Botany Club Report

by Ted Hampton

On November 4 at Charles Bishop’s home, six members of the Botany Group shared thoughts and information about the following plants of our choice.

SASKATOON BERRY is a shrub/tree and a member of the Service Berry family. The wood is very hard, and has been used for fishing rods and as grafting stock for pear and quince. The name is a Cree word which gave the city of Saskatoon its name. A jar of jam was circulated at the meeting and everyone enjoyed the sweet and tangy flavour and the deep red colour.

SOLOMON’S SEAL: A relative of Lily of the Valley,it lives for 15 years. It has dangling white flowers and arching stems and foliage. The starchy root has been used as potato or bread flour. The root is a rhizome and it is said that the circular scar left by the stem, after it breaks away, resembles the seal of King Solomon.

The native CHRISTMAS FERN is green and beautiful at Christmas time and is commonly found on rocky slopes, along wooded stream banks and in ravines. It grows 3 feet high in circular arching clumps from a central rootstock. Each attendee was able to hold and examine an individual frond. The leaves are the shape of Santa’s boots! Some leaves are fertile and produce fruit dots at the tip.

FIELD BINDWOOD is a wild Morning Glory growing in fields, roadsides, gardens and waste places. The stems twine always to the right and climb on any nearby object. The flower is white and funnel shaped – a 1 inch miniature morning glory. The plant was introduced to North America from Europe and Asia in the 18th century and is now considered a troublesome weed.

 

PEARLY EVERLASTING is a native species, long ago exported to Europe and common in English gardens by the late 1600s. It has a sweet honey fragrance and is attractive to the Red Admiral butterfly. In Canada, dried plants were added to smoking mixtures and were used to treat many medical complaints. The flowers and the fruits are pearl shaped and a soft white. When dried, these flowers are truly “everlasting”.

We meet next on December 2, 2013 at Muriel Farrant’s home.