In this episode, we turn our attention to the seemingly modest yet deeply valuable phrygana — the low, woody shrubs that define much of Greece’s dry landscape.
“Shrubs to the Flame”, a text by Antonios Kapetanios, explores these unassuming plants that offer so much: they heal, they anchor the earth, and they fill the air with a scent that is unmistakably Greek. They’ve been painted, praised, and remembered by poets, artists, and travelers — from Panayiotis Tetsis and Nikos Oikonomou to countless others who captured the essence of the southern Greek terrain.
As the ancient lexicographer Hesychius described them, they are “fine, dry wood.”
The word phrygana comes from the Greek verb “phrygō”, meaning “to parch” or “to scorch.” It was Theophrastus, the father of botany, who first identified them as a distinct category of plant life, separate from trees, shrubs, and herbs.
With small, thorny leaves, phrygana thrive at low altitudes and bloom in spring and summer, releasing aromatic oils that transform the landscape into a canvas of scent and light.
The episode also revisits the long-standing efforts of Antonios Kapetanios — forester and environmental engineer from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki — who, from 2004 to 2021, submitted proposals for the protection and sustainable management of these semi-arid ecosystems. That same year, however, Greece’s Ministry of Environment and Energy (ΥΠΕΝ) officially classified shrubland areas as non-forest land — a controversial decision with lasting ecological implications.