GREEN HELL: The Occult Chemistry of Sulfur in the Plant Kingdom

A glittering yellow crystal that burns with a blue flame, sulfur blazes  eternally in the lake of fire and brimstone in the Underworld, escaping  upwards via the fumes of volcanic vents and steaming springs.  It  impregnates the living world through organosulfur compounds that stink  of rotting vegetables and boiled eggs and which power the familiar  aromas of the Alliums (i.e.garlic), a family with an extensive pedigree  of folk magic uses, and also many tales that link these plants with the  Devil. Less familiar are the sulfurous scent components of various incense  resins (asafoetida, galbanum), tropical fruits, citrus, and fine wines.   Cat ketones which smell of tomcat piss provide vivid fruity notes to  blackcurrant. Blackberry (aka “Devil’s grapes”)  contains similar  volatile thiophenones. As we explore the chemistry of sulfur in animal scent communication as  well as medical uses and its role in poisons and insecticides, the  magical potencies of sulfurous plants…