Grazing the Neighbourhood, requiem

As usual for the season, I am receiving a number of calls and emails from the IWK Poison Centre. This is good, and bad.  Good because the staff there can reach me quickly. But bad, in that people are not vigilant to two of the most important Ps to grazing: plant and part.

Generally the calls relate to children ingesting one or two berries and either showing illness or not. As many poisons affect us to varying degrees based on weight, this can be serious if we are talking toddlers. We all know how quickly they go from hand to mouth. The best advice I can give parents of young children is to learn the plants that grow in their backyards, or neighbourhood. Plants like Canada Yew have lovely red fruit surrounding or cupping the seeds. BUUUTTTT…half a dozen seeds ingested can kill. That is serious! Daphne is similarly poisonous.

In the past month I have received calls that involved buckthorn, chokecherry, wild raisin, Clintonia lily and teaberry. All but the buckthorn are edible, or at least not toxic. Buckthorn IS considered poisonous.

I also received a call concerning an adult who was sick following mushroom ingestion. This is completely preventable! Consider all fungi as a potential threat, unless you absolutely know that this Nova Scotian mushroom is edible. Many residents who grew up elsewhere assume what they are eating is the same as that which they consumed ‘back home’. Not always true! We were unable to provide much information for the patient as he had not reserved any uneaten fungus, nor taken pictures. The description provided and the circumstances did not match. Some of our most visible mushrooms and fungi are deadly poisonous.

Again please feel free to contact me with identification questions. If I don’t know the answer, I will find somebody who does. Before eating anything wild-gathered  where you are uncertain, ask. Photograph it and save some.

And of course, in the case of showing illness after eating something from the wild, call 911 and ask for the Poison Centre.

yew fruit, probably Taxus baccata, an ornamental here; contributed

Daphne, photo by Martin Thomas

Buckthorn, Frangula alnus, photo by JK Lindsey

Fall Foliage - Why do Leaves Change Colour

Fall Foliage - Why do Leaves Change Colour

Published by Marian Munro · September 21, 2015 at 7:46am

Nova Scotia is blessed with riotous colour from late September into November, especially where extensive stands of deciduous trees occur as on the hills of the highlands. Salt marshes turn characteristically yellow and orange and blueberry fields and barrens display quilted shades of crimson and vermilion.

During the growing season, leaves of most plants are green, because of the chlorophyll content. Plants are actively using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make food, via the absorption of the sun’s energy by chlorophyll. Its characteristic green colour masks the yellows and oranges also present because of the carotene and xanthophyll pigments.

As days become short and the length of night increases, temperatures drop, and the the leaves stop producing chlorophyll. The green colour gives way to the oranges and yellows seen in some species.

Reds and purples arise because of additional chemical changes in the leaves involving the anthocyanin pigment.

Some trees and shrubs turn only yellow, others turn only brown due to varying amounts of pigments present. In addition, there are other changes happening with the leaves. Where the lea and petiole attach to the tree, a special layer of cells develops (the abcission layer). This layer once complete, severs the attachment of stem to twig and the leaves drop, leaving behind a leaf scar. Sometimes a strong wind or rain is required to cause the leaves to fall. Or even the weight of the leaf is enough. Trees like oaks often retain their dried and brown leaves into winter.

Most of the conifers retain their needles or shed a few year-round. However, Nova Scotia’s bogs may be coloured yellow by the presence of larch, or hackmatack. Its needles display golden yellow late into November before dropping, completely denuding the trees.

Did you know? Our weather affects fall foliage colours and duration. Low temperatures, but above freezing favours maples’ reds. If we have an early frost, the reds become muted. Rain and overcast days intensify the foliage colours, but only if there are no high winds. These encourage early leaf drop as does excessively dry summers and fall.

Enjoy the bounty and feel free to share your fall foliage photos with us here.



Point Pleasant Park, by Marian Munro

The edible Fungus Among Us

Published by Marian Munro · September 15, 2015 at 8:54am

I used to consider myself half-knowledgeable on edible mushrooms. One bout of mushroom harvester’s disease was enough to convince me that I didn’t know near enough to be teaching others on their identification. My poisoning came from inhaling spores of a Galerinaspecies.

Of nearly 3000 species of mushrooms and other fungi in Nova Scotia, fewer than a dozen are to be considered safely edible. The following three are choice and by no means the only ones.

Mushrooms like the Shaggy Mane (Coprinus species) commonly seen in clusters on our lawn are pretty easy to identify. Their inky black spores beneath narrowly conical caps are distinctive. Beware of drinking alcohol with the meal containing them….coprine causes vomiting in the presence of alcohol, a character used in medicine.

The Common Field Mushroom (Agaricus campestris) is closely related to the button mushrooms we purchase.  Also of grasslands, it has a white cap with pink gills that eventually produces a dark brown spore print.

Third choice edible on my plate is the chanterelle. All reports seem to point to a plentiful crop this year.  e, the Golden Chantarelle and its spicy flavour, with a fruity aroma are a personal favourite. Easy to identify, these funnel-shaped caps do not have gills below. Rather their spores are borne on a series of forking ridges decurrent along the stipe. Look for them on the mossy forest floor beneath mixed conifers and deciduous trees from August into October.

You might find my website, The Fungus Among Us useful. It was published in the 1990s but is a useful resource posted in both French and English on the Virtual Museum of Canada.http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/champignons-mushrooms/English/index.html and http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/champignons-mushrooms/Francais/index.html

For those in Nova Scotia, The Nova Scotia Mycological Society is presenting their annual Mushroom Foray Sept. 25-27. This weekend is guaranteed to be fun, informative and an introduction to identification. Suitable for all skill levels. http://www.nsmushrooms.org/

Agaricus campestris var. from the fungus among us
Cantharellus cibarius, Chanterelles wikipedia image

  

Shaggy Manes, Coprinus species, photo by Gary Kessler

The Bibliophiles’ Botanical Bookshelf

Am I alone in thinking the year starts in September? After so many years in school, it is entrenched. SO I felt it apropos to share the following:

First I offer this caveat: I am not a book reviewer. There, having said that I do have an opinion and even several where botany is concerned. I started out learning to identify plants by using Peterson’s Field Guides, to edible plants and to wildflowers in eastern North America. Others prefer the Newcombe’s Wildflower Guide, another field guide that uses flower structure rather than colour to group plants.

Once I began to explore plants as a potential object of study, I learned that Euell Gibbon’s Stalking the Wild Asparagus would offer hours of entertainment. I combed the used book stores finding others. Some even offered recipes. I set off on many a journey in search of wild edibles. Largely I sustained myself while studying plants on Brier Island as a student, on wild-gathered greens, veggies and fruit. Nothing tastes better than a camp-stir-fry. Blueberry jam made on a Coleman stove is pretty special too.

I also love the science of names, the etymology. William Stearns’ Botanical Latin became my bedside reading, soon followed by a course in Latin and Greek for the Scientist. After all, I was old enough to have taken Latin in Grade 9 in Nova Scotia. A more popular little book published in 1992 was Gardeners Latin.

Now I find myself reading a novel, borrowed from the library, entitled. The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. It is about a young orphaned girl who comes of age and uses her knowledge of flowers to send messages to people. It reminds me of floriography or the Language of Flowers, a dictionary of plant symbolism first introduced to Europe in the 17thc, although Shakespeare makes reference to symbolism in a couple plays. In Victorian England secret communications could be parlayed through the giving of flowers and bouquets. The messages could convey messages full of intrigue depending on the combinations.

Other novels that feature plants prominently form the quirky series about Brother Cadfael, a monkish character who solved murders by his knowledge of plants that were central to each story. Written under the pseudonym Ellis Peters, I do remember there being quite a number of these quick reads.

Hoping this brief romp through plants on paper amuses you if not offering you concrete suggestions.

Cheers!

Hops and grapes

Two vines have long been a part of beverage tradition, hops and grapes. Did you know that both grow wild now in Nova Scotia, no doubt naturalized from past cultivation endeavours. Both are woody, clamboring over rocks, fencerows and trees.

The vernacular name of the hops, refers to the female flowers of the perennial herbHumulus lupulus. Hops have a distinctive fragrance, to which any connoisseur of beer will attest. The plants have also been used in herbal medicine and in breadmaking. In brewing, hops serve as antimicrobials favouring the growth of brewer’s yeast. Many varieties ofHumulus are grown, each offers a different aroma and bitterness/sweetness to the brew. Commercial production for the brewing industry occurs throughout the temperate areas of Europe, Canada and the US, since its inception 1300 years ago. Herbal medicine has seen the use of hops to treat anxiety, restlessness and insomnia. Many commonly fill a small pillow with hops, to treat the above ailments.

Grape use precedes that of hops in beverages by more than 6000 years and originated further east in Eurasia. As yeasts commonly live in the skins of grapes, it is no surprise that alcoholic drinks were quickly discovered. Nova Scotia has two species of grapes, found in the wild as native North American woody vines. Fox grape, Vitis labrusca, has yielded red or pink wine varieties (Concorde cultivar), while V. riparia is primarily used for rootstock for favoured wine varieties.  Jam and juice may be made from either as found. Fruit are produced in clusters of dozens arising from flowers produced on second year wood.


hops, photo by David Mazerolle
Riverbank Grape, photo by Martin Thomas
Fox Grape, photo by Martin Thomas