Bur-Reed - Sparganium erectum

Les fruits du Sparganium erectum sont extrèmement distinctes; la boule couverte de genre d'épines ne se prend pas facilement pour autre chose. Je suis tellement occupée les dernières semaines que je n'ai pas pu rien écrire ici. Mes excuses. La vie ne laisse pas toujours du temps de loisir. J'adore mon nouveau programme et je suis contente d'avoir aussi un bon emploi comme assistante de recherche.

La plante présentée ci-dessous pousse dans les marais et est génétiquement proche aux quenouilles. Les espèces variées du Sparganium sont communes dans la région; je peux en compter trois par mémoire.

Sparganium erectum - fruit

Bur-reed (Sparganium erectum) is an easily identified plant in late summer and early fall because of its extremely distinctive ball-of-spikes fruit (pictured above). This genus of plants is relatively common in the area; I can recall three species off the top of my head that grow in this area. It's the closest genetic relative of the cattail, if I understand correctly.

I haven't been able to blog in the last few weeks because I've been ridiculously busy. Life has been extremely hectic. The good news is that I'm loving my new program and I have a research assistantship that's helping to pay the bills and keep me and E both in school. I'm struggling a bit with a number of things, but I've managed somehow to keep my head above water.

At least I have a couple of super-cool field laboratories this week!

Ebony Jewelwing - Calopteryx Maculata - Demoiselle

When we were climbing Mont Cayamant I saw a number of odonata I don't usually see at the lake where I am generally, which is interesting considering that they're within a bare 15km of each other. In any case, I spotted a female ebony jewelwing damselfly, Calopteryx maculata. She was fortunately not very shy at all and it was easy to photograph her quite extensively.

Female C. maculata

 This is a good shot that shows the creature pretty well, I think. I know it's a female because it has the white stigma (spot on the wing); males of this species don't have the white spot.

C. maculata face

 I like the fierce, toothy appearance of a damselfly face.

C. maculata eating its prey

In this photo you can see that she's eating a bug that she's caught. Cool-looking creature.

Water Smartweed - Persicaria Amphibia - Renouée Amphibie

I'm finding that there are far fewer easy guides to aquatic plants in the region. I was very lucky to stumble on the identification of this plant. I present: water smartweed (fr: renouée amphibie), Persicaria amphibia.

P. amphibia inflorescence

I found this to be quite a lovely flower, with very long ovoid leaves. The flower stalk rose out of the water about eight to twelve inches and the pink flower stalks were each growing off a single branch of the plant.

Yarrow - Achillea Millefolium - Herbe à Dinde

A. millefolium inflorescence

Cette plante est très commune dans la région. Elle est facile à identifier et préparée comme thé était utilisée part les aborigineaux pour réduire la fièvre et pour aider à dormir. Je met cette plante dans mes tisanes, mais elle a un goût très fort donc je conseille les gens de l'utiliser de manière restraint. Avant d'y goûter, on devrait s'assurer qu'on n'a pas de réaction négative à cette plante, auquelle il y a parfois des allergies. Je suggère qu'on frotte la plante délicatement sur la peau et attende plusieurs heures; si la peau réagit, ne pas ingester la plante. Il faut toujours faire attention en ingestant des plantes sauvages et je n'encourage à personne de consommer des plantes sauvages sans s'assurer de n'avoir aucune allergie dangereuse et d'avoir aucun doûte de l'identification de la plante.

L'herbe à dinde est utilisée pour traiter de divers conditions et maladies. Un petit dix minutes avec Google montre que le monde crois à toutes sortes de bénéfices à cette herbe. Je vous encourage à évaluer les prétentions avec caution; beaucoups de ces prétentions ne sont aucunement prouvés et il faut exercer son jugement pour évaluer l'évidence. Nous savons que l'herbe à dinde contient de l'acide salicylique, qui peut réduire la fièvre et réduire la douleur. Il faut se souvenir qu'il est très difficile de contrôller la dose d'une substance qui se retrouve dans une plante sauvage et que ceci n'est pas un bon substitut pour des médicaments à dose controllée.

A. millefolium lateral view

Yarrow (also called: arrowroot, bloodwort, nosebleed, soldier's woundwort, & many other names)  is a very common plant in this region. It's easy to identify and as a tea was used by aboriginal people to reduce fever and help with sleep. I put this plant in my herbal teas, but it tastes quite strong so I suggest that people use it only moderately in tea unless you want your tea to taste like nothing else. It can cause allergic reactions so I would suggest that you rub some on your skin and check back in a few hours to see if you have a reaction before ingesting it. Also, the usual disclaimer about not ingesting wild plants if you have dangerous allergies and never to ingest a plant you don't have an absolute positive identification of.

There are a lot of claims all over the internet about the various (semi-miraculous, to hear some tell it) properties of yarrow. I would recommend that these claims be judged on their merits and on the weight of the evidence. We know that yarrow does contain salicylic acid, so the fever reduction and pain relief properties are likely to be true. All other claims need to be similarly evaluated on their merits. It's important to remember that even when we know that a plant contains a compound with known medicinal properties, the wild plant will always be a worse form than the pill because of issues controlling dosage; yarrow tea is not an improvement over acetaminophen, it's a step down because dosage is not known (less effective and less safe;  if you have the pill, don't substitute the herb).

A. millefolium bottom view

I'm taking time at the lake to try to recuperate. I'm working away at a number of things. Saw a deer with two young this morning. I'm snuggling my grumpy old Molly cat, who seems old now in a way she didn't last year. Still, I suppose she had to start acting like an old cat sometime and I guess if she starts in her 20th summer I shouldn't complain. I have a sense of permeating loss, the feeling of summer fading away into autumn... It's a strange feeling to experience combined with the excitement of changing my program and pursuing what I really want out of life.

Black-Eyed Susan - Rudbeckia hirta - Rudbeckie

The black-eyed susan (this one is: Rudbeckia hirta) is a very common and recognizable flower, which many find very showy and attractive.

R. hirta inflorescence

Black-eyed susans are a very distinctive class of flower, easy to spot and identify.

R. hirtaserotina inflorescence lateral view

The conical shape is quite evident in a lateral view.

Black-eyed susans are a good cut flower.

Today, I'm planning.

White Baneberry - Actaea Pachypoda - Actée à Gros Pédicelles

Cette plante est toxique à manger! Ne jamais consommer, s'assurer que les enfants ne consomment pas cette plante. La tige devient rouge et le fruit devient blancs avec le point noir au bout quand mûr.

This plant is toxic! Never eat this plant and make sure that children do not eat this plant. When ripe, the stalk turns red and the fruits turn white with a black point at the end.

A. pachypoda

White baneberry is a reasonably common plant in the region where I grew up. It is a strange-looking plant, all told. 

Unripe fruit of A. pachypoda

The fruit looks like it's watching you. As I understand it it is also called Doll's Eyes, a name I find quite appropriate, especially when the fruit has ripened and turned white.

Today I'm tired.

Shoya Long Eggplants

So I just had the most delicious eggplant I have ever eaten (yes, for breakfast; breakfast eggplant is awesome). I planted a number of varieties of eggplant in the garden this year, among them the shoya long eggplant, which came highly recommended for yield and flavour. Boy is it ever delivering on both counts! The plant I have is blooming still and also has about 40 developing eggplantlings on it. Yep. So this morning the first one was ready to be picked. I picked it, and cooked it up right away.

And it was the most phenomenal eggplant experience I have ever had. It was so silky, and so richly flavoured, that I couldn't quite believe at first that I hadn't accidentally ingested a hallucinogenic eggplant. To be clear, I love eggplant. I eat it at least once a week and spend a lot of my cooking endeavours trying new ways to eat eggplant. So when I say that this eggplant was the best eggplant I've ever had, I mean it was practically a transcendental experience.

I may be exaggerating slightly.

So, without further ado, here's the eggplant, and instructions for how to cook it the way I did this morning.

Shoya long eggplant

 So I wanted to cook it in a way that would bring out the flavour of the eggplant, since I'd never had this eggplant before and wanted to know exactly what it tastes like. As a consequence, the following recipe is very simple and takes about 5-10 minutes. Also, it's in my cooking style, which means I measure exactly nothing.

 Ingredients:
-Eggplant
-Olive oil (enough to coat your pan lightly)
-Garlic (to taste)
-Basil (to taste)
-Oregano (to taste)
-Balsamic vinegar (to taste)
-Salt (to taste)

Directions:
-Cut eggplant into rounds about 1/4" thick
-Mince garlic and let air for a few minutes
-Chop basil & oregano up finely (about 1/10th as much oregano as basil)
-Heat frying pan with a dollop of olive oil; hot pan, for sautéeing
-Toss eggplant rounds into frying pan & cover
-When the rounds start to soften, toss them around a bit
-Throw on a dash of balsamic vinegar and stir it through the eggplant (be sparing at first! that stuff tastes strong and you don't want to overpower the delicious, delicious eggplant flavour)
-Pitch in the herbs and a dash of water (no more than a few Tbsp of water, just enough to deglaze the balsamic off the bottom of the pan so it can be redistributed onto the eggplant)
-Cover
-Once the eggplant is soft, remove cover, stir, and cook until the water is evaporated from the pan
-Salt to taste

End result:

The most delicious eggplant I've ever eaten

Pour les francophones:

Je vais juste remarquer que je ne mesure rien en préparant mes plâts (à l'exception de la cuisson au four), préférant plutôt de me fier au goût et à la scenteur pour ajuster les quantités. Par conséquence, je ne peux pas vous fournir des mesures de quantité dans mes recettes. Mes excuses.

Ingrédients:
-Aubergine(s)
-Huile d'olive (assez pour couvrir le fond de la poêle)
-Ail (à son goût)
-Basilic (à son goût)
-Origan (à son goût)
-Vinaigre balsamique (à son goût)
-Sel (à son goût)

Directives:
-Couper les aubergines en rondelles d'environ 1/4'' de large
-Hacher l'ail et laisser à l'air pour quelques minutes
-Hacher le basilic et l'origan (l'origan devrait représenter environ 1/10ième de la quantité du basilic)
-Rechauffer la poêle avec l'huile d'olive dedans (assez chaud pour sauter)
-Y jetter les aubergines, remuer, et couvrir
-Quand l'aubergine commence à amollir, remuer encore
-Ajouter un peu de vinaigre balsamique (faire attention! Ce vinaigre goûte très fort et on ne veut pas déguiser le goût délicieux de l'aubergine)
-Ajouter le basilic, l'origan, et l'ail avec un peu d'eau (pas plus que quelques cuillères à table, juste asser pour déglacer le vinaigre)
-Couvrir
-Quand l'aubergine est devenue molle, découvrir, remuer, et laisser cuire jusqu'à temps que l'eau a toute évaporie
-Ajouter du sel à son goût

Bon appétit! Le résultat final est présenté ci-haut.