The "Name that Plant" Game

Okay we'll call it.



Parish's yampah

paleojoe said:
Here we go:

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This one can be found in Woodlands and dry or wet meadows, from the plains to moderate elevations in the mountains. MT., B.C. and Sask. to CA, NM and SD.

Description:
Slender perennial with a caraway-like
fragrance, 40-120 cm or 15"-45" tall, the stem solitary, arising from a
fleshy, solitary, tuberous root. Alternate leaf growth and long stemmed umbel inflorescence.


Food:
The root is edible, raw or cooked. Sweet and nutty taste, it can be eaten in quantity as a staple food. It is best used when the plant is dormant. The root can also be dried for later use or ground into a powder and used with cereals when making porridges, cakes etc. It was one of the most important foods for many native peoples and mountain men. The seed is used as a caraway-like seasoning, or can be parched and eaten in porridge or used as piñole. Young leaves are edible too, raw or cooked.

Medicine:
The root is urine-inducing, mildly laxative, and has agents that relieve and remove gas from the digestive system, and are healing for disorders and diseases of the eyes. A tea of the roots has been taken to counteract effects of other infusions. An infusion of the roots has been applied as a wash to sores and wounds and also used as a nasal wash to get rid of catarrh. A poultice of the roots has been used to draw inflammation from swellings. The juice of the slowly chewed root is said to be beneficial in the treatment of sore throats and coughs.
:thumbup:
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Yup! Good goin' Tony:thumbup:


There are a few varieties of Yampah,
Gairdner's is also a common variety around these parts...


You're up!
 
Here is a cool plant found in the south west. It is a desert dweller that prefers a rocky sandy soil.
The leaves are narrow and toothed and also spoon like at the base of the plant. The design funnels rain water to the heart.
It has a 10' - 15' stalk with a dense cluster of tiny greenish or whitish flowers at the end of it. The stalk is an excellent material for hand drill fire (so I am told), and also used as atlatl dart.

The leaves at base are edible and cooked and eaten like an artichoke leaf. The leaves are also used in weaving and basket making.

Very cool plant that they also make a drinkable alcohol from.

 
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DOC-CANADA said:
Hey rk, are you sure about that? Many, many years ago I read about a fish poison called Turkey Mullein (Croton sitigerus). I tried for years after, to find Croton sitigerus with no luck, then one day I was browsing another book (A Golden Guide (to) Weeds, Martin, Golden Press, 1972, LCC#: 72-78574, page 80) and it showed the picture and says, "Turkey Mullein, Eremocarpus setigerus, was formerly Croton setigerus".

Doc
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Hey Doc, as far as I can tell, the current consensus is that Croton is the one in good standing.

Original article with proposal for change in nomenclature:
Webster GL. Realignments in American Croton (Euphorbiaceae). Novon 1992; 2(3): 269-273.

Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS):
Croton
Eremocarpus

Classification on USDA PLANTS database

Comments on taxonomy on Jepson Interchange

I'm guessing they were vacillating on that one. Your Golden Guide to Weeds is 1972, and "Poisonous Plants of California" (ISBN: 0520055683) uses Eremocarpus in 1986. Webster's proposal is in 1992 and that seems to have stuck.


But as you know, and as Joe said...always changing :).
 
Tony,

looks like Sotol or Desert Spoon(Dasylirion wheeleri), and yes, it is excellent for hand drills, bow drills and fire plows....


Also pictured, to the right, a fruiting Prickly Pear (Opuntia spp.) cactus, mmmmm! And I believe some Junipers to the left and right in the background....
 
rksoon said:
Hey Doc, as far as I can tell, the current consensus is that Croton is the one in good standing.

Original article with proposal for change in nomenclature:
Webster GL. Realignments in American Croton (Euphorbiaceae). Novon 1992; 2(3): 269-273.

Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS):
Croton
Eremocarpus

Classification on USDA PLANTS database

Comments on taxonomy on Jepson Interchange

I'm guessing they were vacillating on that one. Your Golden Guide to Weeds is 1972, and "Poisonous Plants of California" (ISBN: 0520055683) uses Eremocarpus in 1986. Webster's proposal is in 1992 and that seems to have stuck.


But as you know, and as Joe said...always changing :).
Click to expand...

Thanks rk. Damn taxonomers! :mad:

Doc
 
paleojoe said:
Tony,

looks like Sotol or Desert Spoon(Dasylirion wheeleri), and yes, it is excellent for hand drills, bow drills and fire plows....
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Yes sir! Someone was going to send me some but flaked out. It was to be my first handrill fire for ease of use. I need to get a good piece of Mullein and have at the hand drill..

Anyway, you're up:thumbup:
 
tonym said:
Yes sir! Someone was going to send me some but flaked out. It was to be my first handrill fire for ease of use. I need to get a good piece of Mullein and have at the hand drill..

Anyway, you're up:thumbup:
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I'll see what I can do about getting you some if you want. I'm sure I have some extra laying about.... Even better, my favorite combo is cattail on yucca, super easy with this combo, I'm drying a few slabs of yucca now, could get you some of that too...


Let me think about what plant I can put up... gotta make sure it hasn't already been posted!
 
paleojoe said:
I'll see what I can do about getting you some if you want. I'm sure I have some extra laying about.... Even better, my favorite combo is cattail on yucca, super easy with this combo, I'm drying a few slabs of yucca now, could get you some of that too...


Let me think about what plant I can put up... gotta make sure it hasn't already been posted!
Click to expand...

That's awfully nice of you! :) I may take you up on that offer, but 1st let me give it a good solid attempt with materials that are found around me. (Mullein/ Cedar) :thumbup:
 
Paleojoe,

I very much like that you post plants that are indigenous to the Southwest. Many of our posters are from the East and frozen North, and post only plants that are specific to their area alone: we California boys need love, too.

Thanks. Your posts are always good.
 
tonym said:
That's awfully nice of you! :) I may take you up on that offer, but 1st let me give it a good solid attempt with materials that are found around me. (Mullein/ Cedar) :thumbup:
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I could send you some palm tree frond wood from my yard to play with, if you would like. It's not nearly as good as Yucca, but it works fairly well. I have a bow drill set that I made from it as an experiment, and it actually produces a decent coal.
 
dawsonbob said:
I could send you some palm tree frond wood from my yard to play with, if you would like. It's not nearly as good as Yucca, but it works fairly well. I have a bow drill set that I made from it as an experiment, and it actually produces a decent coal.
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Thanks Bob, but I want to try the hand drill with materials I can find in my area before I do that. I am pretty efficient with the bowdrill, I am yet to give the hand drill a solid attempt though. :o
 
dawsonbob,
thanks bro!:D



Okay, considering it is winter in N. America and many places beyond.
What nutritious edibles could one find that are non-dormant in winter, furthermore, in the snow?

This one was believed to be sacred by many tribes because it stayed green during the coldest winters, and was a food stable all winter long...

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This is one that is prevalent in many places across the U.S. and the world, from western California to northern Canada and Alaska to eastern Asia and beyond.

Can be found in Yellow Pine Forests, Red Fir Forests, Lodgepole Forests, Subalpine Forests, Wetlands, Riparian areas, but can also be found in moist meadows... Even high altitudes, up to 11,000 ft.

Description:
perennial herb, basal leaves can range from ovate to irregularly lobed to toothed, slender spike of yellow clustered flowers about 1.5 cm or .6" tall.

Food:
Leaves are edible as salad greens or cooked in soups, high source of vitamins C and A. Mainly used as food for salads and as a pot herb, or even fried. Especially good with a little vinegar and salt!

Medicinal:
It's used as a bitter medicinal tea to stimulate appetite, purify and strengthen blood, for coughs, and as a diuretic. Used externally as a poultice to help heal wounds.



Slight caution is advised when eating large amounts of the raw plant. As well as finding it by roadsides or brackish water sources... But this can be said for alot of plants!
:thumbup:
 
tonym said:
Thanks Bob, but I want to try the hand drill with materials I can find in my area before I do that. I am pretty efficient with the bowdrill, I am yet to give the hand drill a solid attempt though. :o
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I don't know why I was thinking bow drill, when you had already mentioned hand drill.:o I haven't done a hand drill in years. I got to the point where I could get a fire going with one, then gave up and went back to bow drills: hand drills were too much work, and abused my soft, delicate hands (in other words, I got blisters).

I did the palm bow drill just because I wanted to see if I could make a decent one from what was — literally — laying around in the yard.
 
paleojoe said:
Sure is Tony!:thumbup:


As they say, 'watercress grows in water, wintercress grows in winter"....


It's all you now!:thumbup:
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Cool:) The Wintercress by me has bigger leaves so I wasn't sure..

Let me come up with something..
 
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