World of Gor

Please note that for the purpose of avoiding repetition, most of the plants that can be found on the food pages in the vegetable and fruit sections have been left out. Such trees and plants that bear peaches, larma , ram-berries, melons, the plants of various crops such as blackwine as well as most of the vegetables found on the counter-earth are not given much description although clearly, since their fruit apear on Gor, they would be likely to exist in orchards or patches.

Bushes, Grass, Vines and Shrubs

Brak Bush
Branches of this plant are nailed over doors during the Waiting Hand to discourage bad luck from entering the house in the New Year. The leaves of the brak bush are said to have a purgative effect.

...Almost all doors, including that of the House of Cernus, had nailed to them some branches of the Brak Bush, the leaves of which, when chewed, have a purgative effect. It is thought that...the branches of the Brak Bush discourage entry of bad luck into the houses of the citizens....
---Assassin of Gor, 16:211

Carpet Plant
Found in the rainforests of Schendi; the name may well indicate a variety of creeping, ground covering plants rather than one particular plant. Tendrils of the only reference to a carpet plant throughout the books are mentioned as used for binding, which would indicate rather strong, pliable, perhaps vinelike stems.

I then rose to my feet and walked a few yards away, to a fan palm. From the base of one of its broad leaves I gathered a double handful of fresh water. I retuned to the girl and, carefully, washed out the wound. She winced. I then cut some leaves and wrapped them about it. I tied shut some leaves and wrapped them about it. I tied shut this simple bandage with the tendrils of a carpet plant.
---Explorers of Gor, 34:347

Clover, green
Low leguminous herbs having trifoliate leaves and flowers in dense heads; includes many that are valuable for forage and attractive to bees.

I set her down on a bed of green clover. Beyond it, some hundred yards away, I could see the border of a yellow field of Sa-Tarna and a yellow thicket of Ka-la-na trees....
---Tarnsman of Gor, 7:96

Colored Grass
On his tour of the gardens of the palace of Saphrar, Tarl Cabot mentions a number of colors of grass which are described as growing in 'patches' in various areas of the garden. In Witness of Gor, again the lush gardens where we first meet Janice are described in what seems a mosaic of colored grass patches.

...He picked up a stalk of a patch of violet grass, one of several hues used in such gardens, and began to chew on it....
---Nomads of Gor, 19:216-217

...He made his way across some dark blue and yellowish orange grass and came to the buildings set against one wall of the gardens.
---Nomads of Gor, 19:219

"Stop," I heard, a man's voice.
Instantly I stopped, my heart sinking. I turned, of course, immediately, and fell to my knees, putting my head down to the lavender grass, as was its color here, in this portion of the garden, the palms of my hands down, too, on the grass, beside my head.
---Witness of Gor, 3:12

Fern
Are Mentioned in Nomads of Gor, on Tarl's tour of the gardens of Saphrar.

Festal
A shrub mentioned found in the marshes of the Vosks Delta. No specific description is given.

"What do you see?" I asked. "Shrubbery." He said, "some grass, some rence, two trees."
"What sort of shrubbery?" I asked.
"Some festal," he said. "some tes, a bit of tor."
---Vagabonds of Gor, 30:339

Hemp
Though we are not given description of what the Gorean version of the hemp plant may look like, its use is mentioned in the making of bow strings.

... a Gorean long bow of supple Ka-la-na wood, from the yellow wine trees of Gor, tipped with notched bosk horn at each end, loose strung with hemp whipped with silk, and a roll of sheaf and flight arrows.
---Raiders of Gor, 1:2

Kanda
A shrub of the Gorean deserts whose roots hold a lethal poison.   Kanda leaves have a strong, addictive narcotic effect that may make this plant a cousin of the Earth Coca plant. An extremely potent poison is extracted from the roots of the kanda plant, and used to coat the tips of various weapons; it is mentioned on numerous occasions, be it on the tip of the pins free women sometimes hide in their hair, on the tips of arrows, hidden in various items of jewelry or literally dropped by the barrel in water reservoirs as is seen in Tarnsman of Gor, during the siege of Ar. The effect of kanda is said to be extremely rapid.

Most was I surprised to find him holding a tiny, round pipe from which curled a bright wisp of smoke. Tobacco is unknown on Gor, though there are certain vices or habits to take its place, in particular the stimulation afforded by chewing on the leaves of the Kanda plant, the roots of which, oddly enough, when ground and dried, constitute an extremely deadly poison.
--Priest-Kings of Gor, 3:24

...Kutaituchik absently reached into a small golden box near his right knee and drew out a string of rolled kanda leaf.

The roots of the kanda plant, which grows largely in desert regions on Gor, are extremely toxic, but, surprisingly, the rolled leaves of this plant, which are relatively innocuous, are formed into strings and, chewed or sucked, are much favored by many Goreans, particularly in the southern hemisphere, where the leaf is more abundant.

Kutaituchik, not taking his eyes off us, thrust one end of the green kanda string in the left side of his mouth and, very slowly, began to chew it....
--Nomads of Gor, 7:43

Kes
A shrub of the desert lands.  Its blue roots are said to be salty and used in the preparation of sullage.

...and the salty, blue secondary roots of the Kes shrub, a small, deeply rooted plant which grows best in sandy soil.
---Priest Kings of Gor, 6:45

Liana Vine
A creeping vine of the rainforests used as a source of drinking water.

...Another useful source of water is the liana vine. One makes the first cut high, over one's head, to keep the water from being withdrawn by contraction and surface adhesion up the vine. The second cut, made a foot or so from the ground, gives a vine tube which, drained, yields in the neighborhood of a liter of water....
---Explorers of Gor, 32:310

Tes
A shrub mentioned found in the marshes of the Vosks Delta. No specific description is given.

"What do you see?" I asked. "Shrubbery." He said, "Some grass, some rence, two trees."
"What sort of shrubbery?" I asked.
"Some festal," he said. "Some tes, a bit of tor."
---Vagabonds of Gor, 30:339

Tor
A bright white or yellow flowering shrub mentionned found among other places, in the marshes of the Vosks Delta. Note that the word Tor, is the Gorean word for 'light'.

"What do you see?" I asked. "Shrubbery." He said, "Some grass, some rence, two trees."
"What sort of shrubbery?" I asked.
"Some festal," he said. "Some tes, a bit of tor."
"You are sure it is a tor shrub?" I asked. He looked. "Yes," he said.
"I too, think it is a tor shrub," I said. The shrub has various names but one of them is the tor shrub, which name might be fairly translated, I would think, as, say, the bright shrub, or the shrub of light, it having that name, I suppose, because of its abundant, bright flowers, either yellow or white, depending on the variety. It was a very lovely shrub in bloom. It was not in bloom now, of course, as it flowers in the fall.
He looked at me. "So?" he asked.
"Do you notice anything unusual about it?" I asked.
"No," he said.
"How high is it?" I asked.
"I would say some five feet in height," he said.
"That too, would be my estimate," I said.
"I do not understand," he said.
"Does that not seem interesting to you?" I asked.
"Not really," he said.
"It does to me," I said.
"Why?" he asked.
"The tor shrub," I said, "does not grow higher than a man's waist."
---Vagabonds of Gor, 30:339

Tospit Bush
Shrub that grows in patches in the western Cartius Valleys, its fruit, small, peachlike, bitter and usually candied, is a popular garnish to many Gorean drinks and foods.

...I raced past a wooden wand fixed in the earth, on top of which was placed a dried tospit, a small, wrinkled, yellowish-white, peachlike fruit, about the size of a plum, which grows on the tospit bush, patches of which are indigenous to the drier valleys of the western Cartius. They are bitter but edible.
---Nomads of Gor, 8:59

Turl Bush
No specific description is given of this bush other than to mention that its leaves and branches are used in the process of waterproofing hides.

...Such hides may be waterproofed by suspending them from, and wrapping them about, a small tripod of sticks, this set over a small fire on which, to produce the desiderated smoke, the leaves and branches of the turl bush are heavily strewn.
---Savages of Gor, 1:32

Verr Grass
A brownish grass that grows, stubbornly, in shaded spots of the Tahari.

On the shaded sides of some rocks, and the shaded slopes of hills, here and there, grew stubborn, brownish patches of verr grass.
--- Tribesmen of Gor, 4:71-72

Crops

Maize
Corn fields are seen in the Barrens, the land of the Red Savages.

Rence
A long stalked plant of the marshes that fills the Delta of the Vosk, rence is used for food, fuel, cloth, and the making of paper that is sold to merchants of Port Kar.

...Then, from within the collar, he drew forth a thin, folded piece of paper, rence paper made from the fibers of the rence plant, a tall, long-stalked leafy plant which grows predominately in the delta of the Vosk....
---Nomads of Gor, 7:49

Rep
Gor's version of cotton? The rep plant is cultivated for the fiber found in its pods, from which cloth is woven.

...Rep is a whitish fibrous matter found in the seed pods of a small, reddish, woody bush, commercially grown in several areas, but particularly below Ar and above the equator; the cheap rep-cloth is woven in mills, commonly, in various cities; it takes dye well and, being cheap and strong, is popular, particularly among the lower castes....
---Raiders of Gor, 2:10-11

Sa-Tarna
A staple crop of Gor, Sa-Tarna is the Gorean word for 'Life Daughter'; its grains are used in the making of Sa-Tarna bread, usually yellow but not exclusively, as the Taharians are said to have a browner version of it, adapted to growth in the desert lands.   Sa-Tarna is also used in the brewing of Sa-Paga or Pagar-Sa-Tarna (Pleasure of Life Daughter), a well known alcoholic beverage of Gor.

Economically, the base of the Gorean life was the free peasant, which was perhaps the lowest but undoubtedly the most fundamental caste, and the staple crop was a yellow grain called Sa-Tarna, or Life-Daughter....
---Tarnsman of Gor, 3:43

Flowers

Artic flowers
Though we are given no names, description of the far North flora speaks of many hundreds of species.

The tundra at this time of year belies its reputation for bleakness. In many places it bursts into bloom with small flowers. Almost all of the plants of this nature are perennials, as the growing season is too short to permit most annuals to complete their growing cycle. In the winter buds of many of these plants lie dormant in a fluffy sheath which protects them from cold. Some two hundred and forty different types of plants grow in the Gorean arctic within five hundred pasangs of the pole. None of these, interestingly, is poisonous, and none possesses thorns. During the summer plants and flowers will grow almost anywhere in the arctic except on or near the glacial ice.
---Beasts of Gor, 12:196

Dina
Small, multiple petaled flower of the northern regions akin to the earth rose.  It is sometimes referred to as the slave flower and its print is commonly used as a brand.

...my own brand was the dina; the dina is a small, lovely, multiply petaled flower, short-stemmed, and blooming in a turf of green leaves, usually on the slopes of hills, in the northern temperate zones of Gor; in its budding, though in few other ways, it resembles a rose; it is an exotic, alien flower; it is also spoken of, in the north, where it grows most frequently, as the slave flower; ...But perhaps the dina is spoken of as the slave flower merely because, in the north, it is, though delicate and beautiful, a reasonably common, unimportant flower; it is also easily plucked, being defenseless, and can be easily crushed, overwhelmed and, if one wishes, discarded.
---Slave Girl of Gor, 3:61- 62

Flaminium
A five petaled scarlet flower.

There was a shallow bowl of flowers, scarlet, large-budded, five-petaled flaminiums, on the small, low table between us.
---Hunters of Gor, 11:154

Fruit tree blossoms
It is to be expected that where there are orchards or even wild fruit trees, there would be blossoms before the crop. On various occasions, ka-la-na thickets are mentioned, as well as the use of larma blossoms as decorations.

Lotus
Flowers which ressemble lotus are mentioned in Tarl's description of the many flowers within the garden of the palace of Saphrar, Merchant of Turia.

From where I sat I could see two lovely pools, in which lotuslike plants floated; one of the pools was large enough for swimming; the other, I supposed, was stocked with tiny, bright fish from the various seas and lakes of Gor.
---Nomads of Gor, 19:218

Talendar
A delicate flower of bright yellow that is the symbol of beauty and passion.

In the distance, perhaps some forth pasangs away, I saw of set of ridges, lofty and steep, rearing out of a broad, yellow meadow of talendars, a delicate, yellow-petaled flower, often woven into garlands by Gorean maidens....
---Outlaw of Gor, 15:131

The talendar is a flower which, in the Gorean mind, is associated with beauty and passion. Free Companions, on the Feast of their Free Companionship, commonly wear a garland of talendars. Sometimes slave girls, having been subdued, but fearing to speak, will fix talendars in their hair, that their master may know that they have at last surrendered themselves to him as helpless love slaves....
---Raiders of Gor, 15:216-217

...The talender, fixed in her hair, is a slave girl's wordless confession, which, commonly, she dares not speak, that she cares for her Master....
---Hunters of Gor, 5:65

Teriotrope
Refered to as colorful and fragrant though not described specifically.

...The multicoloured ribbons were festive; the lamps were lovely; and the flowers, abundant and colourful, mostly larma blossoms, veminia and teriotrope, were beautiful and fragrant....
---Guardsman of Gor, 20:240

Veminium
A kind of bluish wildflower commonly found on the lower slopes of the Thentis range although said to be common to both the Northern and the Southern hemispheres of Gor.  A purplish variety of it is found on the edge of the Tahari, it is called the Desert Veminium. Note that the plural form of the word veminium is veminia.

The petals of veminium, the "Desert Veminium," purplish, as opposed to the "Thentis Veminium," bluish, which flower grows at the edge of the Tahari, gathered in a shallow baskets and carried to a still, are boiled in water. The vapor which boils off is condensed into oil. This oil is used to perfume water. This water is not drunk but is used in middle and upper-class homes to rinse the eating hand, before and after the evening meal.
---Tribesmen of Gor, 2:50-51

Trees

Cocoa tree
Said to have been brought from Earth in early voyages of acquisition and grown in the Southern Tropical areas of Gor.

"This is warmed chocolate," I said, pleased. It was very rich and creamy.
"Yes, Mistress," said the girl.
"It is very good," I said.
"Thank you, Mistress," she said.
"Is it from Earth?" I asked.
"Not directly," she said. "Many things here, of course, ulti- mately have an Earth origin. It is not improbable that the beans from which the first cacao trees on this world were grown were brought from Earth."
"Do the trees grow near here?" I asked.
"No, Mistress," she said. "We obtain the beans, from which the chocolate is made, from Cosian merchants, who, in turn, obtain them in the tropics."
---Kajira of Gor, 3:61

Flahdah tree
A flat topped umbrella-like tree with lanceolate leaves, mentioned as one of the trees found in Tahari desert oases.

...Occasionally we passed a water hole, and the tents of nomads. About some of these water holes there were a dozen or so small trees, flahdah trees, like flat topped umbrellas on crooked sticks, not more than twenty feet high; they are narrow branched, with lanceolate leaves....
---Tribesmen of Gor, 4:72

Flower tree
A curved branched tree which is described as 'clusters' of flowers on linear hanging stems.

And so we sat with our backs against the flower tree in the House of Saphrar, merchant of Turia. I looked at the lovely, dangling loops of interwoven blossoms which hung from the curved branches of the tree. I knew that the clusters of flowers which; cluster upon cluster, graced those linear, hanging stems, would each be a bouquet in itself, for the trees are so bred that the clustered flowers emerge in subtle, delicate patterns of shades and hues....
---Nomads of Gor, 19:217

Hogarthe tree
A tall poplar type of tree, found in the Barrens along rivers and streams, named after one of the first explorers to the Barrens.

On the rise there were two trees, white barked trees, some fifty feet tall, with shimmering green leaves....

... They were Hogarthe trees, named for Hogarthe, one of the early explorers in the area of the Barrens. They are not uncommon in the vicinity of water in the Barrens, usually growing along the banks of small streams or muddy, sluggish rivers. Their shape is very reminiscent of poplar trees on Earth, to which perhaps, in virtue of seeds brought to the Counter-Earth, they may be related.
---Blood Brothers of Gor, 34:300

Ka-la-na tree
A golden colored tree, its reddish fruit supplies Gor with its prime source of wine, the famed Ka-la-na.  Ka-la-na wood is described as supple and strong, Goreans use it in building ships among other things.   The long bow of Peasants is also made from a Ka-la-na branch.

Ho-Hak reached down and unwrapped the leather from the yellow bow of supple Ka-la-na....
---Raiders of Gor, 3:19

...Besides several of the flower trees there were also some Ka-la-na trees, or the yellow wine trees of Gor; ...
--- Nomads of Gor, 19:217

Needle tree
A pinelike evergreen of the Northern forest used in the building of ships. The oil of its needles is also used in the making of perfumes.

...and the needle trees, the evergreens, for masts and spars, and cabin and deck planking.
---Raiders of Gor, 10:141

Palm Tree
Said to be present in some 1500 varieties in the Schendi Jungles alone. The fan palm, described in Explorers of Gor, was used as a source of drinking water.

There is an incredible variety of trees in the rain forest, how many I cannot conjecture. There are, however, more than fifteen hundred varieties and types of palm alone. Some of these palms have leaves which are twenty feet in length. One type of palm, the fan palm, more than twenty feet high, which spreads its leaves in the form of an opened fan, is an excellent source of pure water, as much as a liter of such water being found, almost as though cupped, at the base of each leaf's stem.
---Explorers of Gor, 32:310

Pod Tree
Said to be found in at least the rain forest area. Its bark is used to make a type of cloth.

...The results of our trading had been two baskets of dried fish, a sack of meal and vegetables, a length of bark cloth, plaited and pounded, from the pod tree, dyed red, a handful of colored, wooden beads, and, most importantly, two pangas, two-foot-long, heavy, curve-bladed bush knives....
---Explorers of Gor, 27:287

Pomegranate
Orchards of pomegranate are found growing at the Oasis of Red Rock.

"Pomegranate orchards lie at the east of the oasis," I said. "Gardens lie inward. There is even a pond, between two of the groves of date palms."
---Tribesmen of Gor, 11:174

Tem
A dark wood tree used in building of ships among other things.

...Tem-wood for rudders and oars; ...
---Raiders of Gor, 10:141

...there was also, at one side of the garden, against the far wall, a grove of tem-wood, linear, black, supple....
--- Nomads of Gor, 19:217

Tur
A redwood tree used in the building of ships among other things.  Its branches host the Tur-Pah, a vinelike parasitic plant with edible leaves.  The City of Turia is said to have been named after this tree.

..There was one large trunked reddish Tur tree, about which curled its assemblage of Tur-Pah, a vinelike tree parasite with curled scarlet, ovate leaves, rather lovely to look upon; the leaves of the Tur-Pah incidentally are edible and figure in certain Gorean dishes,; such as sullage, a kind of soup; long ago, I had heard, a Tur tree was found on the prairie, near a spring, planted perhaps long before by someone who passed by; it was from that Tur tree that the city of Turia took its name; ...
---Nomads of Gor, 19:217

...The forests of the northern temperate latitudes of Gor are countries in themselves, covering hundreds of thousands of square pasangs of area. They contain great numbers of various species of trees, and different portions of the forests may differ considerably among themselves. The most typical and famous tree of these forests is the lofty, reddish Tur tree, some varieties of which grow more than two hundred feet high. It is not known how far these forests extend....

We found ourselves now in a stand of the lofty Tur trees. I could see broadly spreading branches some two hundred feet or more above my head. The trunks of the trees were almost bare of branches until, so far above, branches seemed to explode in an interlacing blanket of foliage, almost obliterating the sky.....
---Captive of Gor, 9:130

...Tur wood is used for galley frames, and beams and clamps and posts, and for hull planking; ...
---Raiders of Gor, 10:141

Roots, Pods and Bulbs

Leech plant
A plant which draws its name from the fact that it feeds on blood. The leech plant has fanglike hollow thorns that pierce through the skin of its victims. This 'bite' induces a chemical response of bladderlike pods which results in a sucking action, drawing the victim's blood into the leech plant's pods to feed it. It is estimated to have the ability to draw as much as a gill (one fourth of a pint) of blood in a matter of seconds.

Once I shouted in pain. Two fangs had struck into my calf. An ost, I thought! But the fangs held fast, and I heard the popping, sucking sound of the bladder like seedpods of a leech plant, as they expanded and contracted like small ugly lungs. I reached down and jerked the plant from the soil at the side of the road. It writhed in my hand like a snake, its pods gasping. I jerked the two fanglike thorns from my leg. The leech plant strikes like a cobra, and fastens two hollow thorns into its victim. The chemical responses of the bladderlike pods produce a mechanical pumping action, and the blood is sucked into the plant to nourish it. As I tore the thing from my leg, glad that the sting had not been that of the venomous ost, the three hurtling moons of Gor broke from the dark cover of the clouds. I held the quivering plant up. Then I twisted it apart. Already my blood, black in the silvery night, mixed with the juices of the plant, stained the stem even to the roots. In a matter of perhaps two or three seconds, it had drawn perhaps a gill of liquid. With a shudder I hurled the loathsome plant away from the road. Normally such plants are cleared away from the sides of the roads and from inhabited areas. They are primarily dangerous to children and small animals, but a grown man who might lose his footing among them would not be likely to survive.
---Outlaw of Gor, 4:33

Sip Root
A plant which is not described as much as it is mentioned for its use in the making of slave wine, Gor's mode of contraception. The extremely bitter root of the plant is what Goreans extract to produce the permanent effect of slave wine. In the Barrens, slaves of the Red Savages are simply made to chew the root of the plant itself.

I held the object before her. She regarded it with dismay. "I have already chewed sip root within the moon," she said....

...She did not need the sip root of course for, as she had pointed out, she had had some within the moon, and, indeed, the effect of sip root, in the raw state, in most women, is three or four moons....
---Blood Brothers of Gor, 36:319

...Sip roots were extremely bitter. Slave wine, incidentally, is made from sip roots. The slaves of the red savages, like slaves generally on Gor, would be crossed and bred only as, and precisely as, their masters might choose.
---Blood Brothers of Gor, 12:124-125

Telekint
A plant of the Tahari; its roots, mashed & mixed with water, provide a red dye.

The drover threw back the hood of his burnoose, and pulled down the veil about his face. Beneath the burnoose he wore a skullcap. The rep-cloth veil was red; it had been soaked in a primitive dye, mixed from water and the mashed roots of the telekint; when he perspired, it had run; his face was stained....
---Tribesmen of Gor, 4:83

Teslik
A plant/root/leaf? Teslik is merely mentioned in passing as being the active ingredient in breeding wine, which is the antagonist to slave wine and given to slaves when it is decided that they will be bred. There is no specific indication as to what teslik really is.

The active ingredient in the breeding wine, or the "second wine," is a derivative of teslik.
---Blood Brothers of Gor, 37:320