Elise Creations & Passions

Monday, April 29, 2024

Squills

Siberian Squills

(Scilla siberica) is one of the earliest spring bulbs to come to flower. They originate from Russia, Turkey and the Caucasus, and is widely cultivated for its dark blue flowers.

Siberian Squills

Bunny in a field of Siberian Squills.

Striped squills

also known as Puschkinia scilloides, or Lebanon squill, is a perennial bulb that originated in Asia Minor, Lebanon, and the Caucasus. A member of the Asparagaceae (asparagus family), this small relative of the hyacinth also blooms in spring.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.
MY PHOTOGRAPHS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE THROUGH ELISECREATIONS.NET

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Spring Woodland Flowers

Purple Hepatica
Spring Woodland Flowers
in Essex, Vt.
Liver leaf. Extracts or decoctions made from the leaves have been used in herbal medicine for the treatment of liver ailments, gallbladder ailments and digestive disorders, and to treat coughing and bronchitis. Although poisonous in large doses, the leaves and flowers may be used as an astringent, as a demulcent for slow-healing injuries, and as a diuretic.

Purple and White Hepatica

Lavender Hepatica

White Hepatica

Siberian Squills And A Bunny

Trout Lily In Bloom
and a Trillium about to open.
Erythronium americanum Ker Gawl. Yellow Trout-lily, American Trout-lily, Eastern Trout-lily, Yellow Dogtooth Violet, Adder's Tongue. Liliaceae (Lily Family)

Recognized by its brown-mottled leaves, this is one of our most common spring wildflowers, found in sizable colonies. The name Trout Lily refers to the similarity between the leaf markings and those of the brown or brook trout. The flower blooms in early spring. The solitary, yellow, nodding flower has six petals. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). Trout Lily is both medicinal and edible. The leaves have a very mild flavour and the flowers have a slight sweetness due to their nectar and are also slightly acrid. The corms are edible as well and have a cucumber-like taste. Trout lilies are an emetic (makes you throw up), therefore it is recommended not to eat mass quantities of these in one day. You can add this plant to a salad or eat them as a trail snack. You can also make a tea with the flower, leaves or corm (or all). Corms can be roasted. Please forage responsibly.

Bluets
Houstonia caerulea L.
Azure Bluet, Quaker Ladies, Bluets
The Cherokee used an infusion of little bluet as a cure for bedwetting.

Bluets

Early Blue Cohosh
Caulophyllum Giganteum
Bellwort 
LARGEFLOWER BELLWORT 
(UVULARIA GRANDIFLORA)
With a common name of great merrybells or large-flowered bellwort, Merrybells ,or Big merrybells.
Wild Oats, Bellwort
Uvularia sessilifolia
Spreading Bellwort, Large Leaf Bellwort, Straw Lily, Wild Oats, Merrybells, Sessile-leaf Bellwort, Sessile Bellwort, mountain bellwort,
At one time these plants were thought to be good for treating throat diseases because the drooping flowers resembled the uvula which hangs into the throat from the soft palate.
The root is used as a poultice or salve in the treatment of boils, wounds and ulcers. A tea made from the roots is used in the treatment of coughs, sore mouths and throats, inflamed gums and snakebites. Young leaves can be eaten as cooked greens. It is considered endangered.
Spring Beauty
Claytonia virginica
This plant can be found in rich open woods, forests, alluvial thickets and in some wetlands. This early spring wildflower is found mostly in eastern North America.
It has edible parts. The small roots which remind people of tiny potatoes, hence the nickname “Fairy Spuds”, can be consumed raw or cooked like potatoes and are rich in starch with a pleasant nutty flavor. The mildly flavored leaves and stems can be eaten raw or cooked. 
Some medicinal uses have included using powdered corms to treat convulsions and as a contraception. Some species of spring beauty have been used by various Indian tribes to make poultices to treat eye problems and as an infusion to treat sore throats, dandruff, and urinary tract problems.
Spring Beauties

Magic In The Forest 
Chipmunk Playing Amongst The Trilliums
Chipmunks are small striped squirrels native to North America and Asia. Chipmunks have also been referred to as striped squirrels, timber tigers, or minibears. Squirrels and chipmunks are both members of the squirrel family – Sciuridae. The great white trillium is an herbaceous, long-lived, woodland, perennial wildflower with a broad distribution in eastern North America. Trillium literally means "three-parted lily. The flower often symbolizes purity, beauty or recovery.
 Dutchman's Breeches
Dicentra cucullaria
With white flowers, that resemble upside-down pantaloons or breeches, on a leafless stalk, above feathery fern-like leaves, this forest plant prefers dappled sunlight of woodlands especially along gentle slopes, ravines, or ledges along streams. It's one of the earlier wildflowers to bloom. Dutchman's breeches is one of many plants whose seeds are spread by ants, who take the seeds to their nest, where they eat the elaiosomes, and put the seeds in their nest debris, where they are protected until they germinate. They also get the added bonus of growing in a medium made richer by the ant nest debris.
The Virginia waterleaf has deeply-lobed leaves. When young, some of the leaves have white, watermark-like markings; these markings disappear as the plant matures and the leaves turn darker green. White to dark violet, bell-shaped, flowers occur in clusters. They have five petals, five hairy sepals, and five long-stalked, hairy stamens.They tend to bloom anywhere from mid to late spring.
The Virginia waterleaf is not a well-known edible yet when young it tastes pleasant. Virginia waterleaf was once used to help with several minor health ailments. The chewed root, or decoction was used for dry lips and sore mouths.
Variegated Periwinkle
Vinca minor
The flowers of the garden periwinkle are the inspiration of the lavender blue color name periwinkle, and this viney shrub is a popular and attractive ground cover with numerous cultivars, flower colours and variegated foliage. I particularly like the variations of greens in the leaves of this variety. Periwinkle has been used in the tradition medicine of many cultures and peoples worldwide including Europe, China, India and the Pacific and Caribbean Islands. In the Caribbean, practitioners of voodoo magic sew Periwinkle leaves into the mattress to keep husband and wife forever in love, and the home peaceful. They are sometimes mixed with magnolia leaves, which also have a reputation of promoting faithfulness in love. The blue flowers of periwinkle are symbolic of spiritual peace and harmony. The well-known Periwinkles - both Greater (vinca major) and Lesser (vinca minor) are familiar plants of our woods and gardens. This is the species more generally used in herbal medicine, as an astringent and tonic, in menorrhagia and in hemorrhages, also as a laxative, and gargle. Made into an ointment, useful for piles and inflammatory conditions of the skin. Lesser Periwinkle (Vinca minor) is employed in homeopathy for preparation of a tincture used for hemorrhages. 

White Trillium with a hint of pink.

Red Trillium

Spring Woodland Flowers. Four types of trilliums grow in Vermont; White trillium, Painted trillium, Nodding trillium, and Red Trillium. It takes 2 years for a trillium seed to send out its first leaf. Trillium seeds are primarily dispersed by Ants. Maroon trillium goes by many names, like Wake-robin or Stinking Benjamin.

Red Trillium

The red wakerobin trillium (Trillium erectum) can be found in deciduous forests throughout New England. Although the blooms often sport this stunning crimson hue, some populations have white, yellow-green, or paler red flowers. Their less-than-lovely scent attracts carrion flies, which act as pollinators. The name “wake-robin” stems from the flowers’ tendency to blossom around the time robins return from their winter range. “Trillium” is connected to the Latin words tri (three) and lilium (lily), because the plant’s leaves, petals, and sepals all come in threes.

Bloodroot

(Sanguinaria canadensis). Bloodroot's name is derived from the color of the reddish roots. The red juice from the root is used externally in pastes and salves to remove warts, skin tags, and some skin cancers, and it has shown anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. Sustainable cultivation of S. canadensis is incredibly important as demand for the plant increases, but almost all Bloodroot sold commercially is wild harvested. Please make sure all Bloodroot you acquire has been cultivated, or use alternative medicinal species. Should be used with caution.

Bloodroot

I love the unusual shape of the leaves.

Wild Ginger

(Asarum canadense L.)
Canada wild ginger is found in rich, moist forests in much of New England. This early spring wildflower not realizing that it has an interesting and peculiar flower underneath the canopy of its heart-shaped leaves. It is unrelated to the ginger commonly used in cooking, but the root has a strong, ginger-like flavor. Native Americans used it in cooking and to treat a wide variety of maladies, including coughs, colds, stomach pains, and poor digestion. Fresh or dried roots were used by early Americans as a ginger substitute, but the plant is not normally used today for culinary purposes. However, be aware that the plants may contain toxic compounds and consumption of the plant is highly discouraged.

Celandine

Greater celandine is a perennial plant belonging to the poppy family (Papaveraceae). The whole plant is utilized in herbal medicine. The word celandine is a corruption of the Greek word Chelidon, which translates as "a swallow". This refers to the tradition of Chelidonium, which says that the herb blooms when the swallows arrive, and fades when they depart.

Hellebore Transformation, 
This is what a white Hellebore looks like as it's changing to go to seed. Hellebore is native to much of Europe and is commonly found in early spring and shade gardens in North America as well. Hellebores look like members of the rose family but they are actually members of the buttercup family.
Soloman's Seal In bloom. 
I love the shapes of the flowers, leaves, and the whole plant. I even love the nutty smell of the oil and tincture I make from the root. A good use for the extra one's growing in my garden. Culinary Uses (root & young shoots only.) Indigenous cultures of North America consumed the starchy rhizomes of Solomon's seal as a potato-like food to make breads and soups. The young shoots are also edible, raw or boiled for an asparagus-like food. Solomon's Seal has been used for centuries to heal wounds, repair damaged tissue, bruises, and knit broken bones; relieve dry coughs and tuberculosis; treat chronic dysentery, diarrhea and hemorrhoids.

Skunk Cabbage

This is not flowering, but is a spring flowering plant that I haven't caught flowering, yet.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISITS, FAVS AND COMMENTS. AS ALWAYS, APPRECIATED VERY MUCH!

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY ELISE T. MARKS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS IMAGE ON WEBSITES, BLOGS OR ANY OTHER MEDIA WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT WRITTEN PERMISSION.
MY PHOTOGRAPHS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE THROUGH ELISECREATIONS.NET

My blog is meant to inform and I strive to be totally accurate. It is solely up to the reader to ensure proper plant identification. Some wild plants are poisonous or can have serious adverse health effects.

Sustainable Ramp Harvesting

For a brief time in spring, ramps, or wild garlic, or wild leeks, can be foraged in the woods. I only pick aa few that I can cook up and eat. And I only pick a few leaves from one patch here, a few leaves from one patch there, and so on. We don’t ever want the ramps to be over picked. We don’t dig up the bulb, either, as we just need the tender stalk and leaves for the flavor and vitamins in sautéed dishes or pesto or soup. I even cut up a few to dry and save to add flavor to my winter soups (just like I do with chives from my garden).

What is a sustainable ramp harvest? Thank you @unitedplantsavers

Please share far and wide!

~leaves only
~no bulbs, folks!
~one leaf per plant
~from plants with 2+ leaves
~from an abundant population
~you have permission to harvest
~harvest only what you will use
~tread lightly—plants will thank ya
~it should look like you weren’t there
~plant ramp seeds in the fall
~bulbs from @ruralaction in spring
~educate others to do the same

If you love ramps, leave them in the ground! Did you know it takes one plant SEVEN years to reach reproductive maturity? Every bulb you dig is cutting short the life of the patch. It’s okay if you didn’t know before—share your newfound knowledge with others to prevent overharvest in your area.

Ramps (Allium tricoccum) are on United Plant Savers To-Watch Species List due to their status as a threatened native medicinal plant.

Over-harvest and poaching has decimated local populations to meet the demands of rising culinary popularity in big cities, annual ramp festivals across the eastern U.S., and surging local popularity among foragers and wildcrafters. When you see ramps for sale at the farmers market ask the seller how they source them. Don’t buy ramps that aren’t sustainably sourced or that are harvested with bulbs. Replant fresh bulbs with rootlets!

Bottom line, don’t harvest ramps unless you know what you’re doing. If not, leave ‘em alone. It shouldn’t look like you’ve been there at all. A modest leaf-only harvest ensures the patch is viable for years to come. I promise your ramp pesto will taste the same with leaves instead of bulbs—leaves are where the flavor is, folks.

For more information on ramps and sustainable forest farming visit unitedplantsavers.org.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CcI93rUryfF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Becoming a responsible wildcrafter sometimes means not harvesting a plant if the population simply cannot support that impact and sustain itself, or whenever you are not sure what the impact of harvesting could be. This is why it’s so important to study foraging with a mentor or reputable school and to make sure you’re aware of sustainable guidelines before you start harvesting.

My blog is meant to inform and I strive to be totally accurate. It is solely up to the reader to ensure proper plant identification. Some wild plants are poisonous or can have serious adverse health effects.

Monday, April 22, 2024

Coltsfoot

(Tussilago farfara), is a common dirt road, roadside plant. Some of the first spring blooming flowers, it has blossoms before there are leaves. Cough remedies can be made from coltsfoot flowers. The leaves of this low-growing perennial act as a bronchial decongestant and expectorant, and also help the respiratory tract and reduce lung-tissue inflammation, making it a useful remedy for allergy-induced asthma.

My photographs are available for purchase through EliseCreations.net

Thanks for your visits, favs and comments. As always, appreciated very much!

Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.