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Page 2
The better-known of these is the barometz, or "vegetable lamb", which was depicted as a mid-sized plant or small tree with a small, live sheep growing as fruit at the top of the stalk. The sheep was able to rock itself back and forth on its stem to reach the grass below, and each vegetable lamb plant had a small, neatly-grazed circle around its base. Naturally, the vegetable lamb was ridiculously vulnerable to predators. In fact, according to the Mythical Creatures index, the unfortunate Barometz was a favourite meal of sadistic monsters, since, if eaten while attached to the stalk, it, " bursts with bloody juice upon breaking and remains alive until completely devoured".
While the exact plant which inspired this bizarre and somewhat ineffectual creature is not definitely known, several actual plants mimic some of its qualities. Polypodium barometz, a variety of fern native to Asia, bears the name of the mythological creature, resembles a lamb or other quadruped due to its multiple stalks and somewhat 'furry' appearance. When the plant is cultivated and clipped, this illusion can be made even more striking. Raoulia australis, also known as the "vegetable sheep", is a moss-like plant with a distinctly "wooly" appearance. It is native to Australia and New Zealand, where it is sometimes used as a ground cover in gardens. However, despite the sheep-like qualities of these exotic plants, it is likely that cotton was the plant whose description inspired the story of the vegetable lamb in the fourteenth century.
The second major plant/animal composite monster figuring in Medieval lore is the tree goose, or barnacle. This tree was believed to grow on cliffs above bodies of water, and to produce barnacles as flowers and large barnacle-like fruit which hatched into live geese when mature. This fantastic tree's origins likely arose from observations of the resemblance in colouration and shape between gooseneck barnacles and the barnacle goose , a currently rare British water bird. In a strange way, the former does resemble an embryonic form of the latter, and it is conceivable that sailors could, in fact, have observed these barnacles clinging to tree roots or trunks at the edges of bodies of water inhabited by the goose.
The copyright of the article Mythical Trees and Spirits of the Woods - Page 2 in Monster Legends is owned by . Permission to republish Mythical Trees and Spirits of the Woods - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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