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Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Euell Gibbons considered milkweed a “supermarket of Nature.” I am very fond of the tight flower buds, rinsed in 3-4 changes of boiling water, and then sautéed in butter until tender. The flowers add a new twist to summer salads: Try them with diced apple, raisins, and a little cinnamon. Euell cooks the seed-pods, but I don’t recommend it. The root tea, taken in sips, has been used by those with dropsy, water retention, and gallstones. Infusion of the dried root is said to provide temporary sterility. The sap, applied thickly, counters warts. It is a supermarket! Milkweed is considered a poisonous plant and eating it transfers enough of the poison to protect the swallowtail caterpillar from predation by hungry birds.
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Yellow toadflax AKA Butter-and-eggs (Linaria vulgaris)
This attention-getting plant, with its bright, two-tone, snapdragon flowers, was the first plant to come to me in a dream. She instructed me in plant language, and encouraged me to share this wisdom with others. With a name like “toad-flax,” I am fairly certain she lives in a fairy tale . . . but which one? John Lust recommends infused oil of the flowers to ease skin problems and hemorrhoids.
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Beardtongue (Penstemon species)
Hanging out in the shade, not beside, but right in the middle of, the path to Pearl’s place, these lanky lovelies beckoned to me and smiled for their portrait. |
