Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Great Blue Lobelia



Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia Siphilitica) is a magnificent autumn blooming wildflower native to Tennessee. This plant grows a robust 2-4 feet tall with blue (in rare cases, white) flowers up to 1 inch long with the corolla tube somewhat inflated and striped white beneath it. It likes moist habitats and usually grows along stream banks, roadside ditches, and swamps.

Great Blue Lobelia was considered a medicinal plant by the Native Americans. The Iroquois Indians in the North used the plant's root to treat venereal disease. In fact, Sir William Johnson, superintendent of Indian affairs in North America between 1756-1774, collected samples of the plant and sent it home to England in hopes of providing Europe with a cure for the life-threatening disease, syphilis. European physicians were unable to prove that treating syphilis with Great Lobelia was effective. Despite these findings, Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus gave the plant the Latin name, Lobelia siphilitica. Western medicine rejects the plant as medicinal because it can be fatal if the wrong dosage is administered. It contains an active ingredient, lobeline, which has a similar effect on the body as nicotine. Tea made from this plant was used by the Shoshone Indians as an emetic. The Cherokee crushed the roots of Lobelia and used it as a poultice for body aches. Other Native Americans used it to treat croup, coughs, and worms and to induce sweating and urination. Lobelia syphiltica was also used as a tonic after an influenza attack.
Native Americans saw value in this plant for its magical properties as well. Great Blue Lobelia was used by the Creeks to ward off ghosts. The Meskwakis used it in love potions. It is a common belief that the flower can manipulate the weather. Folklore claims if the powdered plant is thrown at an oncoming storm, it will halt its approach.

This plant grows along Henry Creek at Beaman Park near Nashville.

Witches' hair and devil's sewing thread in Nashville


Halloween is coming and what better way to start celebrating then by seeking out this evil wildflower's dwellings. Dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) is a parasitic plant with folknames such as Witches' Hair, Devil's Sewing Thread, and Hellweed. Dodder, or it's most common and less scary name, Love Vine, is one of few flowering parasitic plants. Dodder's ghoulish names come from the uncommon manner in which it thrives. Like most plants, Love Vine's seeds germinate in the soil and send up small shoots, but unlike other plants the stem grows up in a circular motion until it comes into contact with a nearby plant (the host). Dodder's stem begins to twine around the neighboring plant, inserting suckers into its stem to draw out nutrients, because dodder has no chlorophyll of its own. Once this contact is made, dodder's original stem wilts and breaks from the ground. Now it is completely dependent on the host plant for nourishment.

The flourishing dodder vine can produce hundreds of feet of stem and new root-like probes, draining the host plant of nutrients and water. The host becomes covered in an entanglement of the threadlike vine causing it to lose sunlight. Most parasitic plants don't pose a serious threat to their hosts, but can cause enough damage to reduce the yields of food crops, such as alfalfa and clover.

Medicinally, dodder has been used as remedy for kidney, liver and spleen ailments. The 17th century herbalist, Nicholas Culpeper believed dodder takes on the properties of the plant it grows on. Culpeper claims dodder that grew on nettles took on the diuretic properties of the host and cured ailments of the urinary tract. Culpeper's favorite host plant was thyme. He believed if dodder that grew on thyme was administered medicinally, it helped diseases of the “head and brain” such as “trembling of the heart, faintings, and swoonings.”

Dodder is a magical plant ruled by Saturn. It is used in love divination and knot magic. Pick dodder and throw it over the shoulder back onto the host plant. Return to the same plant the next day. If the dodder has reattached itself to its host, the person in question loves you. If it hasn't, then the person doesn't.

Dodder can be viewed in its natural state at Edwin Warner Park in Nashville, August-October.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Goldenrod, Bells Bend Park

Obedient Plant, Edwin Warner Park

Wingstem, Edwin Warner Park

Heal-all, Edwin Warner Park

Edwin Warner Park

Edwin Warner Park

White Snakeroot, Edwin Warner Park

Goldenrod, Edwin Warner Park

White Snakeroot, Edwin Warner Park

Beefsteak Plant, Edwin Warner Park

White Snakeroot, Edwin Warner Park

Spotted Orange Jewelweed, Beaman Park

Loomis' Mountain Mint, Beaman Park

Great Blue Lobelia, Beaman Park

Great Blue Lobelia, Beaman Park

Aster, Beaman Park

Mistflower, Beaman Park

Mushroom, Long Hunter State Park

Garden Spider, Bells Bend Park

Mushroom, Bells Bend Park

Butterflies, Bells Bend Park

Eggerts Sunflower, Beaman Park

Goldenrod Fields, Bells Bend Park

Goldenrod, Edwin Warner Park

Great Blue Lobelia, Beaman Park

Foxglove Mullien, Beaman Park

Mistflower, Beaman Park

Bellflower, Beaman Park

Eggerts Sunflower, Beaman Park

Wild Hydrangea, Beaman Park

Great Blue Lobelia

Cowbane, Beaman Park

Frostweed, Edwin Warner Park