Environmental Study Of Lechtenberg Park

[freeztar]

Here's something from the medicinal plant link I gave; it gives nutrient content on a 'per leaf' basis. ::Oxalis corniculata - Plants For A Future database report

 

These quantities...% by weight, oui/no? :eek:

 

That's strange. They list some as percentages and some as mg. It states 150mg of calcium. That's hard to believe considering one fresh leave probably only ways about 0.5g. :confused:

[Mercedes Benzene]

I wasn't sure about eating Skunk Cabbage, but I had heard of using the leaves as wraps for other food. Danke Freezy. :eek:

 

Here's something from the medicinal plant link I gave; it gives nutrient content on a 'per leaf' basis. ::Oxalis corniculata - Plants For A Future database report

 

These quantities...% by weight, oui/no? :confused:

 

If you want, you could send me a sample, and I could analyze it for oxalic acid using LC/MS.:)

[Turtle]

That's strange. They list some as percentages and some as mg. It states 150mg of calcium. That's hard to believe considering one fresh leave probably only ways about 0.5g. :confused:

 

Yeah; not too consistent. :D

 

If you want, you could send me a sample, and I could analyze it for oxalic acid using LC/MS. ;)

 

Is that a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer you're standing at in your new profile pic? :D I wonder how fast everything starts to break down after picking? Then there is the matter of how the immediate environment may affect mineral & oxalate concentrations in individual plants.

 

I am far more comfortable using these plants medicinally as external agents. My other source has the Omaha tribe using a poultice of Oxalis to reduce swelling for example. :)

 

Everything in moderation. :lol: :eek:

[Moontanman]

:D :D My bad for not clarifying 'tight' pin knot. :confused: The qualifier 'tight' indicates that there is no separation between the branchlet part of the knot and the wood surrounding it. This is not to say that over time a separation may arise and then the pin knot is qualified as 'loose'. So, the pin knot is tight so no leakage, and the mineral oil is soaked into the pores so no liquid penetration. The yew spoon is beatifically simply useable. ;)

 

I do intend to look for some pitch in Lechtenberg, as I may try my hand at making an arrow or flighted lance with my Ninebark stem. As you suggest, Native Americans employed pitch as a sealant and as I suggest, as a glue. In the case of arrows, one technique for attaching the feather flights is to glue them to the shaft along their length, and bind the ends. If I go with a lance, I may as well carve an atlatl while I'm at it. I know just the Heron nests to search under for feathers.

 

Thank you again forest spirits for your gifts. :)

 

Hey I resemble your Native American quest, Cherokee, Sioux, and Choctaw.:lol::eek:

[Turtle]

Hey I resemble your Native American quest, Cherokee, Sioux, and Choctaw.

 

All tribes welcome here Luna Tanna Manna. Thanks for dropping in.

 

Since I posted this bit:

... I do intend to look for some pitch in Lechtenberg, as I may try my hand at making an arrow or flighted lance with my Ninebark stem. ...

, I found that my fieldguide mentioned branches of Saskatoon as favored for arrows, not the Ninebark. :doh: Nonetheless, I have a nice Ninebark lance blank & there is plenty of Saskatoon in Lechtenberg. :)

 

David Thompson reported in 1810;

"On the great Plains there is a shrub bearing a very sweet berry of a dark blue color, much sought after, great quantities are dried by the Natives; in this state, these berries are as sweet as the best currants, and as much as possible mixed to make pemmican; the wood is hard, weighty and flexible, but not elastic, and wherever it can be procured always forms the Arrow of the Indian, I have dwelt on the above, as it (is) the staple food of all persons, and affords the most nourishment in the least space and weight..."

about

 

Doing some more looking, , I find Saskatoon is medicinal as well.

Medicinal Uses:

Saskatoon was quite widely employed as a medicinal herb by the North American Indians, who used it to treat a wide range of minor complaints. It is little used in modern herbalism. An infusion of the inner bark has been used as a treatment for snow-blindness. A decoction of the fruit juice is mildly laxative. It has been used in the treatment of upset stomachs, to restore the appetite in children, it is also applied externally as ear and eye drops. A decoction of the roots has been used in the treatment of colds. It has also been used as a treatment for too frequent menstruation. A decoction of the stems, combined with the stems of snowberry (Symphoricarpos spp) is diaphoretic. ...

(Snowberry abounds in Lechtenberg.)

 

........................... ...........

[Racoon]

Saskatoon is good for Snow Blindness.

 

Excellent!

 

:eek2::eek::phones:

 

Rack the Turtle. :cheer:

[Turtle]

Saskatoon is good for Snow Blindness.

 

Excellent!

 

;)

 

Rack the Turtle. :)

 

:doh: Who said that!? Who's there!? :hyper: On that note Rac, I found after our trip that Saskatoon is AKA Serviceberry. :eek2: As if one name isn't already enough. :D

 

No new trips, but I got around to ID'ing a plant I photographed back in May. False Lilly-Of-The-Valley - Maianthemum dilatatum. Maianthemum dilatatum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My book says roots, leaves, and berries have many medicinal uses, but it doesn't expound on those and I haven't found any described online yet. That's all I got.

 

[Racoon]

Nice one Turtle!

 

I wonder how some plants get the label "False" .. False lilly of the valley? What if the other lilly-of-the-valley is the False one?

 

I have 2 "false Cyprus" bonzais.. But where does the 'false' moniker come from?

Kinda curious. :QuestionM

[freeztar]

Nice one Turtle!

 

I wonder how some plants get the label "False" .. False lilly of the valley? What if the other lilly-of-the-valley is the False one?

 

I have 2 "false Cyprus" bonzais.. But where does the 'false' moniker come from?

Kinda curious. :confused:

 

For plant names, false usually means "looks like". I also believe it has to do with the order in which the plants are named.

 

Solomon's seal is a plant that is native to Europe. False Solomon's seal is a plant that is native to North America. So when the Europeans came to the Americas and found the plant that looked like their native Solomon's seal, but wasn't, they named it False Solomon's seal. :)

[Turtle]

Somewhere earlier I mentioned digging up some Camas -Camassia quamash- along Lechtenberg's boundary & planting them at home, and I was weeding round them in the garden today & rooted up some very small bulbs. After getting some photos, I planted them in a little pot in the windowsill. :shrug:

 

Anyway, I'll post a photo with a scale while I get off to research these a bit more; never having examined the roots or bulbs I had it in my mind they were of some larger size than this as they were a major food source for the local native people (mainly Chinook here). :P :)

 

[Racoon]

Make sure its the 'right' camas bulbs and to boil them.. :)

 

Looks like Onions of the West Cascades to me. :shrug:

Injuns new how to flavor their food and salads

[Turtle]

Make sure its the 'right' camas bulbs and to boil them.. :P

 

Looks like Onions of the West Cascades to me. :P

Injuns new how to flavor their food and salads

 

I collected the plants while they were blooming, so I know that most if not all in the bunch are Blue Camas, the edible kind. That's not to say there were not some Death Camas in the group that weren't blooming, as I have read the 2 often grow together. I won't be eating any until I am well assured of what I have.

 

“The roots used are numerous; but the wappatu, or sagittaria, and the kamas are the principal. These are found in great quantities, the former in ponds, the latter in the prairies, particularly such as are wet; and they were formerly a great article of trade with the interior. Besides these, the roots of the sunflower and fern are largely used,, and a small white root of rather insipid, taste. From the fern, ‘they make a species of flour which is baked into bread. The kamas season is in the latter part of May and June, and then as well as in the fall when the sunflower is dug, the prairies are dotted over with squaws, each armed with a sharp stake and a basket, busily engaged in digging them. At these times, camps are generally found near the skirts of timber which border the open lands for the convenience of gathering and preserving. The kamas is baked in the ground, a hole being first dug and heated with stones, and the root covered over with twigs and earth. There are numerous other roots and plants used in their fresh state" (Gibbs 1877:193-4).

Chinook and Clatsop Traditional Culture - Seasonal Round

 

Circumstances permitting, I'll make a Fall trip to Lechtenberg before the forest is flooded. :P :) :shrug:

[Turtle]

well over a year since i visited the park, i noticed as i updated the log in post #1. well, life is what happens while you're making plans. :hyper:

 

so i went to the park sunday the 19th of july & mainly to gather some wildflower seeds. couldn't resist having a look at the old trail & i set out through the brush to find my trailhead about 50 feet in. while overgrown a bit, it was distinct enough to follow & i set off. long story short, i got lost!!! :doh: combination of confusion (i lose something nearly everytime i go so i'm constantly checking to be sure i haven't dropped anything. :eek_big: :doh: ), overgrowth, and some large branches and maybe whole trees that have blown down since last year.

 

anyway, while i was stumbling around (and around :D ) i noticed quite a few patches of trillium in areas devoid of the snowberry thickets under the vine maples. the blooms were long gone, & some of the plants had golfball sized deep-purple fruit setting on top and wrapped with 3 still-green sepals. the plants had a single stalk 8" to 12" tall, the all-green leaves stemless and 6" long & 5" wide. some of the fruit were firm & plump, as you will see below in my photo, and on many of the plants the fruit had rotted down to a pulpy mess & revealing little piles of light colored seeds. i collected a few dozen of these seeds, thus fullfilling the intent of my expedition, if not the specific goals. :lol:

 

so anyway.....seems this trillium can be no other than smallflowered trillium, and i find in looking for the id that its conservation status is listed as sensitive. so, here we go thenss. . . . . . . . .

 

July 19,2009

 

fruit of Smallflower Trillium - Trillium parviflorum Soukup

also called smallflower wakerobin

 

PLANTS Profile for Trillium parviflorum (smallflower wakerobin) | USDA PLANTS

 

conservation status listed as sensitive at the Burke Museum site: http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Trillium&Species=parviflorum

 

[freeztar]

Nice find! :D

 

Did you identify it mainly based on range, or what other factors did you use?

[Turtle]

Nice find!

 

Did you identify it mainly based on range, or what other factors did you use?

 

i checked the Burke Museum site first to see what trillium were recorded here in washington, then looked at each species for their particular descriptions at Burke, USDA, and other web sources. i thought i recorded a trillium in this thread, but if i did i can't find it. sessile trillium i think it was. :D

anyway, in all that looking i never saw a single photo of any trillium in fruit or even a mention of the fruits so that didn't help, and since i had no flower either, it was down to some particulars such as the flower having or not having a stem raising it above the leaves, the size of the leaves, height of the stalk, and whether or not the leaves were splurched with purple. :eek_big:

 

i have some more material to process & post from the same day-trip, though with a bit of crossover to the Wilflowers thread. 2 hours in the field=1 week of work in the labs. :hyper:

 

. . . . . . . . . . :turtle:

[Turtle]

ok after all that recent reading on trilliums in my environs and then i mentioned sessile trillium in the last post and all of a sudden it sounded wrong. i think i got that id idea from a too-general of a field guide, as now that i look tonight i see sessile trillium is an eastern US species. cedars & freezy have trained me well. :lol:

 

i see i do have sessile trillium listed in the index in post #1, though i don't know what post i mentioned it in and i apparently never put a photo up, or at least i can't find it among any images i have posted here. i often don't do the whole week of lab work the 2 field-hours require. :eek_big: :doh: undaunted, i searched my disk tonight & indeed i found a trillium-in-flower-photo that i took april of 2008 in lechtenberg. i'd say it's the same species as i found fruiting last weekend and have id'd as smallflower trillium. whatcha think y'all? :hyper: :D . . . . . . .

 

[freeztar]

I knew something didn't smell right. (That's a double entendre, btw)

 

Fruits dark reddish purple or maroon, fragrance not reported, subglobose, ± 1 cm, ± juicy. 2n = 10.

Trillium parviflorum in Flora of North America @ efloras.org

 

That looks about right judging from the photo, but scale can distort. You got a measurement on that fruit? :D

 

In the case of sessile, it's easy to see why you got confused as both can carry the common name of small flower trillium. It also doesn't help that the bracts of parviflorum are sessile. :eek_big:

 

Cheers!