STORMS, FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL, AND SOUR DOCK

STORM FRONT OVER THE CHANNEL YESTERDAY

FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL BERRIES

SOUR  DOCK

Wednesday, 8:00 AM.  61 degrees F at the ferry dock, 56 on the back porch.  Wind SW, with light to moderate occasional gusts.  The sky is clear with some haze in the east, the humidity is 88% and we got 1.75" of rain from the storm that blew through yesterday evening.  The barometer is trending down, now at 29.83", presaging more stormy weather tonight or tomorrow.

   We have had so many storm fronts come through of late that one tends to ignore them, but yesterday evening's offering was  rather spectacular.
   The migration of fall warblers has evidently begun, as I am seeing many small, virtually unidentifiable (by me) birds flitting about in the mountain ash tree outside the kitchen window.  That tree will be dead and gone next year, killed by the dastardly little sapsuckers, that are evidently unaware that they are destroying a valuable resource base for themselves and their avian fellows.  Pretty much like people.

   The false solomon's seal, Smilacina racemosa, in the Lily family,  often forms a beautiful understory mat in and on the edges of our mixed conifer/deciduous woodlands.  This plant is a far northern species of Canada, New England and the upper Midwest.  Its prominent racemes of white flowers are followed by yellow-orange spotted  berries about the size of a pea,  that eventually ripen to a mottled red.  The berries are not poisonous, and  reportedly have a pleasant acid taste, although I have never tried them (I will do so when they are fully ripe and report back).  The bears eat the berries, and the plants have had a variety of Native American uses in the past, particularly for female problems.
    The several species of the true Solomon’s seal, in the genus Polygonatum, are in the same family, but their flowers are aligned along the underside of the stem rather than in a raceme at the end of the stem. The berries of the false are red when ripe, of the true, blue. The attractive, blueberry-like berries of the true Solomon's seal are reported to be mildly toxic.
  Remember to never ingest any fruit or other plant part unless you are completely aware of what it is and whether it is edible or not, and never use any wild or domestic plant for medicinal purposes without expert advice.
  Sour dock, Rumex crispus, in the smartweed family, the Polygonaceae, is a field weed of European origin that grows in roadside ditches and abandoned fields.  The tall flowering stalks are very noticeable when bearing their red-brown seeds.