Fern Leaf False Foxglove

This is one of the False Foxgloves. It is easier to distinguish from the others because it grows in a more bushy form and its leaves are fern like. If you click on the photo you will see down one side of the photo a rather small and out of focus leaf that illustrates this. You will always find the False Foxglove growing near Oak trees because they are partially parasitic. They attach their roots to the roots of the Oak, and reap some benefit from the tree. I did not find any information going into detail about this. The word false, in the name of the flower does not reflect on its ability to be honest.... it is just to distinguish it from the cultivated Foxgloves which contain digitalis. It is listed on the endangered species list for New Hampshire on a N. H. government site, but when I looked on the Massachusetts endangered species list, which shows all the New England states,  it is listed Present in New Hampshire....... It is considered of special concern in the state of Maine. This is my 205th wild flower that I have identified. It is always exciting to find a new flower that I have not seen before. Of course the first year and even the second year of my searches I would always find new flowers.... but this third year is mostly finding flowers I have seen before. A new flower is the           " frosting on the cake " so to speak. Yahoo!

Where I found it : growing on the side of the road

P.S. If you click on the photo you will see the two orange stripes that travel down the inside of the flower. Many believe these are there to guide the insect visitors right to the nectar source .... sort of like a marked off landing strip.  When I was photographing these flowers ...I came in close with my camera and was surprised to see a very black center to the flower. It was actually a bumble sort of bee who went right down inside the flower and  then had to awkwardly back its big black bumble bee bum out of the flower. Very entertaining,

Bull Thistle

The Bull Thistle is one of the most prickly and one of the tallest of the Thistles.Its name may come from the Saxon word, " to stab". It is a food source for butterflies and bees and also birds like the Gold Finch. The thistle down is used also by the Gold Finch in the making of their nests. Historically .... it has been around for a long time.... In Genesis, Thistles are mentioned in the curse put on the land when Adam and Eves disobeyed God. The Thistle is the national emblem of  Scotland. During the Middle Ages the  Scots were at war with the Norsemen. The legend says that thistles saved the        Scots from being slaughtered by the Norsemen. One night the Norsemen came ashore and removed their boots to sneak up on the sleeping  Scots. One Norsemen stepped on a Thistle and cried out in pain. This woke the  Scots and they drove the Norsemen from their land. Once again the humble flower has played such an important part in the lives of man and beast.

Where I found it :  In the back field

Cardinal Flower

 Once again I bring you an update on the Cardinal Flower ... this is especially for those of us who live in Massachucetts or New England. I wrote earlier that the Cardinal Flower is an endangered species, and I found that information on the internet..... but I was't finding it in official places, like goverment sites. So once again I emailed the Hitchcock Center in Amherst to inquire about the conficting information and Ted, the resident botanist, emailed me back to say the following...

There were some archaic laws on the books in Mass that protected certain plant species, including the pink land's slipper, mayflower and cardinal flower.  However these species were listed based on their pretty-ness and not the status of their population in the state.  My understanding is that these laws became obsolete when the Mass endangered species law was passed.

Such good news, but I still wouldn't go about picking these beauties. I think even the Cardinals (birds) would stop and admire the color of this flower.

Live Forever

 A first century Roman naturalist named Pliny wrote that you could use the juice from this flower to treat wounds. The name Live Forever comes from the fact  that it can establish new growth from nearly any part of the plant. If you chop up  the plant,  it can start new grow from any of these fragments. You can even separate the front of the leaves from the back of the leaves to create a little purse. This is where the common names Balloon Purses and Witches Moneybags comes from.

Where I found it : in a field

Cardinal Flower

For any of you who find the Cardinal Flower as stunning as I do..... I have an update. Remember I wrote that I was hoping to find more than one growing in its quiet and protected location this year. When I went a to check on it I was disappointed to find just one growing in the location again. But, the friend that showed me this location went back to check to see if anymore came up and she called last night to say that there was another one. That makes two.  I returned to photograph the boost in the Cardinal Flower population. To the right are photos of the two different flowers. Maybe next year there will be three. Yahooooo!

Where I found it : Its a secret

Ground Nut

This flowering vine has one of the most aromatic flowers in the flower kingdom.... it has what some say is the scent of a Violet. The name, Groundnut,  refers to a pear shaped tuber that grows on underground shoots. They can be boiled, or fried, the same way a potato is   prepared for comsumption, and the Groundnut has three or four times more protein than the potato. Henry David Thoreau turned to digging up Groundnuts to supplement his failed potato crop. The Indians taught the Plymouth pilgrims about them, and the pilgrims used them to survive the first winter in Massachusetts. It is always such an adventure searching for flowers ... and not just in the woods. Sometimes the discovery is in a book or on the Internet. Just a few minutes ago I was searching on line to see if there was anything of interest about the Groundnut and I found an article by a Prof. of Biology at the University of Massachusetts. In it he talked about how someday the Groundnut could be a future food source and that in the near and distant future we maybe able to buy them in the grocery store. He went on to say that until then we would have to dig them up ourselves. At this point in his article he said, which surprised me, ........" but be careful in  Southampton,  Ma., they take their groundnut seriously!"  I live in  Southampton, Ma. and I am wondering what he meant by that............

Where I found it : near a river bed......

Great Lobelia

Linnaeus named the group of Lobelias after Matthias de L'Obel an herbalist or botanist who became an attending doctor to King James the First of England. It is on the endangered species list in Massachusetts, and I read that it has pretty much disappeared from Maine.... so sad. I found these beauties with no knowledge of their status. It is both exciting and sad to know that you have just seen a flower that is rare. Let me introduce you to this flower ... it is the twin sister of the Cardinal flower. The Cardinal Flower, and the Great Lobelia, and also Indian Tobacco are all Lobelias. This beautiful blue flower is named Lobelia Siphilitica, which lets you know that it was once used in treating syphilis. American Indians used it in many medicinal ways from cough medicine to nosebleeds.

Where I found it : on the side of the road

Indian Tobacco another Lobelia

This light blue flower is related to the Cardinal Flower. If you look back two entries on the blog you will see the Cardinal Flower. You can click on the images and you will be able to see more closely how they are similar. Though it is called Indian Tobacco and it is assumed because of the name that Indians smoked it, several sources stated that this may not be true. It is thought that it was called, in earlier times, Wild Tobacco, and as time went on it was just assumed that it being called Tobacco and Wild that the American Indians did what you do with tobacco ... they smoked it. But there is no historical evidence to back that up.  It is suppose to have a nicotine sort of effect if you chew the leaves. Everyone from quacks, physicians and many tribes in New England have used this plant for medicinal concoctions. The American Indians have also used it to scare off ghosts and even heal marriages. They believed it to have magical powers.


Where I found it : On the path into the woods




 

Jewel Weed or Touch Me Not

The name Jewel Weed, some think, comes from the fact that the flower hangs from the stem the way a dangling jeweled earring hangs from an ear lobe. Others, think it may be because of the way water beads up in such a pretty way at the edges of the leaves, like jewels. ( click on the photo to see the droplets on the leaves) The name,Touch Me Not, comes from the the way seed pods explode when touched. They are a late summer treat for children. Just one touch causes the mature seed pod to spiral like a cork screw and this sends the seeds flying out four or five feet. The scientific name is not such a good fit. Impaiens Capensis, translates, at least partially, as "of the Cape of Good Hope". Mr. Meerburgh, in 1775, thought that the flower which had been introduced to European gardens was from the tip of Africa and thus named it. He had no idea that it was native to North America. And, because the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature does not allow changes in the name on the grounds that it is inappropriate, the name remains inappropriate.

Where I found it :  on a patch of wet land at the back of the field

Cardinal Flower

This has got to be one of our most beautiful New England wild flowers. Did you know it has a twin sister? The Great Blue Lobelia is the sister plant.  Rodger Tory Peterson called the Cardinal Flower.... " America's Favorite " flower. John Burroughs ( one of the fathers of the U. S. Conservation Movement )  said, " It is not so much  something colored as color itself. "  Unfortunately the numbers of Cardinal Flowers have been dropping in the North East. It is on the Endangered Species list in Massachusetts. Last year was when I saw my first one. A friend spotted one on a walk and later showed me its secret hiding place. This year I hoped to see a few more added to its number.... but again this year there is only one.  Hummingbirds are the chief pollinators of the Cardinal Flower and here in lies part of the problem with the scarcity of the flower. It is a " Catch 22 " situation. Are the Hummingbird numbers dropping in the North East because there are fewer and fewer Cardinal Flowers, or are there fewer Cardinal Flowers because the number of Hummingbirds in the N. E. keep dropping?  Of course over picking in the past and destruction of the wet lands in the N. E. are also part of the equation. Well, lets hope they return to us in great numbers. They are such a treat to see.

Where I found it : its a secret

Jimson Weed

American Indians called this Jamestown Weed, which is where it is thought that those colonist may have brought it for its medicinal uses. It contains an alkaloid, that at the time was more valued than opium, which was used to make morphine. Gypsies are also known to have carried it with them where ever they traveled, though, often what I read of the Gypsies can be a little slanted. But, I guess if it is possible that the colonists were bringing it with them, then it is not so far fetched that Gypsies might carry it also. On another note, amazingly enough .... I even discovered that in a Batman comic book Jimson Weed ends up being and important clue.
Detective Comics #619 “Rite of Passage, Part Two: Beyond Belief”
Alan Grant, writer
Norm Breyfogle, penciler
Published August 1990
Tim Drake’s parent’s have been kidnapped and a mysterious tape sent to the Gotham Police demanding a ransom. Batman notices a faint odor on the tape and uses it to help track down the criminals.

Sherlock Holmes once suggested a man needs to recognize at least 75 perfumes before he can even begin to call himself a detective.

I could double that on herbs alone.

It’s Jimsonweed. Thornapple. Central American plant. Many medical uses.

That is just too funny! Batman is correct, Jimson weed does have a rather rank odor. It is probably why we don't see it in flower gardens. Jimson Weed is just another example that the flower world is really a part of our culture ... whether it is Georgia O'Keefe or Batman, drug world or flower arranging, and even Kings or world leaders picking a flower as their emblem. The modern world seems very removed from the plant world but in reality we are still very closely involved... of course some closer than others.

Where I found it: at the back of my garden

Joe Pye

An American Indian, that went by the name Joe Pye, is said to have been a  "Yarb man". Yarb man is what early New Englanders would have called a medicine man. I read that  Joe Pye is known as a folk tale hero and other accounts that he was a real person..... My guess is that he must have been both because so few of our flower's common names are named after American Indians. That alone makes me think that there must have been a Joe Pye. He used plants for his medicines, and the plant that now has his name is said to have been used by him to treat typhoid fever. The scientific name is also attached to bigger than life story of a man that lived from 120 B.C. to 63 B.C., and is known by some as the first immunologist..... but that is another story.... I think one of the most interesting roles this plant may have played in our history is that it may have poisoned and killed Abraham Lincoln's mother, and thousands of other early settlers. Cows will eat the Joe Pye plant when other food is in short supply, and the Joe Pye poison would taint the milk. Today cows still may partake of the Joe Pye leaves but our milk is processed with so much other milk that would not have any of the Joe Pye toxins in it that we are not in danger of dying as Nancy Hanks Lincoln did.
On another note, if you click on this photo it will give you an enlarged version and you will notice that a Honey Bee chose this Joe Pye as its last resting place. A bitter, sweet touch.

Where I found it : at the back of the field where there are a few springs.

P.S. I think I mentioned in one of the last blog entries that it is butterfly season in New England. This plant grows so that where there is one, there are many.... and on a sunny day if you are out and about, go by a stand of Joe Pye and watch the simply choreographed ballet of butterflies dancing in and out, up and down, and all about the Joe Pye. It is a true butterfly food source.