Pre-Production: Plant Research

In the story 'Protecting Nature', there's a plant that the main character needs to find, in order to help brings his dad back to life.

I had in my mind that this plant was ancient and as the Nymph in the story was inspired by something I read in Greek mythology, I thought I would match the mythology by seeing if there were any actual myths of a plant that can bring someone back to life.

After typing in different search words, I came across this website:

http://www.theoi.com/Flora1.html

It contained a list of different plants, that were mentioned in Greek myth stories, however these plants actually exist; not in a magical way though.

Out of all the plants that were on the site, the plant 'Asphodel' (Right image) stood out to me. This is what was said on the site:

Greek: Asphodelos
Species: Asphodelus Ramosus
Description:  A spring-flowering perennial with grey-green leaves and pale pink-grey-white flowers. The tubers are edibles.
Sacred to: Hades (asphodel planted around tombs), Persephone and Hekate (Statues of these goddesses were adorned with the asphodel on the island Rhodes)
Mythology: Asphodel Plains. This ghostly grey plant was believed to dominate the fields of the land of the dead. It was regarded as the food of the dead. (Source: Homer).

In mythology this plant was said to be the plant of the dead and is regarded to be the food of the dead, which is similar to the use of the plant in my story. The only difference with the plant in my story, is that it is used to bring people back from the dead. Below are some more images of the real Asphodel plant.

       

I wasn't sure whether the plant in my story should look like the actual Asphodel plant, so I decided to research into other plants for some ideas.

I came across Hypericum Balearicum, which is a yellow flowered plant with small green leaves. I mainly liked the flower to this plant, as it was bright and yellow and to me the colour represented life; which is the whole idea, as the plant is supposed to be used to bring life.

 

Even though I liked the Hypericum Balearicum, I decided to actually go with the flowers and the colour, etc. of the Asphodel plant. We obviously won't be able to get hold of the plant in the UK, however we have spoken to our costume designer, who also makes props and she said that she would make a fake version of the plant, herself.