Ah, hopefully tomorrow I can venture out without having rain, snow, hail, lightening or other weather keep me away from the wilderness.
Its been stormy since Friday here in Wyoming and it is in 50s in day and down to 30s at night. The mountains got a lot of snow over the weekend.
But in my mind, I'm pondering finding wild edible mushrooms out there, I know with this moisture of recent, they should be popping up all over the place!
Also ready to go find a few herbs I've been wanting to identify in the wild here -- mainly:
Curley Top Gumweed!
Also:
Honey Mushrooms!
Here is another photo - a large close-up of ones I harvested a couple years ago here in the mountains.
Here is what the plants in the mountains will soon look like (photo taken a couple years ago).
Sweetgrass! No, this isn't a photo of a sweetgrass, but it is a cool grass that I found growing around here. I am researching sweetgrass, Wyoming does have a few varieties of it so bound and determine to find some!
Hierochloe odorata (L.) P. Beauv. (Sweetgrass)
Sweetgrass usually inhabits moist ground on shores (fresh or brackish), meadows, and low prairies, at the edges of woods, bogs, and marshes. Normally, it is not found in pure stands, rather it is found among other grasses and shrubs in mid-successional communities.
Sweetgrass is a native perennial grass. The stems are semi-erect, up to 30 inches tall from slender, creeping rhizomes. Leaves are few and rough-edged and have shiny, hairless undersides. Often it has a reddish-purple color near the base of the plant. The highly prized longer leaves that grow on sterile shoots reach 18+ inches in length. The inflorescence is an open, golden brown panicle with slender branches. The fruit is a typical grass seed.
General: Grass Family (Poaceae). Sweetgrass is a fragrant, rhizomatous,
perennial grass that reaches a height of 30 in.. The stems are
hollow and hairless with open sheaths. The leaf blades are flat at
maturity, usually glabrous, 3.9-11.8 in. long. The
sweetgrass inflorescence is an open panicle 1.6-3.5 in. long;
the lower branches are drooping to spreading. The spikelets are 3-flowered, the 2 lowest florets staminate (male) and the
uppermost is perfect (both female and male). Sweetgrass is an early
blooming plant and flowers from May to July.
The following information on sweetgrass was provided by Lynn Youngbuck,
who is Cherokee, Chiracahua, and Fox:
1) take only what you need,
leaving the best to reproduce;
2) speak to the plant, leave an offering
of tobacco or sage before harvesting; the plant will grow back two stems
for every one cut;
3) we humans are another strand in life; plants
sustain us and should be treated as another living being;
4) plants were
taken care of by extended family groups of women; they were taken care
of and watched each year for generations; and
5) materials harvested
were shared and traded with the whole tribe.
Hierochloe odorata (Sweetgrass): Dried sweet grass foliage is
fragrant because of its coumarin content and is used as incense and in making
perfume. Sweet grass spreads vigorously by creeping rhizomes which are
often fairly deep. It also reproduces by seed. However, sweetgrass is largely
infertile; it produces relatively few seedheads, and these contain few seeds.
Sweet grass occurs in wet meadows, low prairies, the edges of sloughs and
marshes, bogs, shaded streambanks, lakeshores, and cool mountain canyons.
It is generally found at and above 6,000 feet elevation.
Medicinal Uses:
Caution: Coumarin, a natural anticoagulant, gives sweetgrass its characteristic
sweet smell. It has potentially toxic properties & can cause liver injury &
hemorrhages. Research has shown coumarin & related compounds to be
effective in reducing high-protein edemas, especially lymphodema.
Blackfeet drank a tea from this plant to treat coughs & sore throats.
Windburn & chapping were treated through an infusion of sweetgrass stems
soaked in water or a salve of sweetgrass water & grease. The sweetgrass
water was also used as an eyewash. Sweetgrass was mixed with seeds of meadow
rue (Thalictrum occidentale) to make a tea to clear nasal congestion.
The Karok of northern California fed sweetgrass to sick dogs.
Oregon Grape grows here - here is a photo I took of it flowering.
And of course, the wonderful Pineapple Plant! I must get more of this as gave mine away!
Also, wild chives should be ready to pick soon! They're very plentiful in the mountains here.
Whats this bizarre fungi??? Ah, came across it one day, don't know what it is!
Not sure what this plant is, but what beautiful flowers! Found it growing near the creek in Ten Sleep, Wyoming
Soon, the hawthorn tree will be flowering - I plan to harvest some of them.
The wild onions are also flowering now!
Just a pretty photo I took last year.
Another pretty picture I took.
And another!
This is one of my favourite grasses that grows around here.
One plant I want to find that grows here is Osha (not related in any way to O.S.H.A.!!) heh heh.
I'm talking about Ligusticum porteri. Other names: Porter's Lovage, Colorado Cough Root, Chuchupate, Indian Parsley, Bear Medicine.
Found these plants growing close to the water. Might they be poison hemlock? Or are they Osha?
Also want to harvest some Lamb's Quarters!!!
Got some young, tender inner leaves of dandelions in the mountains recently and they were tasty on salads! Lots of Vitamin E!
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