Plant Walk: The Incredible World of Your Local Plants

This weekend I was very blessed to learn about (and taste) many of our native plants. Wanna eat a spiderwort bud? No problem, it's good for your stomach....

Spiderwort, MR, 2014

My Herbology teacher and a local guide led a daylong hike through our forests, and the dozen students (including me) had their minds blown by the abundance of edible and medicinal native plants, some of which grow in our own backyards. I learned a great deal about 31 native plants. All are amazing, and it would take a decade to really learn about just this group. We walk by our native plants every day and often call them weeds. Not so! If you have a chance to take herb or plant walks in your area with people who really know and care about the flora of your area, I urge you to do so. You will be humbled and amazed. And for those of you who, like me, never really liked enclosed classrooms, open spaces and wilderness are awesome places to learn new things....

Class is in session!

A few of my new favorites:

Wild Muscadine Grapes

Saw Palmetto, MR, 2014

They Burned 2 Million Acres of My State?? (But That's OK....)

Yes, every year,  2 million acres of my subtropical state go up in flames. Little good flames actually. Prescribed burns are a vital part of the subtropical ecosystem here, and I had the good fortune to go hiking in an area that was burned a couple of years ago. Here's a view of part of the wildlife refuge that was burned:

Our Forest Service has this to say about prescribed burns, which are organized by councils:

"Prescribed fire is one of the most versatile and cost effective tools land managers use. Prescribed fire is used to reduce hazardous fuel buildups, thus providing increased protection to people, their homes and the forest. Other uses include disease control in young pines, improving habitat for wildlife, range management, preservation of endangered plant and animal species and the maintenance of fire dependent ecosystems."

I have to say that at first, I was creeped out on this hike. It looked post-apocalyptic. But then I started looking more closely at the saw palmettos that had burned, and I was surprised:

Some of these palmettos are up to 700 years old! That means they may have gone through over 200 fires in their long lives. Wow! And here come the new shoots:

Small, prescribed fires kill off scary plant parasites like dodder. Dodder cannot live on its own and will rapidly kill a host plant by living off the plant's fluids and blocking sunlight and air. It can be yellow, light green, flaming orange, or white. You can see how fire killed off most of the dodder in this stand of vegetation. But there's a little left at the top. Too bad, I really don't like dodder at all.

Prescribed burns are planned and made very carefully by groups of knowledgeable people who are trained and certified. These burn areas are actually pretty fascinating, so if you get a chance to see one up close, I'd say go for it!