Late this afternoon I went for a walk in our woods. Here is a picture that I took of a black birch that as a seedling got its start by growing on a stump of a cut down tree. The 'nursery' stump has long since deteriorated away leaving the 'trunks' of the roots reaching down to the soil. In my wandering I have found black birch of various sizes and the nursery stumps that have been in various degrees of decay. I find this tree to look more like fauna than flora!
David
Neat photo. Nice "legs". Reminds me of an octopus.
Ya neat photo. Reminds me more of a squid that octopus though. LOL What amazing things everybody seems to find.
Is the black birch a Northern cultivar? Ony birtch that doe s halfway decent down here is 'Dura- Heat'.
Now will be singing that song. She's got legs Lalalalala
Black birch (Betula lenta) is at the northern extent of its range here in our area of Vermont. Another common name for this tree is sweet birch. When you chew on a twig it has a lovely wintergreen flavor. This tree grows in most of New England down the Appalachian Mountains into northern Alabama and Georgia.
Another common name for this tree is sweet birch
I am intrigued by the number of comments on DG about the taste of leaves and twigs and plants. I don't know anyone who grazes their plantings. Is this a characteristic that starts at a young age and could perhaps predict one's affinity for things horticultural? David_Vermont, what made you chew that twig? Was it the name "sweet birch", or do you also chew on other trees?
Notgreen jean... I never knew there was so many trees to sniff, eat and make useful products out of til I took Aboriculture class. It's a great way to help identify trees. The day that makes me laugh the most is when we were out at 8am doing a plant walkand id and were presented a tree and given a leaf and told this was a better breakfast than any fastfood breakfast we could find. He gave us Sourwood to eat. LOL
There are even trees for brushing your teeth with. : )
I have wondered if Sourwood tastes like sour wood... I have much to learn before I start eating trees and shrubs. I'm likely to pick an oleander for my first tasting. Which trees are good for teeth-brushing? That's an interesting idea... and I'm sure some plant's leaves would make a good paste to go with.
Good question. I've never tasted it but I have "sampled" quite a few other plants. I think you hit it on the head, plant geeks graze.
I haven't a clue which plants are good for teeth-brushing but the Eyeball Plant (Spilanthes acmella) is allegedly good for for tooth aches. Does that count for anything teeth related;) You could try growing a few of those in and amongst your trees and you would definitely feel as if you "weren't alone" out in your yard.
No way. There are enough eyeballs staring at me in my yard, and I am sure they all belong to spiders just waiting to jump on me.
I have grown eyeball plants! They even overwintered a couple years. I never did try its numbing properties out. My son and I went through a bout of "you try it.....no you try it...no you try it....." that ended in a stalemate.
OK, I'll admit to having chewed it. We didn't know whether to chew the leaves or the flowers so we sampled them both. Hint, chew the flower buds only. Me and Lisa feasted on my plant. We chewed and nothing happened. We chewed more and nothing happened so we popped a few more "not so tasty" tid bits in our mouths and chewed and waited then vavoom... we were both drooling. Yup, chew this plant and you will have saliva falling out of your mouth uncontrollably. You think nothing is going to happen and then all of the sudden your mouth gets hot and you are drooling. It does numb your gums temporarily but no where near the way hurricane gel numbs you. Good news, the plant is also bacteriostatic so I guess we fought a little tooth decay for a while.
Lookie here-
http://www.digitalnaturopath.com/treat/T475857.html
Appears you can treat yourself for Malaria and Lyme's disease with this plant too!
I have been waiting to get the attached picture of me from my mother so that I could follow up with notgrnjean's question posted on December 13th. Attached is a photo that my mother took of me decades ago. I had been holding a cup with flowers in it and after pulling them out drank the water. I got a proper inoculation of all thing horticultural for this magical elixir. So yes I go around grazing on various botanical things. Linden bud have a lovely nutty flavor and their young leaves are nice to eat...... tastes sort of......... well green! Crushed prickly ash have a nice citrus smell. Twigs of red elms when chewed produce a very impressive slime that is suppose to be good for sore throats. Love the taste of various pine needles. Daylily buds are nice and crunchy with a peppery taste. I could go on and on.
I spotted this young Yellow Birch on today's 'xmas eve walk.......it's clinging to an ancient American Chestnut log...this rot resistant "nurse log" could still last many years!
conifer50
Merry Christmas! This thread made me laugh out loud. I do think there's something to the theory that plant geeks like to taste, & scratch n'sniff, their plants. Woody ornamentals is another great class for sampling the goods.
'Spotted this Black Birch today while "driving along along a country road" near the Yellow Birch from my previous post! There's no evidence left of the nurse log or stump.....
conifer50
