Category Archives: Plant of the day

November 11, 2012 · 8:47 pm

Plant of the day: brass buttons

Small discs of gold gleam on a beach at twilight. It’s not pirate treasure–it’s a little, tiny, petal-less flower. Brass buttons (Cotula coronopifolia) can grow in both salt and fresh water marshes. I saw it growing in the sandy flats where a stream spread out flat across the beach before flowing into the ocean. Its small seeds are spread by birds or moving water, but it also can reproduce vegetatively, sprouting roots at the joints of its stems.

Brass buttons is a member of the Asteraceae family but it has only disc flowers–ie none of the typical daisy-like “petals”. Instead it looks like a little yellow pincushion. This is a non-native plant that was introduced from South Africa to California, but since it spreads slowly it isn’t known as a big ecological problem.

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November 10, 2012 · 12:33 am

Plant of the day: saltgrass

From far away, the edges of the marsh appear to be covered in a herringbone pattern of green and brown. This is actually a carpet of low-growing saltgrass (Distichlis spicata). Bunched into mounds or swept smooth by the outgoing tide, this is a beautiful and distinctive plant of the salty intertidal places. The leaves are flattened and create a dramatic geometric pattern as they alternate up the stem: wedge-shaped leaves offset by the space that they define. The effect of a single stalk is nice, but usually it is magnified by the thousand since this creeping, rhizome-forming grass tends to grow in dense colonies.

Saltgrass can stand being submerged in sea water and so it will often be one of the only plants growing along the tideline. I’ve sat along the shore of Tomales Bay and watched as the water creeps in or out, clambering farther up each leaf blade with each incoming wavelet. It’s a beautiful sight–and happens a lot faster than you might think!

Native tribes of California made a seasoning from the plant, threshing it to harvest the dusky-green salt crystals that coalesce on the leaves (and reputedly have a flavor rather like that of dill pickles).

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November 8, 2012 · 5:24 pm

Plant of the day: rattlesnake plantain

Vivid green leaves are bisected with a lightning-bolt of white. A tall pale stalk of white flowers rises from this small, ground-level rosette of leaves. This is rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera oblongifolia), a distinctive little plant that grows in Northern California (and many other parts of the country).It’s in the orchid family–look close and you’ll see the flowers have the typical orchid look, of a mouth gaping open with a cute little tongue hanging out. I’ve usually seen them growing in shady forested understories.

Apparently rattlesnake plantain can be used as a chewing gum, but though many places repeat that fact I haven’t yet found any information about which parts or how it is used. Traditionally, it was thought to have medicinal properties–particularly having to do with childbirth. It was chewed to help ease delivery and also to affect the sex of the baby–but again, there’s no details about this. It was also used in assorted other treatments for things such as colds, rheumatism, toothache and stimulating the appetite.

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November 7, 2012 · 11:53 pm

Plant of the day: dotted smartweed

Unattended roadside ditches can also double as great wild gardens. Lush greenery thrives in the moist earth, and the plants found here can be really diverse as passing cars (and creatures) spread seed. True, there tend to be a lot of weeds in these places–but native plants can be found here as well.

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Dotted smartweed (Persicaria punctata) is a pretty little native with a diminutive spike of white flowers. The leaves emerge from a papery sheath that wraps around the stem–and is often present in member of this family, the Portulaceae. Dotted smartweed likes to grow (usually near the coast) in wetlands, marshes and moist on hillsides.

Random fact: that papery sheath is called an “ocrea” and is formed by stipules, the leaflike structures at the base of the leaf stem.

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November 6, 2012 · 11:22 pm

Plant of the day: coast silktassle

A strand of fuzzy beads dangles from what looks like a little live-oak tree. These are seeds that grew from the long flowers that bloomed last winter–the male and female flowers cascade in long decorative cascades when in bloom. This is a coast silktassle, or Garrya elliptica. The leaves are leathery and green, with rippled edges. It’s found growing near the coast in California and Oregon. Even though it superficially looks like an oak, the two groups aren’t at all closely related. The silktassle species are in the Garryaceae family, while oaks are in the Fabaceae.

Silktassle is also known as quinine bush, as early settlers used the bitter bark and leaves as a substitute for quinine. The berries were also used to make a grey or black dye. But besides these few tidbits, there is very little information about the medicinal uses of this interesting tree.

Look for wavy, inrolled leaf margins with a dense white fuzz on the underside of the leaf to tell this plant from other species of silktassle. It’s also the one most likely to be seen near the coast.

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November 4, 2012 · 8:25 pm

Plant of the day: golden chanterelle

There are glints of orange on the forest floor. Graceful little mushrooms, shaped like an upside-down funnel, have risen proudly above the duff. It is a patch of golden chanterelles, the treasure of many a mushroom-hunter! They have stout, smooth stalks ribbed with fleshy ridges that run out underneath the umbrella of the cap. There are several species of golden-yellow species of chanterelle; the one most common in the Bay Area is Cantharellus californicus but the similar looking (and tasting) Cantharellus formosus is also found in California–and others may be as well, according to the Mykoweb database.

I DO NOT recommend eating chanterelles (or any other mushroom) unless you’re absolutely sure of what they are. But. It is worth finding a mentor or joining a mycology outing to learn this stuff. They have a unique, mild flavor and a meaty texture and are absolutely delicious when sautéed with olive oil and garlic. Last night we had them over pasta, sautéed with basil, sweet garden tomatoes, and bacon. It was heavenly.

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November 3, 2012 · 10:49 pm

Plant of the day: common plantain

Plantago major

Green and brown spikes rise six inches above a green rosette of leaves. This is common plantain, or Plantago major, a European weed that you can see usually growing in wet soils. Though the leaves (and seeds) aren’t poisonous, they are tough and bitter, and not generally recommended for eating; if you want to try some, make sure they are young. However, the medicinal uses listed for common plantain are extensive. Heated leaves are used to stop bleeding and encourage tissue repair. Taken internally, it has been used to treat diarrhea, gastritis, peptic ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, hemorrhage, hemorrhoids, cystitis, bronchitis, catarrh, sinusitis, asthma and hay fever.

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November 2, 2012 · 8:35 am

Plant of the day: harding grass

It’s going to be a long day away from the computer, so this one is going to be quick & dirty (hopefully updated later). This is harding grass (Phalaris aquatica), a nasty invasive that not only takes over fields, meadows and lawns but is the bane of hay-fever sufferers’ existence. Luckily it isn’t in bloom right now, but the dried stalks can still be standing tall.

It is another example of human hubris, as it was deliberately introduced to California for forage…

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November 1, 2012 · 11:15 pm

Plant of the day: fat hen

One doesn’t usually think of a salt marsh as a colorful place. It’s pretty much all green plants and brown mud, right? WRONG. Especially at this time of year. The pickleweed is looking like a Christmas decoration, fat little stems of mottled red and green with the bright orange threads of dodder twining around it. As if this weren’t color enough, great swathes of pink have begun to emerge.

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Look close and you’ll see sprawling stems with slightly fleshy triangular leaves. Small seeds are also turning rosy, each small and spiky like a tiny spaceship. This is fat hen, or Atriplex prostrata, a non-native weed has naturalized here from Eurasia. The leaves are said to be bland but edible, and the seeds are as well–if anyone cares to take the time to collect them.

Also known as spear-leaved orache, it can be found growing in salt marshes and weedy places throughout the country.

Random fact: it inhibits the growth of potatoes if the two happen to grow near one another.

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October 31, 2012 · 9:46 am

“Plant” of the day: witch’s butter

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

In a deep dark forest, fallen and rotting logs litter the damp forest floor. Everything is still and silent. No birds sing; no deer trot across the path. The only sound is a weak wind that rustles high in the leaves. The branches are so dense that you can’t catch a glimpse of the sky; the only patch of color is a brilliant autumn leaf that has fallen on a nearby log. But wait! What is that? It’s no leaf. It glistens. It jiggles. It looks like a tiny orange brain clinging to the decaying wood.

This is witch’s butter, or Tremella aurantia. It’s a parasitic fungus–but it’s actually not feeding on the wood of the log, but on another fungus (Stereum hirsutum, or false turkey tail) which in turn is feeding on the dead tan oak. The legend behind the name is that witch’s butter will grow on your gate if a witch has put a hex on you… in order to break the hex, you have to kill the fungus by poking it with pins. It is described as edible but without flavor–the kind of thing a tasteless witch might eat?

There are a few other kinds of witch’s butter that also grow in the area. The best way to tell them apart is by host and where they grow. The one featured here is found on hardwoods (like tanoak), and feeds on false turkey tails–so you’ll see some of these little fan-shaped fungi nearby on the log. It’s cousin, Tremella mesenterica, also grows on hardwoods but feeds on a spreading mold-like fungus called Peniphora. The third (Dacrymyces palmatus) grows only on wood of conifers.

Usually I’ve seen witch’s butter growing in moist forests; the one described above is a stretch of the International trail, and birds actually sing there quite often… Though you can find a silent moment if you try.

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