June 11: Smoothish Hawkweed and why "hawkweed"

I'm starting to see more flowers in the Hawkweed, or Hieracium family, so-called because in ancient times, hawks were observed eating this plant. Hawkweed flowers are yellow or orange and have flat petals that are notched on the end. There are many varieties of Hawkweed. I'm pretty sure this one is Smoothish Hawkweed, since the blooms are only about 3/4" across.

Smoothish Hawkweed

In early medicine, Hawkweed was thought to be good for your eyesight, and the name is a telling reason why. Here's how the reasoning goes. Hawks eat this plant. Hawks have good eyesight. Therefore, eating this plant will give you good eyesight. This makes about as much sense as reasoning that dogs have a good sense of smell and dogs like to chew on bones, so chewing on bones will improve your sense of smell.

I didn't find any information on whether Hawkweed is edible (other than to hawks) so I wouldn't suggest trying it.-

June 7: White Avens -- a chocolate substitute?

White Avens is one of those plants which is easy to overlook. The flowers aren't particularly impressive and sometimes look rather raggedy.

White Avens

But this plant has hidden virtues -- the roots are supposed to be a substitute for chocolate! For other avens plants the root is supposed to taste like cloves.

This I had to try, so I pulled some White Avens and cleaned off the root, which looked like a ginger root and smelled like dirt. Undeterred, I grated the root and microwaved it with a cup of water. To my surprise, it did make a tea which tastes a bit like chocolate, especially when I added a bit of sugar.

June 11: Crown Vetch -- A plant with imperial designs

Similar to Dames Rocket, here's another beautiful non-native plant which has quickly spread. It's Crown Vetch.

Crown Vetch

Crown Vetch is a relative newcomer to America -- it was brought here from Europe in the 1950s. It is used to prevent soil erosion and you can sometimes see it along the highway and in medians, which adds greatly to the beauty of the landscape. But it tends to crowd out other plants. Here's what it can look like when it gets going.

Field of Crown Vetch

Deer, elk, and rabbits like to eat it, but it is toxic to some other animals, especially horses. It's not good for humans either. One website claims it's toxic to sheep and cows, but agricultural papers suggest using it as a non-bloating legume for livestock, though sheep and cows eat it only parts of it and don't like mature crownvetch. 

June 4: Birdsfoot Trefoil and Yellow Sweet Clover:

Birdsfoot Trefoil is turning out to be one of my favorite summertime flowers. It's beautiful and has many uses...you often find it along roadsides to control wind and water erosion.

Birdsfoot Trefoil

It's also a good food for Canada geese, deer, and elk, and is used to feed livestock, as a non-bloating legume.  As a dryland pasture legume, it produces 20 percent more growth after July 1 than most dryland grass legume mixtures.


Yellow Sweet Clover is also beneficial, as well as beautiful.

Yellow Sweet Clover

Kalmuks (western Mongols), used to eat Yellow Sweet Clover shoots like asparagus, if the shoots were  young enough. Young leaves can be eaten in salads and the leaves and seedpods cooked as a vegetable. However, only fresh leaves should be eaten because dried leaves can be toxic -- they are used in rat poison.


Leaves release the smell of newly mown hay when drying, and dried leaves can be used as an insect repellent, or used to keep moths from clothing. 

May 31: English Dogwood

This flower is very pretty but has no scent. It is English Dogwood, sometimes also called Mockorange.

English Dogwood

The name "dogwood" is a bit weird -- there are no "catwood"s or "horsewood"s or even "birdwood"s -- but it may have evolved come from the word "dagwood" since the wood of this tree is slender yet hard, and so good for making daggers. And since we all know that "dagwood" is a familiar name (as in Blondie and Dagwood), this at least seems plausible.

May 29: Field Bindweed and Moneywort

Field Bindweed, though pretty, is one of those plants I would call a wildflower but others might call an invasive weed, though it is in the Wildflowers of Michigan book. It's related to the Morning Glory.

Field Bindweed

As you can tell from the holes in the leaves, somebody likes this plant! And tortoises reportedly love it, so if you have a pet tortoise you can feed it this plant. The plant is not good for humans or livestock to eat, however. And it spreads rapidly -- it's the bane of farmers and gardeners -- so feel free to pick all you want.

Moneywort, also called Creeping Jenny or Creeping Charlie, is also invasive, but is looked upon a bit more kindly. It's called "Moneywort" because the leaves are round like coins. It's an herb.

Moneywort

In olden days the leaves of Moneywort were bruised and then used to staunch blood. Moneywort also has Vitamin C so you can make a tea from it, though I have no idea what that would taste like -- you'd probably want to add honey to it. It's best to pick the leaves when the flowers are in bloom.

May 27: Blue Iris and Canada Hawkweed

I was very surprised to see these flowers -- they are so large as to look domesticated. However, they were growing by themselves unaided in a wild area. They are called Blue Iris. though they look purple.

Blue Iris

Ancient Eqyptian kings were just as impressed by the iris, and you can find drawings of irises in a number of Eqyptian palaces. The flower is found in Greek culture too. Iris is the name of a Greek goddess. She was messenger of the gods, acting as a link between heaven and earth, and was personification of the rainbow. Purple irises were planted over the graves of women to summon the goddess to guide the dead in their journey.

I'm pretty sure this next one is Canada Hawkweed. There are many types of Hawkweed but Canada Hawkweed is listed in the Wildflowers of Michigan book. Although this flower looks a little closed up, the leaves do look similar -- very sharp, jagged edges. And the back of the flower looks the same as what is shown in the Wildflowers of Michigan book.

Canada Hawkweed

Oddly, this plant is considered to bloom in late summer to autumn. Perhaps it's unusually early this year. There are a lot of varieties of hawkweeds, so I'm not positive this is the Canada one. Here's a website that lists them all (no pictures, though). Hawkweeds are used as food plants by moth larvae and small beetles.