Botany Photo of the Day: Hypericum uralum
Lindsay Bourque writes:
Hypericum, the genus to which this species belongs, has been used for centuries as a herbal remedy documented in Aulus Cornelius Celsus’ (circa 25 BC- 50 CE) De Medicina. Known in English by its common name, St. John’s Wort, it is used for its anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.
Contemporary pharmacology has isolated two compounds, hyperforin and hypericin, which are used to treat mild depression. Interestingly, in ancient Greece Hypericum was hung above pictures to ward off evil spirits (hyper-above and eikon-a picture). However, its effectiveness as an anti-depressant is still debatable and has a number of known side-effects, such as photosensitivity.
Don't touch me
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) (wiki)
I forgot to post this with the other plants in the last post. You’ll find this herbaceous perennial in wetland areas. You probably should touch it once in your life in order to understand why you never, ever want to touch it again.
I also suggest checking out the wiki entry on this plant. It has an interesting medicinal, culinary and literary history.
I didn’t see any new wildflowers on my walk this evening, but the butterflies are active, and the dog got to pee on a lot of bushes.
Butter ‘n’ eggs (Triphysaria eriantha).
I saw this in an empty lot as I was driving home from work this afternoon, so I pulled over a plucked a specimen. The Peterson’s guide says that the corolla tube has a “distinct right-angled jog.” In other words, the top of the flower looks sorta bent at the top. Look for the red-purple beak and the three yellow sacs. The leaves and bracts are purple-tipped. This plant grows in great swathes in grasslands.
Wildflower walk
Location: American River Parkway, Sunrise
Date: Feb 8th, 2008
Miner’s Lettuce (Montia perfoliata)
Easy to spot. It’s common in shady places. Look for the fleshy green umbrellalike leaves. It’s edible.
Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)
Look for this in disturbed areas. Note the heart-shaped seedpods.
Fiddle Neck (Amsinckia intermedia)
The trumpet flowers are orange and along the upper edge of a coiled shepherd’s crook. The coils become more apparent as plant grows.
Blue Dicks (Dichelostemma pulchellum)
The flower tube is a short round inflated ball. The flowere grow in umbel-like clusters. The flowers have six petals and six hidden anthers.
Plants discused in the video:
Botany Photo of the Day: Salix uva-ursi
AKA, Bearberry willow.
(Taken 02/17/08 at the American River)
One of the most distinctive of California’s endemic plants is Aristolochia californica, the California pipevine or California Dutchman’s-pipe. It is a deciduous vine with purple-striped curving pipe-shaped flowers which give rise to winged capsular green fruits. After it blooms, the plant sends out new green heart-shaped leaves. The vines grow from rhizomes to a length of over twenty feet and can become quite thick in circumference at maturity. This plant is common in moist woods and along streams in northern and central California. (wiki)
