August26_2010

Botanical Glossary - Home - References Cited

Photos - Frame left: A field of yellow flowered Hypericum Formosum (Western St John's Wort) with purple flower spikes of Vicia Cracca (Tufted Vetch) blue to reddish colored, two toned flowers. Western St. John's Wort has narrow, lance shaped leaves and flower petals. St John's Wort is a Eurasian introduced perennial weed that has naturalized and spread through fields, pastures, waste areas, and roadsides throughout or region. It has been used in medicines since medieval times - usually prescribed for nervous disorders (internally as a tea) or externally as a poultice on exposed nerves. Vicia Cracca is also known as Bird Vetch and is a large, perennial with dense clusters on one-sided flower spikes. This plant was introduced from Europe and has spread through fields and roadsides across the temperate belt of North America. Most of the vetches are considered poisonous containing hydro-cyanic acid and cause cyanide poisoning.

Frames right and center: Beautiful erosion marks on the northern rim Gallaghers Canyon walls as seen from the southern rim of the canyon at the Layer Cake Lookout.

Photos - L-R - A purple-pink flower spike of Epilobium Angustifolium (Fireweed). These plants start off in the spring with lovely pink flower spikes which produce this fuzz. Found mostly in dry, disturbed areas - clearings, burn areas and roadsides. Some native tribes used the outer stem fibers in dried strips to make braided cord. Others used the fluff, as illustrated in above image, for bed and pillow stuffing. In early spring, the central pith in young plants were sometimes harvested, boiled as a potherb or used in a tea. The Leaves are rich in vitamin C. The flowers produce nectar that can be used as honey.

Rubus Parviflorus (Thimbleberry) leaves with a single flower at the top of the branch. The berries are small, thin and very fragile and not particularly good for food gathering, however, they make a nice, fresh treat along the trail. Thimbleberries are common relatives of the raspberry and grow best in open woods, growing in thickets three to six feet high. Unlike the raspberry, the thimble berry grows branched canes which do not die every year (the new shoots and growth buds that pop out in early spring can be eaten). Later in the spring, large, showy leaves appear, followed by large, white flowers. The plant blooms late April until early August, producing continuous crops of tasty red berries. The berries form a red cap and are very seedy. When picked the ripened berries are very delicate, soft and mushy.

Mission Creek in Gallaghers Canyon Looking upstream from the Upper Greenway Trail.

Photos - Interesting rock formations along the Mission Creek Greenway: Frames left and right are from the Smoothing Stone Bridge, part of the Greenway trail that crosses Mission Creek as it winds into Gallaghers Canyon.

Click here for more photos of Gallaghers Canyon for this day.