Plants in Middle-earth

People in Bree often had botanical names; Barliman Butterbur is named for the butterbur, Petasites hybridus, a large stout herb of Northwestern Europe[T 3]

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[5] to the horticulture of the Elves,[6] the wildwood of the Ents,[7] and the polluted volcanic landscape of Mordor.[8] Walter and Graham Judd have examined the Middle-earth flora and its various plant communities from Arctic tundra to hot deserts,[9] have listed and illustrated the many identifiable plant species from alders to yews, not forgetting cultivated plants from beans to flax,[10] and have provided identification keys to the plants and flowering herbs involved.[11]

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.[12] Nearby Bree indeed uses botanical names for many of its people, such as the "doubly botanical"[13] 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.[T 3][13]

Towards the end of their quest, 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.[12][T 4]

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.[T 5][T 6] Shippey remarks that Aragorn the healer-king echoes a real English King, Edward the Confessor.[14] 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.[15]

One reason was to enrich his descriptions of an area with beauty and emotion, such as with the small white Niphredil flowers and the gigantic Mallorn trees with green and silver leaves in the Elvish stronghold of Lothlórien, symbolising indeed Galadriel's Elves.[16][T 7] Similarly, when describing the Island of Númenor, lost beneath the waves before the time of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien introduces Oiolairë, an evergreen fragrant tree said to be highly esteemed by the people there.[T 8] Or again, when describing the grave-mounds of the Kings of Rohan, Tolkien mentions Simbelmynë (Old English for "Evermind"), a white Anemone that once grew in Gondolin and that stands for remembrance of the noble and brave Riders of Rohan.[16][T 9][17] David Galbraith of the Royal Botanical Gardens (Ontario) writes that "plants are ... crucial in imagined landscapes", and that few of these are as rich in detail as Tolkien's Middle-earth", where "the plants ranged from simple and familiar to exotic and fantastic".[18]

Tolkien mentions plant products, too, when he wishes to characterise a people. In the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings, he explains that "pipe-weed", tobacco, is derived from "a strain of the herb Nicotiana", and that the Hobbits of the Shire love to smoke it, unlike the other peoples of Middle-earth. He goes into some detail on this, naming the varieties Longbottom Leaf, Old Toby, and Southern Star, grown in the Shire, and Southlinch from Bree.[T 10][T 11] This has a personal ring, as Tolkien loved to smoke a pipe, and indeed described himself as a Hobbit: "I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size). I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, ... I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field)".[19][20][T 12]

The scholar Patrick Curry states that "Tolkien obviously had a particular affection for flora", especially trees, noting that the birch was his "personal 'totem'".[21] Tom Shippey writes that Tolkien's many mentions of plants reveal a deep and continuous interest:

Through all his work moreover there runs an obsessive interest in plants and scenery, pipeweed and athelas, the crown of stonecrop round the overthrown king's head in Ithilien, the staffs of lebethron-wood with a "virtue" on them of finding and returning, given by Faramir to Sam and Frodo, the holly-tree outside Moria that marks the frontier of 'Hollin' as the White Horse of Uffington shows the boundary of the Mark [in England], and over all the closely visualised images of dells and dingles and Wellinghalls, hollow trees and clumps of bracken and bramble-coverts for the hobbits to creep into.[16]

Shippey comments that Tolkien's strongest belief, visible as a theme in much of his writing, is the identify of man and nature; he gives multiple examples:

Arda in the Years of the Trees. The Two Trees of Valinor illuminated the Blessed Realm.

A final reason was to establish tangible symbols in his mythology. Early in the history of Arda, he introduced the Two Trees of Valinor, enormous magical trees that illuminated the Blessed Realm until their destruction by the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. However, some of the light of the Trees was saved in the Silmarils, central to the mythology of The Silmarillion.[T 13][T 14] In addition, another tree, Galathilion, was created in the image of one of the Two Trees, Telperion. One of its seedlings, named Celeborn, was brought to the island of Tol Eressëa. One of its seedlings was given to the Men of Númenor, and it became Nimloth, the White Tree of Númenor. It was destroyed by the King, Ar-Pharazôn, who had come under Sauron's influence; but the hero Isildur had saved one of its fruits, and when he arrived in Middle-earth from the wreck of Númenor, he planted its seeds; one of these grew into the White Tree of Gondor. When the line of Kings of Gondor failed, the White Tree died, and stood dead in the royal courtyard of the city of Minas Tirith throughout the centuries of rule by the Stewards of Gondor. When Aragorn returned as King, he fittingly found a seedling of the White Tree on the mountain behind the city.[T 15][22]

Stéphanie Loubechine describes the opposing roles of the beneficial birch and the malign willow in Tolkien's tree symbolism, on the view that plants are not simply a green backdrop but consistently carry meaning.[23] Curry comments however that Tolkien's trees are never just symbols, also being individuals in the narrative.[24]

Peter Jackson's film version of The Lord of the Rings, set in New Zealand, introduced a new take on the botany and ecology of Middle-earth, as here where the Hobbits walk knee-deep through the invasive species wandering willie, Tradescantia fluminensis.[25]

This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.