Catmint Pollination

 Catmint Pollination. 

I know it looks like lavender, but it's not. Some people harvest catmint leaves to use as a culinary herb similar to mint.

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Disclaimer

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.

Dame's Rocket

 

Dame's Rocket attracting A Butterfly with it's delicious ­­­­­­fra­grance­. Also known as Dame’s or sweet rocket, dame’s or damask violet, rogue’s or queen’s gilliflower, vesper flower, mother-of-the-evening. It grows in purple or white. Dame’s rocket is a food source for caterpillars and a nectar source for butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. Many people enjoy eating young dame’s rocket leaves in salads for their bitter tang, similar to arugula. The sprouted seeds, are also edible. In the Victorian “language of flowers”, dame’s rocket symbolized deceit because it is fragrant in the evening but scentless, or nearly so, during the day. Dame’s rocket has been used medicinally to induce sweating, promote urination, and loosen a cough.

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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.

Disclaimer

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 and mushrooms are poisonous or can have serious adverse health effects.

Jack In The Pulpit

 Jack In The Pulpit

  Jack In The Pulpit

  Jack In The Pulpit

  Jack In The Pulpit

Jack In The Pulpit

 Jack In The Pulpit

Arisaema triphyllum

(jack-in-the-pulpit, bog onion, brown dragon, Indian turnip, American wake robin, or wild turnip)

It is native to eastern North America, occurring in moist woodlands and thickets.

Also commonly called Indian turnip, it's a shade requiring species found in rich, moist, deciduous woods and floodplains and is a long lived perennial (25+ years).

Jack-in-the pulpit is pollinated by small flies and flowers from March through June depending on locale. The flower is an unusual green and maroon striped spathe surrounding a fleshy, maroon-colored spadix that bears the tiny, embedded flowers. In the fall, bright red berries appear, which have the consistency of a ripe tomato, and are an attractive food source for birds such as thrushes, rodents, etc. Each berry contains 1 to 5 seeds. 

While Jack-in-the-pulpit has both male and female plants, they can change gender from year to year, apparently in response to successful (or failed) reproduction the previous year. Males resprout from an underground corm that can last several seasons, the corm sending off shoots and producing new plants as well. Males tend to be smaller than females and have a small hole at the bottom of the spathe which allows pollinators to escape (with their pollen) more easily. Female plants lack the hole and pollinators are more likely to become trapped, better ensuring successful pollination.

Consumption of the raw plant material results in a powerful burning sensation. It can cause irritation of the mouth and digestive system, and on rare occasions the swelling of the mouth and throat may be severe enough to affect breathing. Leaves and fruits contain calcium oxalate that can irritate the skin so it is important to wear gloves when handling.

If the plant is properly dried or cooked it can be eaten as a root vegetable.

Preparations of the root were used by Native Americans as a treatment for sore eyes, to treat rheumatism, bronchitis, and snakebites, as well as to induce sterility.

Jack In The Pulpit Berries

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Disclaimer

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.

Daisy Fleabane

Daisy Fleabane

Erigeron annuus, also known as Eastern Daisy Fleabane (Annual Fleabane), Culpepper wrote that the name is due to the seeds of the fleabanes which are as small as fleas. They come in white or pink and most years I've only seen white. Only the leaves are edible. They are hairy, so this texture makes eating them raw unpleasant. They can be used wherever you cook with greens. Fleabane is a common medicinal wildflower. It has been used medicinally for Respiratory, cough with mucous discharge, Digestion, Lack of appetite, diarrhea, Kidneys and Bladder problems, menstrual problems, childbirth, postpartum bleeding, coughs, hemorrhages, eye sight and even as a poison ivy remedy.

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Disclaimer

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.

Tulip Delight

 Tulips

One of my favorite signs of spring, and they come in so many colors. The tulip is a member of the Liliaceae (lily) family. Tulips actually came from the Central Asia where they grew wild over a great territory in Asia Minor through Siberia to China. Turkish growers first cultivated and hybridized tulips as early as 1,000 AD., and Historically, Europe considered Tulips as the symbol of the Ottoman Empire. There are now over 3,000 different registered varieties of cultivated Tulips. Every year billions of Tulips are cultivated, a majority of which are grown and exported from Holland.

  Tulips

  Tulips

 Tulips

I love this lavender colored tulip.

As a member of the Lily family, Tulips are edible but not particularly medicinal. The same flowers that were valued so highly by the Dutch in the 1600s became emergency food rations for the country during World War II because the starchy bulb provides a surprising amount of calories. The petals are also edible, leading to dishes with stuffed Tulip blossoms.

Tulips With Mini Daffodils

Unusual Color Combos

My New Favorite Color Of Tulips

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Marsh Marigold

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) is also known as Caltha Cowslip, cowslip, cowflock, or kingcup. It is not really a marigold at all, rather a member of the Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae). marsh marigold is a plant of wet places such as marshes, fens, ditches, wet woods, swamps. The flowers offer pollen and nectar to insects, and are most commonly pollinated by hoverflies (Syrphidae).

While parts of the plant are used medicinally, handling the plant can cause skin irritation, and uncooked parts are toxic to human consumption. Cattle and horses are also poisoned by consuming marsh marigold, although dried plants in hay are no longer toxic to them.

My photographs are available for purchase through EliseCreations.net

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.

Disclaimer

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 and mushrooms are poisonous or can have serious adverse health effects.

Geese

A Beautiful Family Of Canada Geese

I was so thrilled when they swam up near me.

                            Another Family Of Canadian Geese

                       There are 3 other babies hiding in the grass.

Geese On A River

Geese Returning At The End Of Winter

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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.