Flower power

Since I was a bit hesitant to start this thing it wasn't up during peak wildflower bloom during the last month, but I have some documentation to prove its existence, memories of these flowers caught and captured and viewable to anyone, part of modern magic. Its all in the pixels. But here are a few of my favorite shots of some flowers seen recently.


Probably my favorite flower, they grew everywhere behind our pods at basecamp. Pods are little simple cabin structures cut in half so a person stays in each half. But these flowers love rich, moist woods and/or a rocky substrate, and we have caves and rock right behind us so its the perfect habitat for the beautiful Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis).







And a shot from underneath exposing the flower parts.






There are plenty of flowers though, so lets move on. Here's a trout lilly (Erythronium americanum). American Indians used root tea for fevers and leaf poultice for stubborn ulcers. The root poultice was used to draw out splinters, reduce swelling. Water extracts are active against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. I find medicinal and nutritional uses of plants a fascinating subject and something I have just started to get into and can tell it will be a lifelong journey of exploration and much time will be needed to learn these and become experienced with them. Never ever eat something you don't know about, while many plants are beneficial many are also toxic, a defense mechanism to stay alive and not be eaten by animals, maybe because it is harder for them to reproduce or survive under the tree canopy. So don't go around eating random things, but find a good field guide and you can learn all about them. Some of this info comes from The Peterson Field Guide Series - A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants.