Solanaceae, a family that keeps you on your toes

I've read that when our country was founded, most folks believed tomatoes were poisonous, and that Thomas Jefferson, who knew otherwise, once ate a tomato on the steps of the US Capitol to prove their safety. I grew up hearing that the "eyes" of potatoes were poisonous, that green skin on immature potatoes was poisonous, and that tobacco was bad, bad, bad.... Turns out all of these things are at least partly true. All the plants mentioned, as well as eggplant and all sorts of peppers, are in the same family as the poisonous nightshade (above left), and parts of all the edible plants mentioned are poisonous, as are the fruits when not ripe. Note the similarity of the nightshade flower to that of the domestic tomato (above right). In fact, the flowers of all these plants are similar. I once wrote a poem titled "Solanaceae" in which I marveled at this family's variety of useful, edible, and harmful plants. If I can find the poem, it will be in my next post.

Those crazy buttercups, continued...

Here is the promised assortment of my photos of local species in the buttercup family. The other day, while sitting in the forest near some columbine, I entered into my journal, "I belong to a species that has no trouble grouping this diverse assortment of flowers into the same family, yet can't seem to get comfortable with its kinship with chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, etc., not to mention Neanderthals." I am in possession of a Natural History text used at Harvard a little over 100 years ago that divides the human species into categories with descriptions that are shockingly racist. For example, it states that there is no evidence that Africans have a soul. That happens to be correct, but where is the evidence that any humans have a soul? :)

Those crazy buttercups!

I've been away for a while, and can't figure out how to rotate this image 90 degrees. Perhaps you could tilt your head to the left? Anyway, this is baneberry, a member of the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. The buttercups are familiar to everyone, but based on the appearance of their flowers, who but a trained botanist would guess that columbine, larkspur, monkshood, clematis, and anemone, among other diverse flowers are in this family, too. Some species are edible, some have medicinal properties and some are deadly poisonous. In fact, a species of monkshood found in Asia is considered the most poisonous plant in the world. My fascination with the species found in our area is never-ending. Discovering their various pollinators is a study in itself. Columbines, for instance, are pollinated by hummingbirds or moths, usually a specific species of animal pollinating each species of columbine, their beak or proboscis perfectly fitting the particular flower. When Darwin discovered these pairings, then found a columbine in South America with spurs several inches long, he predicted that eventually a hummingbird with a very long beak to match would be found in the vicinity, and it was!
My next post will include photos of my favorite members of the buttercup family found in Plumas County.

Three cheers for Darwinius

Being still an amateur at this Blog Business, I went a couple of weeks without an entry, and consequently forgot my password. Aha, password recovery worked and here I am again. These past couple of weeks I've been recording spring wildflowers with my camera, as usual. Then I slipped on a slippery rock and broke my camera. Taking it in for a checkup tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I've been reading other peoples' blogs, especially one of my favorites, Pharyngula, run by biology professor P. Z. Myers. He has a knack for discovering idiocy. Some kinds of idiocy can be ignored, but he focuses on the kind that threatens to dumb down our society to a dangerous level - maybe it's already too late! Enter Darwinius. This exciting fossil has been around, unnoticed, for a couple of decades, but recently came to the attention of paleontologists. Then, before those of us with scientific curiosity could digest the news, it was discovered by creationists and reporters, the former ready to spew another round of ignorance and the latter willing to write most anything to increase sales.
Darwinius is the name given to a 47-million-year-old fossil of a critter that lived at an exciting juncture in the primate family tree. It is NOT a missing link. There is really no such thing. Ever since the Piltdown hoax nearly a century ago, the idea of a missing link has been used and abused in arguments between those who accept Darwin's theory of natural selection and those who don't. For some entertaining reading, check out Pharyngula on this topic.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of photos I took before my camera broke. The aptly-named farewell-to-spring is abundant this month in many places between 3'000 and 4,000 feet in the northern Sierra where I live. Around the same time, one of my favorite early summer weeds, variously known as yellow salsify or goatsbeard, Tragopogon, is blooming all around me and in my nature journal I am renaming it welcome-to-summer.

"Natural" bonsai?

While out photographing wildflowers with my kids, I stumbled across this amazing little Douglas-fir. In our area, this tree normally reaches 20' or more in height before producing cones. This one was growing out of a small crevice in vertical strata of basalt, and due to limited soil and water (I presume) reached full reproductive maturity while less than 2' tall. In the vicinity we saw some really interesting (that is, beautiful) wildflowers, the showy phlox and a species of locoweed. Fun day.

Getting Blogged down...?

I've been having a great time editing some 500 wildflower images for my CD, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to use this one of Leopard Lily on the cover. I've got 135, more or less, species of Plumas County wildflowers in my archive, am planning a narrative to facilitate identification of our most common species. It'll be backed up by some great guitar instrumentals by my son, Greg. My goal is to emphasize the beauty, the role in the environment, and the periodic visits by amazing-looking bugs, and go light on the technical information. Will supply a printed booklet to assist with scientific names and provide references for further study - for those inclined to study! I'm just loving getting down on my knees, sometimes in mud, and discovering new angles and details in flowers that I have often taken for granted, or not noticed at all. Focusing on creating a CD has intensified my curiosity, and with a growing list of flowers that are familiar to me, the thrill of an occasional new discovery is all the greater. Besides aiding visitors in discovering the beauty of our county, I love digging into the etymologies of both the common and scientific names - and discovering interesting and sometimes bizarre names like "henbit deadnettle" and "birthwort." Sun's coming out again. Got to get my camera and run. Joe