Epimedium

I can't believe I have not blogged about Epimedium since May 2008.  I felt for sure I had touched on this plant since starting Planted Cloud.  In any case, I was in Dumbarton Oaks a few weeks ago and was struck once again at how lovely the fall color is on this herbaceous groundcover.

Back in 2008, I did touch on the medicinal history for Epimedium -- the common name is barrenwort, and it was presumed that ingesting this would help with impotence, thus solving the 'condition' of barrenness.

I'm not naming a species here, as there are over 60 in cultivation.  Most commonly however would be E. x rubrum.  Below is one such species in the spring.  You can see how strikingly different even the greens are among these two specimens in spring and fall.  Regardless of species, Epimedium usually has chartreuse new leaves that are somewhat soft in texture.  By autumn, the leaves become more leathery and darker green.

Lindera benzoin

Here's another plant from my class last Saturday: Lindera benzoin or spicebush.  Spicebush is a plant that can easily be missed during the summer and winter, but during spring, when it's in bloom, and fall, when it shows off its amazing fall color, you cannot miss it. 

The fall color is a clear honey yellow on large ovate leaves with entire margins.  The leaves themselves could be confused with other plants, but it's easy enough to confirm that you are looking at Lindera by crushing and smelling the leaves.  They will emit a spicy, lemony scent.  Thus the name spicebush.  The twigs and fruits are equally fragrant.

This specimen must be a male, as otherwise, we'd likely see the red berries that typically appear in late summer/early fall.  Instead, we can only see the flower buds for next spring.  The plant is an important species for survival of the spicebush swallowtail, which lays eggs on the plant.

Spicebush has a long history of medicinal uses by Native Americans and is now available commercially for homeopathic uses.  The leaves, when crushed, can be used as a poultice for burns or cuts.  The plant can also be used for flavoring food and for making a tea.  Lindera is derivative from from the botanist Lindler; benzoin is derivative of the Middle French word 'benjoin' which means 'Java Frankincense' and referring to the spicy aroma of the plant.

Aristolochia

I was giving my students a mid-term ID exam last Saturday, when we encountered this unusual vine, growing in the Livington Ripley gardens. 

The plant is Aristolochea gigantea, or Dutchman's pipe, a vine native to Brazil.  The flowers, as you can see, are amazing.  Large - almost 8" diameter, the flower consists of a red, velvety flat disc white venation.

A large bladder shaped chamber is attached to the disc with a small tube.  While the structure itself looks a lot like a carnivorous pitcher plant, like Nepenthes. 

But when we dissected the flower, the presence of any digesting fluids was nonexistent.  Instead, the tubular structure was covered with long, fine hairs.  I speculated the hairs were key in moving insects into the tube and to the flower at the base, and further guessed that the pollinator was some kind of scavenging insect, like a fly -- since the flower itself looked like rotting flesh.

Indeed, this plant is considered a carrion flower and is often pollinated by flies.  The hairs play a pivotal role -- they keep the flies trapped at the base of the capsule for several days.  The fly lives on nectar in the capsule until the pollen is released by the anthers, at which point the hairs drop down and the fly climbs out of the chamber.

Aristolochia is derivative from the ancient Greek words Aristo- which means 'best' and -lochia which means 'delivery'.  For a long time this plant was believed to be helpful in childbirth.  It's since been determined that this plant is actually quite dangerous to the kidneys.

Plantain Weed

Yesterday I was in New York and it was a glorious morning for a run in Central Park.  The air was crisp and cool, a nice change from the record breaking heat we've all been enduring lately. While climbing Heartbreak Hill, I noticed these three ladies, collecting plants in the weedy turf. 

 

It turns out they were collecting all the above ground parts of Plantago major, or plantain weed.  The Asian ladies spoke very little English, but the youngest woman (they looked like they could have been three generations of the same family) was able to tell me they use this for tea.  A longer look online shows that the plant's leaves, when boiled with water, strained and cooled, can be helpful in aiding coughs, colds, dysentery, and possibly high blood pressure.  The leaves can be mashed into a poultice that reduces itching and swelling of skin irritations.  In fact, one of the less common monikers for this plant is 'Soldier's Herb' since it's been used for this manner on battlefields.

No doubt, you've seen this plant in less manicured lawns and fields.  The plant is native to Europe and Central Asia, but of course now it's found all over North America and other temperate areas. 

Edgeworthia chrysantha

No joke, last Saturday I saw this plant along Washington Avenue, approaching the USBG and I double-parked and jumped out of the car to inspect more closely.  I was pretty sure it was, for me, a new discovery. 

And indeed it was: Edgeworthia chysantha, or paperbush.  There's not much online about this plant but Dirr nails my particular experience when he writes "Makes a nifty woodland plant and is a great teaser for the visitor who knows everything."  

The plant is in the Thymelaeaceae family and is thus related to Daphne.  You can see some similarity between the flowers of Daphne and these umbelliferous inflorescences.  Edgeworthia is also, like Daphne, faintly fragrant.  I love the fuzzy, waxy quality of the flowers and the somewhat surprising discovery of a bright yellow after identifying the flowers as white from afar.    

The USBG identifies this plant as E. gardneri and other sources cite is as E. papyrifera, but the exact nomenclature is a bit muddy.  The plant is native to forests and streamlands in China and has been used for paper and medicinal purposes. The foliage (which I've yet to witness myself) is evidently broadleaved, elliptical and bluish in hue.  

Mormon Tea, or Ephedra

I saw this small, raggedy shrub all around the edges of the Grand Canyon and it was part of the reason I was compelled to quickly find some decent books detailing the flora of the region.  To me, it closely resembled Cytisus, but as it turns out it was an altogether new genus for me, Ephedra.

The genus name should sound familiar, since when one gets congested it's likely they are buying a product with pseudoephedrine in it.  Of course, if you buy too much pseudoephedrine, you may be flagged as a potential drug dealer, since the drug is often used to make methamphetamine.

The Chinese Ephedra (E. sinica) is perhaps the most notorious; it has the alkaloids pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, both of which have been marketed as 'herbal remedies.'  These products were often abused by athletes as stimulants to enhance performance.  Most notably, Ephedra was linked to the deaths of Baltimore Oriole Steve Bechler and Minnesota Viking Korey Stringer.  Many sports leagues, and ultimately the FDA, have banned the use of Ephedra.   

This native species E. trifurca is less potent than E. sinica, but was still used by southwestern settlers as a tonic, tea, diuretic and decongestant.  It was even used to treat syphilis (though I'm not sure how effective it was).  Mormons, who abstain from caffeinated beverages, often drank the brew made from this plant thus accounting for Ephedra's common name - Mormon tea.

Ephedra is derivative of the ancient Greek work for horse's tail - 'Hippuris.'  I have no idea what trifurca means!