Botanical name: Origanum Dictamnus (Linn.). Natural order: Other names: Dittany of Crete, Candia, Right Dittany. French name: Dictame de Crete. German names: Kretischer Diptam, Diptamodosten. Italian names: Dittamo Di Creta, Origano di Creta, Dittamo. Turkish names: Girid otu, Mangir otu, Girid Diktami. Under the dominion of: Mercury. Symbolizes: Happiness. Part used: Herb, oil. Natural habitat: Crete. Action: Tonic, Carminative, stimulant, Healing. Constituents: A volatile oil, tannin, resin, and a bitter principle.
In the 1990’s intensive research af dittany took place at MAICH (Mediterranean Agricultural Institute of Chania) in order to ascertain the active agents in the plant and to work out a way to utilize the plant in a way, which was commercially viably. Also at the Institute for Subtropical Plants and Olive Trees experiments are carried out where both dittany and another medical plant, malotira, are cultivated in aquaculture, meaning that the plants are grown with their roots in water. In a thesis written by Kostas Oikonomakis you can, among other things, read: We don’t intend to question Theophrast’s words that dry and sun-parched places are the best for aromatic plants, but we did in fact grow erondas in aquaculture, and it grew so big that it actually gave us twice as much ethereal oil as its wild brothers, which had grown in “the fissure of the rock”.
In the beginning of the 20th century the export of dittany increased. From Chania alone exports reached 7-8 metric tons of dried dittany a year. As the plant was therefore in danger of eradication they began to cultivate it after 1920. First at Kato Poros, east of Argyroupoli. A few years later the cultivation spread to the Archanes area, south of Iraklion, and to the villages around Embaros, south west of the Lassithi mountains. Here they attained a large production (44 metric tons in 1936), but the Second World War put a temporary stop to the project. After the war they took up the cultivation of dittany again, mainly in the villages around Embaros, where there is now an annual production of approximately 30 metric tons. The villages are still called Villages of Dittany (Erondochoria).
Because of the plant’s many health-giving qualities they tried to grow it in Venice as early as in the 15th century, and later other countries tried, but without any success. Even as geographically close as in Athens the attempts to grow dittany failed, as the plant lost its fragrance and colour. The only place outside Crete to grow dittany is on the island of Kythira.
Dittany is gathered while in bloom, that is to say from May until August, although you find some dittany blooming as late as in December. It was a risky job gathering dittany, because the gatherers, who in Greek are called mazochtádes, erondádes or atitanológi, would often hang from the sheer, sharp rocks.
The name of the herb is a compound of the two words Dikti and thamnos. Thamnos means ‘shrub’, while Dikti refers to the mountains around the Lassithi Plateau, where Zeus was born. And the myth explains that he was the one who brought the herb to Crete in return for the loving care at his birth. A mantinada says of the plant: Ο έρωντας εφύτρωξε στου Δία το μιτάτο The erondas grew at Zeus’ mitato (lodge), Γι’ αυτό ‘ναι όμορφο φυτό, λουλούδι μυρωδάτο. That is why the plant is a beautiful and sweet-smelling flower.
