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A Tale of Youthful (slight) Recklessness, Fun and

A Tale of Youthful (slight) Recklessness, Fun and Plants
It starts with this plant, Coyote weed (Thamnosma texana, Rutaceae).
It was 1994, and I was on a class field trip in the desert with Michael Moore. On one of our stops, I saw this unfamiliar plant and, of course, wondered, what are you?
I crushed a bit of the leaf and was overwhelmed by a delightful piquant aroma. At first, I thought it might be an Ericaceae (Blueberry family) due to its vase-shaped flowers, but they do not usually have a distinctive smell and are uncommon in the desert. When I finally found its identity, it surprised me even more. It was in the Rutaceae, the Citrus family, also very uncommon in this arid terrain. But it does make sense, as many Citrus plants are sweetly odiferous.
Somehow, I was taken to this plant, and as there were plenty around, I prepared a small tincture.
Not long afterward, I was with some friends and told them about this plant, and as a group, we decided to taste the recently tinctured Thamnosma. The results were …interesting. I would say we got rather loopy. I walked off into the nearby desert scrub and felt the wind and sun on my body in new ways. When I returned to the house, my friends were resting their heads on each other's stomachs, so as they laughed, the others would laugh with their heads bouncing up and down on each other’s bellies. Loopy and fun. I have only tried it once since, and the experience was not the same, so other factors may have been involved. I may try and duplicate the experience, yet.
I must confess, I am the only person who calls this plant 'Coyote weed.' Here is why. It has scarce documentation of any kind, but there is a closely related plant Thamnosma montana, called Turpentine broom. In Desert Wild Flowers by Edmund Jaeger, I found this statement “Sometimes medicine men drank a tea made from it.” And he quotes an elder Indigenous person saying, “They soon went crazy like coyotes…but when they were that way they could find things long lost.”
Very interesting. And a thought for this late winter's evening. ~7Song

Have you ever seen a Dandelion (or other plants) t

Have you ever seen a Dandelion (or other plants) that look like this? I previously thought it was due to multiple stems fusing, but it is caused by a process called fasciation. Fasciation creates changes in the plant’s meristem (growing tip) that causes a flattening of the plant tissue and abnormal growth, such as multiple flowerheads. It is relatively uncommon and has many potential causes. I occasionally see this form in Dandelions, but perhaps because it is such a common plant, the occurrence is more likely.

I find irony and humor useful coping mechanisms in

I find irony and humor useful coping mechanisms in this weird and scary human world. So here is a story from my internal journal. You are welcome to add your own.
Prologue, I did not do well, either socially or scholastically, in public school. This was in the 60s and 70s, and I felt like a chunk of rough quart trying to be squeezed through a narrow straw. Teachers often put me in the very back of the classroom so I wouldn’t distract the other students. (Side note, I started wearing a homemade gas mask in class to protest the Vietnam war. More on that later).
Back to the story. I was in either 5th or 6th grade, and the teacher asked me what were some of Hawaii’s main exports (wtf?). So, I said, Puffa Puffa Rice. This was a popular Kellogg’s cereal back then that always featured a volcano. This received peals of laughter from the students but raised the teacher’s hackles. She couldn’t put me any further back in the classroom without ripping out a wall, so I stayed put, knowing once again I would have a U (Unsatisfactory) mark for behavior in my upcoming report card. Puffa Puffa Rice, indeed.

This is a favorite Comfrey (Symphytum officinale)

This is a favorite Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) photo. The inflorescence of Comfrey is called a scorpioid cyme, so named, as it unfurls like a scorpion’s tail.

This is the largest Chickweed (Stellaria media, Ca

This is the largest Chickweed (Stellaria media, Caryophyllaceae) patch that I’ve ever seen. And it is growing in the relatively dry region of Mormon Lake, Arizona. Has anyone here seen a larger Chickweedscape?

This is a bit sad, but not too bad. A few years ag

This is a bit sad, but not too bad. A few years ago, I saw that this Honeybee had its wing impaled on a Milk thistle flowerhead at the Cornell Botanic Gardens. I slowly lifted it off the spine, and it immediately took off and started collecting nectar from a nearby flower. Busy, as they say.

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