#arundinaria

[finefiddleheaded]

I guess I have to move and be a person but all I want to do is read about American bamboo and the people who love it

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

!!!!!!!!

The bamboo is spreading

[cool-plants-daily]

Cool Plant: Arundinaria gigantea

Giant River Cane

This plant is extra special! Not only is it one of three members of the genus Arundinaria, which together are North America's only native bamboo, it also once formed extensive bamboo forests in the American Southeast known as canebrakes, where the bamboo stalks could exceed 30 feet tall! The bamboo forests are thought to have covered 10 million acres of the southeastern United States.

River cane grows in damp areas such as low-lying woods and the edges of creeks, and has incredible abilities for resisting erosion and filtering contaminants from groundwater. It is a fire dependent species, and canebrakes were maintained by Native Americans using controlled burns. Native American peoples such as the Cherokee and the Choctaw used the river cane as a super tough all purpose crafting material for everything from flutes and blowguns to baskets, backpacks, mats and bed frames.

Nowadays, it mostly only exists in small patches along fences and in ditches, where it usually grows no taller than 10 feet or so. Since it grows in large clonal colonies and only produces seeds once before the entire patch dies, it is hard for it to reproduce these days. The destruction of the canebrakes by colonists' cattle, plowing, and neglect of the caretaking practices are thought to have helped drive the Carolina parakeet and passenger pigeon to extinction.

Many other species depend on the Arundinaria bamboos to live: there are at least 9 butterfly and moth species that use it as a host plant, and some of the rarest plants in the Southeast, including the Venus flytrap, are often found in remaining fragments of canebrakes.

[dougdimmadodo]

Sulawesi Babirusa (Babyrousa celebensis)

Family: Pig Family (Suidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Vulnerable

Native to the islands of Sulawesi, Pulau Muna, Butung and Lembeh in Indonesia, the Sulawesi Babirusa is a small, slender, almost entirely hairless species of wild pig best known for the four enormous curled tusks seen in adult males (which are derived from highly elongated canine teeth,) although adult females also possess a single pair of smaller, less elaborate tusks protruding from their lower jaws. The tusks of a male babirusa are used to intimidate rival males and impress potential mates (with females generally preferring males with larger, curlier tusks,) although despite their impressive appearance they are brittle and unsuited for fighting; males generally resolve conflicts through intimidation alone, but if a fight does occur they instead rear up onto their hind legs and strike at each other with their front hooves, similar to a clumsier version of the boxing behaviour of hares. Typically inhabiting dense forests or canebrakes (forest-like areas dominated by tall bamboo of the genus Arundinaria,) members of this species tend to remain near permanent bodies of water such as rivers and large ponds and feed mainly on fallen fruit, although like other pig species they are unspecialised omnivores and will also readily consume leaves, roots and small invertebrates. Female Sulawesi Babirusas live in groups of around 15 adults accompanied by their young, while males are generally solitary outside of the mating season (between January and August). Unlike most pigs females of this species produce only small litters of 1-2 piglets each year, with young being born tuskless and covered in a coat of short, reddish-brown hair.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/74099-Babyrousa-celebensis

[vibinwiththefrogs]

Omg thank you for all the information 😭 I'll respond to this all more succinctly next weekend because I'm not at the house with the cane during the week to take note on it. I do have a followup post I made a few days ago right here

I also am planning to move updates about this and other yard activities to @pokeberry-enthusiast . I will most likely clear more and post more notes next weekend.

Cane/Bamboo Adventures Part 1/?

So we just moved into a new house and there's this huge thing in the very back of the yard along a creek that I thought was bamboo, then I thought it was cane, and then after checking as many cane ID posts and videos I could find, I'm still completely unsure. My friend who's a wildlife student says it doesn't look like bamboo to her, but we both agree it doesn't look like the cane we've seen around South Georgia. She said it must be Arundinaria gigantea because no other cane gets this large, but all the cane we've seen identified as A. gigantea doesn't look like this. Here's my notes and some pics.

First, the leaves are much smaller than cane I've seen around here. Even very small, young cane around here has leaves about the length of my forearm.

Second, a couple things online I found distinguishing bamboo from cane say that new bamboo branches grow outward, while cane grows more upward. However there seems to be both upward and outward shoots on this bunch (examples of both pictured above). Also worth noting, the picture above on the left is the biggest diameter branch I found. I have relatively small hands for context (I wear small-medium sized gloves).

Then here's just some more pictures. I crawled down into a creek for the root picture (left)(a steep 7 foot drop haha). The middle picture is the youngest bunch I found, again it doesn't resemble cane I've seen around here. The picture on the right is a further away picture after I cleared some dead branches.

Also worth noting, this is tucked behind a house, between a fence, a creek, and like 3 trees. So it doesn't have a ton of space to grow, and I'm guessing that's why it's so dense.

If anyone happens to know anything about this please let me know! A week or so ago I emailed a guy from NC State and uploaded it on inaturalist, but I haven't received any replies or ID 😭

[elbiotipo]

Me fascina el sur estadounidense porque el clima, y en mucha medida la naturaleza, es muy parecida a mi propio hogar (el litoral argentino).

Y encuentro muchos paralelismos; así como el Gran Chaco ahora está pasando por un proceso de pampeanización, con la destrucción total de la matriz vegetal "mosaico" (o sea, bosques sabanas y humedales) para el cultivo de soja y otros, el sur estadounidense también sufrió una transformación muchísimo más destructiva y profunda. Para pensar que el sur de EEUU, antes de las grandes transformaciones de su ambiente con la colonización, tenía cotorras (Cotorra de Carolina, extinta), cañaverales (Arundinaria, que de no ser por tumblr no sabía que existía, casi extinta), yaguaretés (!!!), y por supuesto todavía tiene caimanes y otra fauna bien subtropical. El Paraná no parece tan lejos del Mississippi.

Y lo que me sorprende acá es la discriminación que siempre veo asociada CONTRA el sur de EEUU. Porque desde que tengo memoria que ando en el internet anglosajón, el sur de EEUU siempre es un chiste; lleno de racistas, incesto, pobreza, mala educación. Lo cual me parece irónico, porque justamente es el sur donde vive una gran cantidad de afro-americanos, así que no es un poco raro acusar a toda una región de racismo, sabiendo que las principales víctimas de ese racismo viven ahí y lo consideran su hogar? Y no solamente eso, sino la cultura que tiene. Sin el sur, no existiría el rock ni el funk que tanto disfruto, ni hablar del jazz o del blues y mucho más. Cosas que no solo formaron la cultura de EEUU, sino que transcendieron a una escala global.

En fin, me parece interesante esto porque yo vivo en un contexto donde la cultura de EEUU, en general, se impone sobre mi país y el resto del mundo por la globalización. Y al ver como es EEUU por dentro, veo que esa imposición también empieza y se da ahí de cierta forma (y esto ni siquiera hablando de las tribus nativas, la segregación y mucho más). Es como lo siguiente; el sur de EEUU, como el litoral argentino, es subtropical, es "exótico". Lo cual no concuerda con un mundo que es, culturalmente, eurocéntrico, y templadocéntrico. Así que incluso si forma parte de ese centro de los países centrales, siempre culturalmente se lo discrimina y se lo tiene apartado de lo que es algo "culto" y "rico", como sería el norte de EEUU. Cuando me quejé del eurocentrismo en las historias de ficción, apunto a esto. Como se expresa incluso en el rechazo de ciertos climas y culturas, que parece tan arraigado que hay gente que ni lo piensa dos veces.

(ni siquiera llegué a tocar directamente de política acá porque eso ya es otro tema)

[wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart]

Steve Harrington's babies from favorite to least favorite in no particular order because he loves all his kids equally

based on this

(image limit is a bitch so pics of the bonsai trees will be in the reblog </3)

1. Non-Concussed Steve (Petunia)

(it was a present after all it is only polite to get misty-eyed every time he looks at her)

2. Rose Nylund (apple tree Bonsai)

(what can he say, it was love at first sight)

3. Dorothy Zbornak (Scarlet Begonia Bonsai)

(tiny tree AND pretty flowers?! Do you even need to ask at this point)

4. Blanche Devereaux (azalea bonsai)

(Don't tell Blanche but he just finds Dorothy's colors a bit prettier)

5. Sophia Petrillo (juniper bonsai)

(he loves the way the trunk twists and turns)

6. The Golden Girl (maple tree bonsai)

(Her full name is actually the golden girls intro song but when other people are around he only calls her gold)

7. Tall Lucas (Dracaena Fragrans)

(the one that opened his eyes to the possibility of trees in small)

8. Mike Junior (Swiss Cheese Plant)

(it was his first adopted plant it has a special place in his heart)

9. Eddie Blink Blink Asshole (Gerbera Daisy)

(He just finds the flower pretty okay?! Everyone else only knows this beauty as Eddie only, and Steve is taking the full name to his grave)

10. Supergirl (String of Pearls)

(Admittedly he always puts this one a bit further up because he feels bad that he only associated it with El because of her nosebleeds. And Supergirl is also super good at hanging.)

11. Red Cactusfield (Cactus)

(She would be higher if she didn't keep pricking his finger like a fucking asshole. She also falls a bit into the background because she isn't as needy as some others) (he is talking about the bonsais)

12. Will The Strong (arundinaria appalachiana)

(the shame he feels every time he looks at the plant he got because he thought it looked "exotic" only to find out that it is native will never completely leave him)

13. Henderson Hard-Head (Succulent)

(his foot is still sore from when this fucker fell on it)

[kaapstadmk]

Major props to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for not pulling any punches in their write-up for Arundinaria gigantea

Like, full shade. 100% here for it

[gremlins-hotel]

Random Fun fact: Bamboos do exist in the US and are found in the Eastern and Southeastern states, from the south of New Jersey to Florida and west of Texas.

So my question is, have you ever seen bamboo in Texas?

the genus arundinaria! three species. i can't recall if i've seen them with my own eyes, but considering i've been up and down the eastern seaboard and through the entire southeast, the chance is pretty decent that i have. in texas specifically? i don't live in the bioregion that it would prefer, but I'm sure it's still around here!

[americangrove]

Easement

I did not see a parakeet. Nor did I expect to because the last time anyone saw the kind I could have seen was one hundred years ago. But had I seen one, it would have had a green body, a yellow neck, and a red crown, like a granny smith apple, turning into a golden delicious, ending with a fuji flourish. Unlike apples though, this parakeet would have been indigenous. Back in his day, Audubon fixed four of them, all on a branch of matured cocklebur, their name swirling below–Carolina Parrot or Parakeet—just as live ones would have swirled above and outside his page, until they all passed (a century later) into life only re-presented (drawings, pictures, reminiscence, taxidermy).[1] So, I did not see a parakeet.

But I did see cane, as I was in a canebrake. Switchcane, rivercane and hill cane, the genus Arundinaria trio, bamboos native to North America. I am not sure which species of cane I was in, though my guess is switchcane (A. tecta), as rivercane (A. gigantea) also has the name of giant cane for its remarkable height—at maturity it is taller than a grown man on a grown horse; and hill cane (A. appalachiana) has a topographic preference that did not describe the place where I stood. 

Nevertheless, they all look similar, more like plants in diagram rather than plants in dirt, their linear stems appear pencil drawn, their lance like leaves seem generated by straight edge. Enmassed, canebrakes look like early computer-generated greenery before sinuosity was possible. In a way, they are an early plant—a fire rolls through, clears the understory, perhaps takes a tree or two down with it; the flames cease and cane is among the first to resurface, and resurface quickly for it is not as dependent on reseeding as it is on its rhizome.[2] Like the longleaf pines which it once accompanied over the land, it looked forward to the fire next time. Out of the flames came thickets, which though they may have barred other plants, they were quite welcoming to Carolina parakeets, warblers, “cougars, bobcats and wolves” canebrake rattlesnakes, creole pearly eye butterfly and untold others.[3] Walls of cane were a kind of mass housing for the many migrant, squatter and settling organisms of the southeast. They (particularly river cane) also provided materials of home and place making for humans, as their straight stems were (and still are) gathered by Native American communities especially the Cherokee.[4] Once hollowed out, canes can become basket or blowgun, mat or flute, or—as has become a rustic object— fishing poles.  There are not many significant canebrakes today. Cattle ate them, draining and development cleared them, fire suppression stymies their return; the scattered groupings I see along the road are remnants of a lost empire, holding out amidst a concrete ground that stifles them, a dense forest that smothers them, and farmland that suppresses them. But unlike the parakeet they remain. Though, like the parakeet, I was not in the canebrake to see the cane—it fortunately just happened to be there.

I only saw the canebrake, because I was in a conversation easement, which I only noticed because of a small, yellow, all caps sign—"NORTH CAROLINA SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION EASEMENT BOUNDARY”. “Easement” is one of those legal terms that I knew more by general use than specific meaning.  Modified by the word “conservation” easement suggested the land was protected, but why, by who and to what extent was unclear until I looked it up later. The NC Department of Environmental Quality defines conservation easements as: “voluntary legal agreements designed to ensure the long-term viability and protection of the natural resources within a surveyed and recorded boundary. The easement planning process establishes allowances and restrictions that are beneficial to the landowner, the easement holder, and the environment.”[5] The conservation easement then is not foremost a means of protection, but (much more interesting I think), it is a way of organizing layers of rights and access upon a property.  Someone owns the lands, but the easement gives some else a right to use it (or not use it, in a way, when conservation is the right being exercised) which in turn inflects the rights and possibilities of both the one who possess the land and others (like myself) who neither own the land, nor hold an easement, but still gain some benefit from the easement’s existence (i.e. enjoying a now rare landscape feature).[6] The yellow sign that alerted me to presence of the easement was nailed into a sweet gum tree. In the FAQ for conservation easements one of the questions asks: “Are there way to precisely identify the boundaries of a conservation easement?”  

The answer:

As part of the restoration project, all easement corners were surveyed and monumented in the ground with metal rods. Most of these rods are also topped with 2” diameter aluminum caps. DEQ also uses a variety of methods to post easement boundaries including signage, metal posts, and tree blaze. These may be a witness post or witness tree, located near the line but not the exact location of the boundary.[7]

In some ways, my studies right now could be described as figuring out the extra-legal work of these “witness trees” and their “artefacted” forms into “witness posts” (and columns and panels and all sorts of other wooden things that “witness” human contracts and contact).[8] It gave me pause then, after reading the FAQ to realize that I had witnessed a witness tree that still witnesses (instead of being one in a historical document or text), but that in the moment the sweet gum’s legal function had not even registered to me. I was much more taken by the train of ants along its trunk likely extracting honeydew from aphids up in the canopy, and by the trail of Virginia creeper going up further than the ants, in search of its own luminous food. From the tree’s perspective, witnessing a survey has been only one frame in a very long film still being made around, and around and around it.

In truth, I did even see the easement sign until I was near the tree. And the reason I was near the tree is because a few feet away from it, along the road was the initial object of my attention—a set of black and yellow object marker signs denoting some feature adjacent to the road, a feature which is this case was a culvert underneath the road. Culverts, in their projecting pipe form look like engineering/infrastructural litter, debris left over from a drainage project. In addition to being the ugliest kind they are also the cheapest and least efficient—they do little to channel a flow directly into their opening, which limits how much comes out their exit, potentially leading to the water overflowing the road. Luckily, the culvert I came to see is the recessed box kind with wings extending on its side to welcome water into its inlet, guiding it towards its outlet.[9] Embedded in the earth, moss covered, and a bit worn, there is a minimalist beauty to this kind culvert that does not readily betray the complexity of its task at once to convey ground traffic above and the traffic of water underneath. On the outlet side, some of the water pooled, its clear bottom supported small fish and tadpoles, while its silty edge moistened mosses and grasses and a bit further up also the canes. The water this culvert channels comes from the Indian Branch River, which drains into Deep Creek River, which drains into the Tar River, which drains into the Pamlico Sound, which joins the Atlantic Ocean. Follow these larger waters and you’ll find the larger history of the canes and the Cherokees, the parakeets and the many trees which have witnesses the work of so many kinds of settling, the human version being the most recent, but likely not the last. Though we often like to think otherwise, our homes and other feats of building are ultimately done under a kind of “natural easement”, the land allows us access for a while, but as all the other prior communities of plants or persons show, no claim of possession is final, no root is long and deep enough to always remain (though many can be long remnant). Maybe I will be able to spend a good deal of my life following these state and nation spanning roots, weavings, waters and rhizomes.  

But it is not yet time to go so far out. Afterall, the only reason I saw the signs for the culvert, which put me in range to see the blaze on the tree, which brought me close enough to see a canebrake, which led me to imagine what it would be like to still be able to see parakeets, was because I pass the culvert nearly every day when I am home. Fifteen hundred feet from the front door, I have crossed this place many times running, enjoying the brief respite of shade provided by the gums before the land opens again for the farms; and I have driven by it many more times on the way to town, the car bouncing lightly over the culvert.  So, I have noticed this spot for nearly thirty years, but this is first time I have “witnessed” the three hundred years of history flowing and growing in it. Either part separately is valuable—to live in a place and feel its features or to come to a place and learn its features, nesting sensations (the shade of the trees, the bump of the road…) or nesting histories (extinction, settlement…). But to bring them together, may, for a moment sustain that special sense which is just able to catch an apple-colored dart zipping across the far end of the eye.

Photos

[1] The Carolina Parakeet, once common from New York down to the Gulf of Mexico, seems to have gone in the first half of the 20th century. The last documented one, named Incas, died in captivity in 1918. It is unclear exactly why it went extinct though habitation destruction seems part of the problem. See: https://johnjames.audubon.org/last-carolina-parakeet and https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-carolina-parakeet-go-extinct-180968740/

[2] There is strong interest in canes and restoring canebrakes. For a general overview see: Barret, Richard; Grabowski, Janet; Williams, M.J. "Giant Cane and Other Native Bamboos: Establishment and Use for Conservation of Natural Resources in the Southeast" U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2021. For a 18th account of cane use in North Carolina see: Lawson, John.  A New Voyage to North Carolina. London: 1709. Digitized at https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/lawson/menu.html.  Lawson recorded  many ways that cane was used by the Cherokee.

[3] See: Platt, Steven G., Christopher G. Brantley, and Thomas R. Rainwater. “Canebrake Fauna: Wildlife Diversity In A Critically Endangered Ecosystem.” Journal of The Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 117, No. 1 (2001): 1–19.

[4] For contemporary work to maintain these traditions see: https://theonefeather.com/2012/05/22/river-cane-important-cherokee-cultural-staple/

[5] See: https://www.deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/deq-administrative-divisions/north-carolina-stewardship-program/living-your-conservation-easement#Aretherewaystopreciselyidentifytheboundariesofaconservationeasement-8672

[6] Though my enjoyment in this case was not a right because this easement is not public (i.e., I was trespassing).

[7] See link on note 4.

[8] Other have already done some of this work. See for example: Miller, Daegan. This Radical Land. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2018.

[9] Here is a wonderfully informative video on culverts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15XJDmawbYU

Images:

Carolina Parrot or Parakeet” in The Birds of America: From Drawings Made in the United States and Their Territories Volume 4. John James Audubon. New York: J.B. Chevalier, 1842. p.306.

Image 3208 (Canebrake in Northeast Louisiana early 1900’s). USDA Bureau of Plant Introduction. See note 2 for source.

[official-nature-posts]

Loving to hear more news on the rivercane. I was enthralled by your earlier ramblings.

so i'm going to have to move like 60 rivercanes indoors for the hard frost coming since i don't have time to put them all in bigger pots and pile mulch around them and everything

i must say. i was not expecting to end up with 150+ river cane seedlings. I would have been fucking thrilled to have even two

they need repotted ASAP because they are growing rhizomes outwards to try to spread and hitting the sides of the pots, a bunch of them are growing additional stems as tall as the original stem at the very edges of their pots because they wanna Expand

[two-calicos-in-a-trenchcoat]

So while I was walking chewby i decided to take some pictures of grasses we have growing around my neighborhood to try and identify on iNaturalist when I got home

Figure if im gonna be walking her out there anyway cuz my dad won't take her on walks I may as well kill two birds with one stone and try to figure out how much of what's growing back there is native and whats invasive

We have a bunch of what im pretty sure is Prairie wedge grass

Which is native so thats cool

But then

WHAT ARE YOU????

YOU SPROUTED UP SO FAST I DIDNT SEE YOU THERE LAST WEEK?????

AND YOURE ALREADY DRIED OUT????

WHERE HAVE YOU COME FROM?????

AND THIS STUPID ASS FENCE IS IN THE WAY SO I CANT EVEN GET A BETTER LOOK AT YOU

Like its clearly some kind of reed but WHAT KIND

Its near the creek

Be crazy if it was arundinaria gigantea lol (I doubt it is but that would be fuckin cool)

[rosy-avenger]

I don't know for sure but I believe this is Her - Arundinaria gigantea! Found at Big Bone Lick State Park in KY.

The scale doesn't come across super well in the photos, but the chainlink fence in the second photo was about 5' high, so this stand is pretty tall!

@headspace-hotel for your records

[the-world-of-ignavus]

Medicinal Herbs and Poisons - B (WIP)

Bamboo - Arundinaria

Alt Name(s): Cane

A fairly resilient and adaptable, hard ‘shelled’ grass-like plant commonly used for crafting barriers. There are three variants known to the western side of the world - river canes, mountain cain and short cain with river cain being the most notorious and the largest. Typically have round, sort of sharp-shaped leaves with various branches toward the top - they can easily be mistaken for trees. 

Growth Conditions: Very Resilient - can handle partial, full and no shade alongside anything from dry to wet soil. Prefers loamy earth with high organic materials thought.

Found In:

The outskirts of the Greenwood Forest

Along the major river

Sporadically scattered in the Vastweald

Effects:

Roots - A general painkiller

Used In:

Pain Soothers

Alternative(s): Sticks (less effective, prone to splintering)

/ / / /

Basamroot - Balsamorhiza sagittata

Alt Name(s): N/A

One of the many sunflower lookalikes, balsamroot has silvery-gray leaves covered in tiny little hairs (especially on the back) that get smaller the higher up they are on the tall green stem. At the top is usually one blossom although two or even three can be attached to the same stem with thin, deep yellow petals spoked around a darker, slightly orange-ish center. They’re a popular snack for deer and rabbit. 

Rarity: Semi-Common

Growth Conditions: Prefers full sun with dry to moist or silty to loamy soils, though once they’ve really dug their roots in they’re willing to tolerate droughts and partial shade. Very vulnerable to having their roots disturbed 

Found In:

The West Coast

The Galespun Moor

Effects:

Leaves - Anti-Inflammatory, pain killer

Roots - Anti-Inflammatory, headache assistance, respiratory support

Used In:

Burn Salves

Cough Elixirs

Warning(s): Consumption in large amounts can result in stomach-cramps, it can also stimulate/induce labor

Alternative(s): N/A

/ / / /

Beadwood - Hamamelis virginiana

Alt Names: Witchhazel

A small, thin limbed and flexible tree with light brown or gray bark that usually grows along the edges of a forest with rounded, broad cone-edged green leaves accompanied by spidery-looking yellow blossoms along its branches. They’re sensitive to droughts but are more tolerant of heavy clay soils and erosion more-so than some other plants and are resistant to grazing from deer.

Rarity: Uncommon

Growth Conditions: Full or partial shade with heavy organism matter sprinkled within it with well-drained soils though it can tolerate flooded soil

Found In:

The West Coast Stretch

The Western Reach

Effects:

Stems (Boiled) - anti-inflammatory

Leaves (Boiled) - rash relief, anti-inflammatory

Leeched Tannin - potential remedy for wasting-sickness

Used In:

Rash Salve

Most basic elixirs

Alternative(s):

/ / / /

Birch - Betula occidentalis

Alt Name(s): Scarlet Birch, Water Birch, Red Birch

A relatively short and hardy scrubby tree that sprouts multiple, thinner trunks of a reddish color, coated in various small knots that gives it splashes of color. They have small, oval-ish serrated leaves and are a very popular snack among sheep, deer and goats while the birds are fond of their seeds.

Rarity: Rare

Growth Conditions: Grows in full sun to partial shade with moist to wet soils

Found In:

Outskirts of the Vastweald

Southern Outskirts of the Dancing Stars

Effects:

Bark and Stems - Soothes sores, cares for pimples, skin cleanser

Used In:

Rash Salve

Warning(s): None

Alternative(s):

/ / / /

Birdcherry

Alt Name(s): Chokeberry

Rarity: Uncommon

Growth Conditions: Full to partial sunlight in dry to medium-damp soil though they are willing to tolerate droughts and sandy or rocky soil

Found In:

The Nursery Stretch

The Wanderer’s Pass

The Western Coast

Effects:

Crushed Leaves - Soothes digestive problems, lessens fever, opens airways

Berries - Prey lure, offering to prey animals

Used In:

Berry Jams and Sauces

Fever Poultice / Fever Elixir

Warning(s): Birdcherries are mildly poisonous and should never be eaten raw if possible, only after being cooked

Alternative(s): Agrimony (safer, has a higher dosage point)

/ / / /

Blackberry

Alt Name(s): N/A

Rarity:

Growth Conditions:

Found In:

Effects:

Used In:

Warning(s):

Alternative(s):

/ / / /

Bloodroot

Alt Names: Braise Root, Burnroot

A medium-sized plant with a gentle green stem topped with about 9 delicate white petals and yellow stamen; a singular basal large basal leaf attached. Bloodroot releases an orangey-red sap that gives it its name

Rarity: Uncommon

Growth Conditions: In both moist and dry thickets near shores or streams though occasionally in meadows

Found In:

Fennyield Outskirts

Deep in the Vastweld Forest

Effects:

Eschar

Permanent Disfigurement

Ulcers

Used In:

Tattoos

Alternative(s): Carving

/ / / /

| Medicinal Herbs and Poisons - A |

[canisvesperus]

The Americas do have many indigenous grapes (Vitis sp.)

And rice (tribe Oryzeae)

And plums/apricots/cherries/peaches (Prunus sp.)

Bamboos/canes as well (subfamily Bambusoideae)

Arundinaria gigantea

Arundinaria tecta

Arundinaria appalachiana

And a few small but mighty crabapples (Malus sp.)

M. fusca

M. angustifolia

M. coronaria

By no means an exhaustive list, just listing a few local native species and others off of the top of my head. I’ve tried many of these and they’re delicious!

I think so much about the food people ate pre-Columbian exchange. Huge parts of cuisine extremely important on both sides of the pond just didn't exist.

You've probably heard a little about what was brought over from the New World, corn, potatoes, cocoa, cassava, peanuts, chili peppers, avocadoes, cranberries, pumpkins, and the like. Imagine cooking without chili! Without potatoes! Modern Indian cuisine contains enormous amounts of potatoes and we just didn't have those for the vast majority of history. The best of the nightshades all on one contiguous hunk of land. Hell, tomatoes! Almost forgot about those.

But we don't often look at what the Old World had. Wheat! Barley! Rice! A profusion of incredible grains, really, the finest poaceae has to offer. Carrots! Tons of rosaceous plants like apples and cherries and pears and peaches and apricots! Grapes! Soy and Bamboo! Okra and watermelon! All these things were simply never found in the Americas. The grains one is the wildest for me, the variety of grains available across Eurasia and Africa was truly astounding.

You know what binds together the food of all cultures across the world? Onions. Onions are fucking everywhere. There's probably onions growing near you right now. Allium Gang Unite.

[totterworks]

7 Surprising Things That are Native to the Americas

1. Bamboo

Arundinaria is a genus of bamboo native to North America. Though in America it’s known as cane. They’ve been used by the Native Americans for centuries in basket weaving and other important crafts. Giant Cane or Rivercane (Arundinaria gigantea), in particular, is considered a precious resource that was used in the making of baskets, flutes, arrows and other weapons, bean poles, and jewelry.

2. Pineapple

Pineapple was first domesticated in South America. I would’ve thought Pineapple grew in some tropical tree like a coconut. But, they actually just grow straight out of the ground on a stalk.

3. Peanuts

Like the pineapple, peanuts are thought to have first originated in South America. Peanut butter—or at least a ground paste—was even recorded by indigenous Mexican and South Americans. Huh. Just think. The Mesoamericans could’ve grounded up peanuts and then mashed up some prickly-pear cactus fruit. Spread them both on a tortilla and boom! Pre-Columbian peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

4. Cassava

Because of its association with African dishes (like the West African fufu), its easy to think this plant sprang from the African continent. But, it actually originated in South America. Side note: I actually got the Cassava (Manihot esculenta) and Yucca plant confused at one point. Yuca (a.k.a Cassava) is not the same as Yucca. They are from two unrelated plant groups, with Yuccas being a member of the asparagus family.

5. The Ringtail

The ringtail (Bassariscus astutus) is a small adorable animal that looks like it stepped out of a tropical Asian rainforest. But, if you live near the deserts in the American Southwest you might not have to look any further than your backyard. The ringtail is a common North American native and a relative of raccoons and coatimundis. Unlike both of its relatives, however, next to no one ever talks about the ringtail in real life or even in nature documentaries. If it hadn’t been for the internet, I’m not sure if or when I would’ve even heard of one. I was absolutely shocked when I found out that you could find these animals in Texas.

6. The Coatimundi

I know this one shouldn’t count because everyone knows the Coatimundi is from the Americas. But most of us North Americans only think about them as “exotic” animals from in the tropics of Mexico and the South American jungles alongside other popular wildlife icons like the sloth and the capybara. Imagine my surprise knowing a random North American can find this animal in their backyard as far north as Arizona. They even share a space with their cousin, the Ringtail.

7. The Pronghorn Antelope

One look at this animal and you'd think you were staring at a photo taken at a South African Safari. In reality, you're staring at the native of the North American Savannah, the Pronghorn Antelope (Antilocapra americana). Interestingly, some of their closest relatives are the Okapi and the Giraffe. But they are the American equivalent of the gazelle being able to clock speeds of up to 55 miles per hour!