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.