Wild Hardy Cyclamen

Sure we love to recycle things here in Oregon, but this post has nothing to do with that! Cyclamen is a genus of flowering plants in the Primulaceae (Primrose) family that bloom in the Fall. Here in western Oregon you are likely to see the odd looking, dainty, purple blooms of the Hardy Cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium) in shady moist areas right now (9/25/2013). They tend to form vast colonies of spreading tubers, and can carpet the forest floor with their purple and white blooms.

There are about two dozen Cyclamen species. Most can be grown outdoors. You may be familiar with the Florist Cyclamen (C.persicum) that is often given as a gift and must be grown indoors as it is not hardy.

Cyclamens are native to the Mediteraniun basin area of Europe. In some areas the wild species have been excessively removed by locals to use in flower shops, to the point of near extinction.

While researching Cyclamens, I discovered many poems have been written in reference to them. Most seem to be on the morbid side for some odd reason. Here's an example verse by Arlo Bates:

Over the plains where Persian hosts
Laid down their lives for glory
Flutter the cyclamens, like ghosts
That witness to their story.
Oh, fair! Oh, white! Oh, pure as snow!
On countless graves how sweet they grow!    (Complete poem here)

On a lighter note, there are quite a few blooming right now at Jenkins Estate, under the cover of large firs. They push up through the piles of needles on the ground. Each leaf has its own stalk as does each flower. The flowers sit about six inches off the ground and are about 3/4 tall. I observed very few leaves, although a few were coming up.

Purple Flowers

White Flowers

Typical Clump Under the Trees

An Advanced Cyclamen Colony

Sunflowers!

Almost everyone knows something about sunflowers; or sunflower seeds, oil, bird feed, and even famous paintings! Wild common sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) grew naturally in our own Southwest more than 5000 years ago and our native residents were quick to cultivate them for food and other non-food uses. Sunflower seeds were brought back to Europe in the 16th century, where they were also cultivated extensively. The Incas and the Aztecs thought of the sunflower as a symbol of the solar deity in their culture.

In the mid 1700's Russians began to cultivate sunflowers for oil production. This was largely due to the prohibition of using other oils during Lent. Using sunflower oil was apparently OK. By the early 1800's, large scale production had started in Russia. Then, in the late 1800's those Russian seeds made their way back to North America, where immigrants likely planted their hybridized sunflowers.

It seems like when I was in grade school, we all grew sunflowers in class as a science project. They are easy to grow and hard to kill, so that makes for a good kid's project! And they do grow quickly. No doubt this is one reason the natives took a liking to them. Some writings say sunflowers were cultivated before corn.

There is a common myth that sunflower heads track the movement of the sun during the day. In fact, most sunflowers face east throughout the day. Another interesting sunflower fact is the giant flower head on some varieties is not a single flower, but a composite of many smaller ones. This allows the plant to produce hundreds of seeds on each composite.

And here's some content for all you math fans out there, courtesy of Wikipedia. The flower petals within the sunflower's cluster are always in a spiral pattern. Generally, each floret is oriented toward the next by approximately the golden angle, 137.5°, producing a pattern of interconnecting spirals, where the number of left spirals and the number of right spirals are successive Fibonacci numbers. Typically, there are 34 spirals in one direction and 55 in the other; on a very large sunflower there could be 89 in one direction and 144 in the other. This pattern produces the most efficient packing of seeds within the flower head.

Sunflowers commonly grow to heights between 1.5 and 3.5 m (5–12 ft.). The tallest sunflower confirmed by Guinness World Records is 8.0 m (2009, Germany). In 16th-century Europe the record was already 7.3 m (24 ft., Spain). 

Sunflowers have been highly hybridized, so it is rare to find truly wild plants growing naturally. We did see some on our recent trip to Colorado, but in reality it is hard to tell if they are wild or hybrids.

Wild Sunflowers near Boulder, CO

Close-up of wild Sunflower

Internet searching yields hundreds of informative links about sunflowers. Here's a few of the better ones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower

http://www.sunflowernsa.com/all-about/history/

http://www.gpnc.org/sunflower.htm

Hybridized Sunflowers commonly seen in Northwest summer gardens:

Titan guards the sunflower patch, September, 2004

Giant Russian Hybrid in our yard 2013

Unknown Hybrid in our yard

Unknown Hybrid in neighbor's yard

Rail (road) Trip!

About two weeks ago we set out on a trip to Boulder, Colorado to be at our niece's wedding. We decided to take the train to our destination just to kick back and relax along the way, which we did very well! The wedding was high in the mountains above Boulder, in a private Yoga retreat, nestled in the ponderosa pines and aspens. We had a great time and in spite of the heavy rains and flooding that started a few days after the wedding, we were able to make it back after some delays. I'll be writing up a separate blog on the overall trip.

In this post, I wanted to make note of a couple of observations. First, it's really hard to get any good flora pictures through the window on the train; especially when it's barreling along at 70 mph! Next, when the train does stop at a station where you can get off to stretch your legs, there are no wildflowers in sight!

In any event, I was able to capture a few close-up blooms here and there, but the two big winners of our trip in terms of sheer volume were: #1 Rabbitbrush, and #2 Wild Sunflower.

Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus and Chrysothamnus nauseosus) is common throughout central and eastern Oregon. Fortunately it was blooming profusely, so easy to spot from just about any vantage point. And, as I discovered on this trip, the high deserts of Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado are also home to MILES of the brush. The only plant more extensive was sage and that was a close call! There were literally hundreds of acres of the brush growing as far as the eye could see along our route for roughly 300 miles!

The two species of rabbitbrush are very similar with C. viscidiflorus growing above 3000 ft. and C. nauseosus growing above 1700 ft. There are also several regional variations (sub-species) of each of these.

Rabbitbrush near Lousiville, CO along a bike path.

Rabbitbrush as far as the eye can see near Winnemucca, NV on the Westbound California Zephyr

Near Reno, NV.

The wild sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) were not as extensive, but we started seeing them in eastern Utah and this continued all the way to Denver. Most were near a water source of some sort, especially along creeks and rivers.

This common Sunflower plant grows up to 7 feet tall, displaying an abundance of bright yellow flowers on many branches. Each flower is about the size of a drink coaster. Leaves are heart-shaped. It's an annual plant, growing each year from the plentiful seeds produced. "Helios" is Greek for "sun" and "anthos" for "flower". This species has been cultivated since pre-Columbian times for its edible seeds. It is now cultivated throughout the world. The genus and species were named by Linnaeus in 1753 from specimens collected in Peru and Mexico.

Near Louisville, CO.

The blooms are 3 to 4 inches across.

Sunflower colony in a swale in Green River, UT

Please pass the salad...

Sure, you can make a salad using all kinds of leafy things -- but the trick is, which ones are edible and/or won't leave you in the bathroom all weekend. Well there are many books in the library and hundreds of web sites devoted to tossing your own "wild" salad, so I won't try to duplicate anything here.

The plants noted in today's posting are known for being good ingredients for a wild salad, although I have not sampled them myself to be honest. 

Burdock (Artium minus) is a native of Eurasia and is thought to have been introduced here as a vegetable. The entire plant is edible as fresh or cooked. Since introduction, it has spread to unwanted areas, making it more of a weed at this point.

Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola) is a common roadside weed that is said to have tasty leaves for use in a salad or sandwich. When this native of Europe is broken, it bleeds a milky liquid, so is also called Milk Thistle. The plant can be eaten as a salad, although it has something of a bitter taste. Young leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. The Ancient Greeks also believed its pungent juice to be a remedy against eye ulcers and Pythagoreans called the lettuce eunuch because it caused urination and relaxed sexual desire. The Navajo used the plant as a ceremonial emetic. In the island of Crete in Greece the leaves and the tender shoots of a variety called maroula or agriomaroulo are eaten boiled.

Dandelion (Taraxacum). This is a whole genus of of plants, covering varieties that grow worldwide. Dandelions are found on all continents and have been gathered for food since prehistory, but the varieties cultivated for consumption are mainly native to Eurasia. There are also many "false Dandelions" that look similar. For more Dandelion information, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandelion.

Burdock growing at Horning's Hideout, 8/17/2013.

The flower heads are about the size of a walnut.

Prickly Lettuce flowering on Laurelview Road, 8/17/2013.

Flower detail.

Leaf detail.

Dandelion flower is much larger, about the size of a current dollar coin.

Note the "Lions Teeth" leaves distinctive of the Dandelion