SOME BEACH PLANTS BEARING FRUIT

SAND CHERRY: SMALL BUT TASTY WHEN DRIED

CAROLINA ROSE, ROSE HIP...

...A LOW GROWING, THORNY NATIVE ROSE:  COLONY OF SPREADING SHRUBS

Wednesday, 54 degrees F at the ferry dock, 51 on the back porch.  Wind variable with light gusts.  The sky is mostly cloudy, the humidity 86%.  The barometer is declining slightly, now at 30.10".  The foreecast calls for high temperatures between 50 and 60, a chance of rain tomorrow and clearing skies for the weekend.
   I took Buddy to the beach yesterday for a run and we found some interesting plants bearing fruit.  I have mentioned the native sand cherry, Prunus pumila in the Rose Family, as an important dune plant before, but we found them still full of small ripe cherries, black and sweet.  One would have to pick many of them to make preserves, as they are small, with little pulp, but they are tasty, and I assume were valuable in making pemmican, being chewy and particularly good when nearly dried.  Sand Cherry is a far northern plant, native to eastern Canada and around the Great Lakes on sand dunes and shores,
   We also encountered a large bed of what I will identify as Carolina rose, Rosa carolina, which is native to most of eastern North America. I recall them bearing nice single-petaled, rose colored flowers, which developed into quite attractive rose hips.
   Rose hips are a valuable source of vitamin C for native populations that do not have citrus fruits or other garden crops, such as radishes,  that are high in that essential vitamin.  Don't ever just pop one in you mouth to eat it, however, as you are likely to choke on the seeds inside.  I did so once and won't do it again.  To eat a rose hip, peel out the inside of the fruit and also be sure there are no sharp stipules attached to its edible exterior.
   Buddy took a spill running full tilt in the sand and evidently sprained an ankle or a knee and has been limping pretty much on three legs since.  Sure hope he didn't tear a tendon.