (the chief ingredient of beer), and the butterbur, a large stout wayside herb of Northwestern Europe. Other plant-based surnames in Bree include Ferny, Goatleaf, Heathertoes, Rushlight, Thistlewool, and Mugwort. Towards the end of their quest, the hobbit protagonists Frodo and Sam travel through the Mediterranean vegetation of Ithilien, giving Tolkien the opportunity to demonstrate the "breadth of his botany" with convincing details of that region's mild climate and different flora. The scholar Richard Jenkyns has commented that "Ithilien is Italy, as the name implies".

Narrative and plot

Some plants fulfil a specific plot need, such as with athelas, a healing plant that turns out to be the cure for the Black Breath, the chill and paralysis that overcame people who fought against the Ringwraiths, Sauron's most deadly servants. In The Lord of the Rings, Athelas is used only by Aragorn, who becomes King of Gondor, explaining its common name, Kingsfoil. Shippey remarks that Aragorn the healer-king echoes a real English King, Edward the Confessor. Tolkien may have had the Old English Herbarium in mind with the healing herb Kingsfoil: in that text, Kingspear (woodruff) is said to have a distinctive aroma, and to be useful for healing wounds, while the ending in -foil, meaning "leaf", is found in the names of herbs such as cinquefoil.

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