I’ll be working in the garden.

I may not have any posts for the next few days.  I’m too old to keep up with my job, garden, photography and blogging.  It seems that the most important thing right now is my new granddaughter.  Norah Grace was born April 1st.  She was 4 weeks early – but she is catching up fast.  she is now over 8 pounds and eating quite well.

She is the beautiful flower that I’ll be concentrating on in my spare time.

Keep checking in ——  I’ll get more photos posted to Flickr and work on some posts for the blog n the next couple of days.

Garlic Mustard – Alliaria petiolata

Thers are a lot of these plants in our local woods. Garlic Mustard Alliaria petiolata was brought to the United States in as a culinary herb in the 1860′s. Since that time it has escaped from the garden to grow wild in much of the U.S.A.  In Ohio it has become very invasive and is choking out the native wildflowers that can not compete with its vigor.

Unlike most other invasive plants, once it has an introduction into a new location, it persists and spreads into undisturbed plant communities. In many areas of its introduction in Eastern North America, it has become the dominant under-story species in woodland and flood plain environments, where eradication is difficult. The insects and fungi that feed on it in its native habitat are not present in North America, increasing its seed productivity and allowing it to out-compete native plants.
In Europe, where it is native, there are many insects and fungi that eat, attack and live on this plant. Therefore it does not become invasive. A number of states in the U.S. have listed it as a noxious or restricted plant.

The leaves, flowers and fruit are edible as food for humans, and are best when young. They taste like a combination of both garlic and mustard, and are used in salads and pesto. Many find the leaves very acrid. When I have tasted them they were rather mild. They were once used as medicine.

I may update this again later – but that’s it for now.

Marsh marigold

Marsh Marigold – Caltha palustris

This is probably one of the showiest of all of the early blooming wildflowers. It is found in marshy areas and wet woods. It has 5 large bright yellow sepals (no petals), many yellow stamens The flowers are about 1 and 1/2 inches across. It forms loose clumps of large kidney or heart shaped waxy leaves, with hollow branching stems 12 to 18 inches tall. It is also known as Kingcup (especially in Great Brittan). The scientific name, Caltha palustris, comes from Caltha, from the Latin, “cup” — palustris, from the Latin, paluster, “boggy, marshy” It is from the order of Ranunculales, which includes the Buttercups.

The flowers are visited by a great variety of insects for pollen and for the nectar secreted from small depressions, one on each side of each carpel. Carpels form into green sac-like follicles to 1cm long, each opening to release several seeds. It flowers early April and is very valuable to insects at this time as they provide nectar and pollen to them.

As a medicinal herb the marsh marigold has been used in treating warts, dropsy, and anemia. It is also said to have expectorant and pectoral properties that made it a valuable ingredient in cough remedies. It is quite delicious and nutritious as a boiled green. The uncooked flower and greens, however, are quite pungent and acrid in taste. They contain a poisonous glucoside which is expelled by boiling. The dark green leaves contain high amounts of vitamins C and A. the leaves are also quite high in iron.

It appears that the only safe use for the marsh marigold in its raw state is as a home remedy for warts. A drop of the caustic juice is squeezed from the leaf or stem of the plant onto the wart every day until it disappears. Does it work – who knows! Often warts, especially on children, come and go for no apparent reason.

Marsh marigold was once used for the treatments of ‘fits’. This was the term used for some convulsive disorders that we now generally lump together under the term epilepsy. It was apparently used successfully for ‘fits’ in both children and adults. Dr. Withering, the famous English physician of the 18th century was responsible for lifting digitalis from old wives’ herbal remedies to an important medicine that is still used today, also experimented with the marsh marigold for treatments.
He suggested this strange use:

“It would appear that medicinal properties may be evolved in the gaseous exhalations of plants and flowers, for one large quantity of the flowers of Meadow Routs (a common English name for the marsh marigold at the time) being put into the bedroom of a girl who had been subject to fits, the fits ceased.”

Euell Gibbons suggests that the unopened flower buds of the marsh marigold make an excellent Marsh Marigold Condiment-Pickle that can be used like capers. It is as follows:
Gather only the still-tightly-closed buds from the marsh marigold. Wash them, then cover them with boiling water. Bring the water back to a boil, and immediately drain them. Add more boiling water and repeat the process. Drain the buds well and put them into a pint jar. In a saucepan combine 1 cup of vinegar, 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 cup of sugar, a tablespoon of salt, a teaspoon of mustard seeds, and a teaspoon of celery seeds. Boil this mixture for 10 minutes. Pour the boiling mixture ofer the buds, seal the jar. let them set for a month. Then use the buds as you would capers, and discard the liquid.

Trillium Sessile – Wake Robin – Toadshade

Trillium sessile

This is another trillium found in Ohio and other states of the northeast and central U.S..  Generally, I find very few of these flowers on my stomps through the nearby woods.  This year I was amazed to see very large numbers of these short maroon-red flowers.

This is a perennial spring wildflower that blooms several weeks earlier than the large white trillium. It is a small trillium (generally not over 5 inches tall).  This trillium is sometimes given the name of toadshade because it is short and has a bad smelling flower.  It displays a single reddish, stalkless, flower nestled in the middle of its three, usually mottled leaves. The three maroon petals, maintain a “closed” posture and never fully open.  Its species name comes from the Latin word sessilis which means low sitting, and refers to its stalkless flower.

Because the flower blooms so early here in northeast Ohio and the weather is generally quite cool here — my nose is stuffed or running and I don’t smell the aroma of dead animal tissue.  Fortunately, the beetles and flies are attracted to the odor and serve to pollinate the flowers.

It is a clump-forming plant with stems arising from thick, underground rhizomes which will spread slowly if left undisturbed. Foliage will usually die to the ground by mid-summer. It is a classic spring-blooming, woodland wildflower. It is quite beautiful when massed in a shaded woodland garden, naturalized area or wildflower garden and mixes well with other spring wildflowers and ferns.This flower does not transplant well and should not be dug in the wild. Although I have found it blooming abundantly here in our woods this year it is threatened in Michigan and endangered in New York.

The plant is supposedly edible, but only in an emergency. Naturally it is too rare to be eaten in most areas and  the entire plant, and especially the root is known to induce vomiting.  A poultice of the bruised leaves and crushed roots has been applied as a treatment for boils.

Trillium grandiflorum

Trillium grandiflorum – large white trillium – Wake Robin- Birth root

This is one of the most striking Spring wildflowers in the Ohio woods.  It is hard to miss this when it is in bloom in April and early May. In 1986, the Ohio General Assembly made the white trillium Ohio’s official wildflower. The white trillium is also known as the wake robin, the snow trillium, the great white trillium, or the large white trillium. The General Assembly selected this flower because it exists in all of Ohio’s eighty-eight counties.

 

The name trillium comes from the Latin word tres, meaning three. The flower’s parts are found in sets of three – three petals, three sepals and three large leaves. Trilliums are also called wake robins, which suggest that their flowering signals the robins’ waking in spring, an idea consistent with eighteenth-century beliefs that northern birds hibernated.

Trilliums are perennials which sprout each season from small (two to three centimeters) deeply buried, irregularly shaped rhizomes. Like all spring woodland flowers, their early growth takes advantage of spring’s abundant sunshine before forest trees leaf out. During this brief time in the sun, the trillium must create enough energy for growth, flowering and seed development, as well as store sufficient energy in the rhizome for next season’s start. 

All trilliums are favorite food for deers.  The white trillium in their most favorite. Like many forest perennials, Trillium grandiflorum is a slow growing plant. Their seeds require double dormancy, meaning they take at least two years to fully germinate. Like most species of Trillium, flowering age is determined largely by the surface of the leaf and volume of the rhizome the plant has reached instead of age alone. They only receive the sun they need for energy in early spring – before the leaves of the trees shade them from the energy of the sun. Because growth is very slow in nature, it often takes seven to ten years in optimal conditions to reach flowering size. Browsing by deer and picking the flowers and the leaves will setback the flowering of the plants for years.

 

Trillium is one of many plants whose seeds are spread by ants and mice. Trillium seeds have a fleshy organ called an elaiosome that attracts ants. The ants take the seeds to their nest, where they eat the elaiosomes and put the seeds in their garbage, where they can be protected until they germinate. They also get the added bonus of growing in a medium made richer by the ant garbage. This is an example of a plant whose seeds are spread through myrmecochory, or ant-mediated dispersal.

The trillium was used as food and medicine for the Native Americans and the early pioneers.  Today it is not used for food, because it takes so long for the plant to grow and reproduce. The young edible unfolding leaves are an excellent addition to salad tasting somewhat like sunflower seeds. The leaves can also be cooked as a pot herb. The root has been used as an antiseptic, antispasmodic, diuretic, emmenagogue (to promote menstruation), and ophthalmic. The plant contains Tannin, resin, glycosides trillin and trillarin, traces of essential oil, saponin, fatty oil and starch. It has been used externally and internally for female problems, and by the Native Americans as an aid in childbirth — hence it’s common name of Birth Root.

 

As the large white flower ages it turns to pink.

BlogCatalog

Common Chickweed

Most will consider the chickweed a pest. It is a weed that infests many lawns.  Don’t l get out the 2-4-D and poison the lawn to kill it.   Take a closer look.  Give some respect to this  common herb and its tiny flower.  This chickweed was one of the first wildflowers I found blooming   this spring (March 27). It was blooming in the moss on the path I take to the woods.

The common chickweed ,  Stellaria media, is not native to the U.S.. It is probably from Eurasia, but the species is found worldwide. It is found in fields, lawns, waste lands, gardens and woods throughout the United States and most of the world.  You will find it blooming in the Central United states nearly every month.

It is a unique annual  in that it begins growing in the fall, survives the winter (even in the North), starts blooming in the late winter, and often completes its seed production in the Spring.  It gets it  common name of chickweed because young chickens and small birds love it.  They eagerly eat both the leaves and the seeds.

Chickweeds exhibit a very interesting trait, (they sleep) termed the ‘Sleep of Plants,’ every night the leaves fold over the tender buds and the new shoots.   At first it appears to have 10 white petals – but if you look closely at the photo above (or below), you will see that there are only 5 petals – each of the 5 petals are deeply lobed to nearly appear as two petals.

Chickweeds are Medicinal and edible, they are very nutritious, high in vitamins and minerals. They can be added to salads or cooked as a pot herb. When cooked they taste somewhat like spinach. They are also an addition to healthy  ‘green drinks’ that are liquefied in blenders and juicers.

The major plant constituents in Chickweed are Ascorbic-acid, Beta-carotene, Calcium, Coumarins, Genistein, Gamma-linolenic-acid, Flavonoids, Hentriacontanol, Magnesium, Niacin, Oleic-acid, Potassium, Riboflavin, Rutin, Selenium, Triterpenoid saponins, Thiamin, and Zinc.
Chickweed is also listed as a medicinal herb.  It is a demulcent, emollient and a  refrigerant.  It was used as an external poultice for treating boils, inflammation, indolent ulcers, carbuncles, and external abscesses.  The fresh herb was covered with boiling water, then allowed to cool enough to be applied to the affected part.  It was then bound loosely and changed.  The affected area was also bathed frequently in the the water in which the herb had been steeped.  An ointment was also made bybruising the new leaves in fresh lard and applying this to skin irritations.

Flowering Dogwood

Only the second day of this blog – and already I seem to be behind.

Today’s wildflower is well known to all. It is the Flowering Dogwood.  The Cornus florida is a common dogwood in eastern North America.  It is found as far west as Kansas and as far south as Northern Florida.   It is generally found as a secondary canopy in the woods, growing at the edge of the woods or in filtered shade of  larger trees that tower over it.  It is a small tree, growing slowly to a maxium of about 30 feet.  It generally spreads wider than it does tall.  The branches and leaves are oppositely arranged. It is a beautiful tree. Very ornamental with the white flower bracts in the spring and the redfruit cluster in the fall.

This photo does not show the ‘flowers’ actually blooming.  There ia a small greenish yellow cluster of about 20 flowers  in the center of the four  large white brackets. I’m going to see if I can get a photo today or later this week with the flowers blooming.

Today the dogwood is under the attack of a disease.  They are quickly dininishing in numbers.  We live near a woods and had 4 lagre dogwoods in from of our home.  All but one has died, and this will probably be that last year for the remaing tree. The lethal enemy of the flowering  dogwood is anthracnose. It is caused by a fungus, Discula destructiva, dogwood anthracnose has devastated wild flowering dogwood populations in large areas of North America. The disease is relatively recent in origin, first noticed in 1978 with the fungus itself only identified in 1991. This and its subsequent rapid spread throughout much of the eastern half of the continent have led some scientists to suggest that it is not native to North America.

Dogwood anthracnose is generally first identified by light brown spots on leaves. These spots then grow into large splotches occasionally bordered by purple. From the leaves, the disease then moves to the twigs and then, finally, to the main limbs and the trunk which can develop large cankers. It is these cankers which kill the tree. The time between initial infection and death is relatively short, often between two and three years for large trees.  Trees living in less rural areas and bought from uninfected nursert stock can still be successfully grown, but the wild flowering dogwood may soon go the way of the American elm.

Iced buds of the Flowering Dogwood

This is a legend of the dogwood – a beautiful story.  I don’t know the source – but I’ll include the story here.
Legend of The Dogwood Tree Story

Two thousand years ago, few trees in the Middle East were big enough to construct anything. However, one tree was valued above the others for its thick trunk and fine, strong wood.

When the Romans came to rule over Jerusalem, their government used this same timber to build the crosses for executing criminals. A group of workers were assigned to gather wood for the crosses. Before long, every Roman official knew the best wood came from these gatherers of execution wood, so those workers became popular.

One day, the wood gatherers received a special request. An officer of the Roman court came and said, “The King of Jews is to be put to death. Deliver an extra-large cross made from your finest wood.” So, a fresh tree was cut from the forest of the trees with thick trunks and fine, strong wood. An extra-tall (and extra-heavy) cross was quickly made and delivered.

Three days after the death of Jesus of Nazereth, the chief wood gatherer got alarming news. “All of our finest trees are withering!” the messenger whispered. The wood gatherer hurried to the forest and saw that it was true.

Several years later, the chief wood gatherer heard that, every spring, many people visited the old forest that had once made his job so easy. Despite his advancing years, he set out to discover why. He saw the remains of forest, now like a salty bottoms, with only a few trees still standing tall, bare, lifeless and rotting.

But what was this? As he drew closer, his feeble eyes could make out the people walking among thousands of beautiful, flowering bushes. Seeing one of his own workers there, the old man said, “No one could ever make a cross out of this twisted wood. Our finest tree has gone to the dogs!” He noticed the beautiful white flowers, each blossom looking as if it had been burned from the touch of a miniature cross.

There Is A Legend  (another version)

At the time of Crucifixion the dogwood had been the size of the oak and other forest trees. So firm and strong was the tree that it was chosen as the timber for the cross. To be used thus for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the tree, and Jesus nailed upon it, sensed this.
In His gentle pity for all sorrow and suffering Jesus said to the tree:  ” Because of your regret and pity for My suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a cross. Henceforth it shall be slender and bent and twisted and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross–two long and two short petals. And in the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints, brown with rust and stained with red, and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see it will remember.”

Coltsfoot

This is the first post of Wild flowers of Ohio.  Wildflowers don’t care about state borders — so these flowers are found in other areas.  These flowers will also be flowers that have naturalized themselves to the Northeastern Ohio area.  They may not be native to North America.  All the photos on this site are taken by me.  I do hope that you will respect that they are my photos and not use them without my permission.   Tell your friends about this blog and lets keep it busy and friendly.  We may even be able to help each other identify some flowers for each other.

Thanks so much!

Phillip

Coltsfoot
Tussilago farfara -

Coltsfoot is one of the first wild flowers to bloom in the NE Ohio spring. It is not native to Ohio but is naturalized in many places. It is unusual that the flower appears quite sometime before the leaves.  The bright yellow flowers are a harbinger of spring.  The flowers appear for a few brief weeks then disappear – the leaves will appear several weeks later.

It is a herb that is frequently used as a cough remedy – hence its Scientific name Tussilago derived from the Latin tussis, meaning cough.

The hoof shaped leaves that appear after the flowers wither are generally used for the cough remedy. I have a recipe from Ewell Gibbons for cough drops that I once used frequently for coughs. It may have worked, but it certainly tasted great.

Now, I rarely use it as it has been found to contain hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloid senkirkine. Continued long term use of the tea and cough drops could cause cancer or liver damage.