following adam and eves disobedience God pronounced a curse on the earth. suffering came into the world as a consequence of sin and judgment.

According to apocryphal Christian folklore, when Adam died, certain seeds were planted in his mouth which grew into the wood which was used to make the rood, the cross on which Christ was crucified. In Norwich Cathedral cloister there is an amazing Foliate Passion in which Christ is nailed to the same foliage afflicting the neighbouring foliate heads (erroneously known as 'Green Men' since 1939) possibly depicting Adam as Everyman in a state of natural fallen sinfulness. Adam is often portrayed as looking like Christ / God in medieval iconography (i.e. in his literal image).

One of the more remarkable medieval foliate heads is a 15th century wooden boss in the church of St, Andrew's at Samford Courtenay in Devon which depicts a possible 'Green Christ', but as the face is quite obviously dead, this is more likely to be Adam, and the growth symbolic of the sinfulness for which Christ died on the wood of the cross thus grown. Here's a picture of it from my visit there last week.

Green Christ, or Dead Adam, Sampford Courtenay, Devon