indian tobacco and enchanter’s nightshade

New species, new species!  Today’s catch is a type of lobelia. I’m fairly sure it’s Indian Tobacco – Lobelia inflata – which would be cool, if only because it’s psychoactive. That sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to get high off random lawn weeds?

It’s used to treat asthma, as well. By the way, if you stumbled across this blog hoping for Truthiness, as far as the medicinal properties of plants go, you’re in the wrong place. I just repeat what the interwebs tell me. There may come a time when I get serious about understanding the medicinal and edible qualities of my plant neighbors, but for now, I’m content just to watch them unfold.
And what’s not to love about these lovely, irregular flowers?

Right next door to our druggie little friend above, we have a stalk of mullein. It’s a wee plant now, just a couple of feet tall, but at some point it will easily tower over me.

Let’s take advantage of its shrimpy size to peer into its naughty bits.


I found another stash of Enchanter’s Nightshade over by the double-ruffled day lilies.

A couple of years ago, I probably would not have even noticed this plant’s existence. Or if I had, I would have assumed it was the same thing as the lobelia we just saw: similar height, stalk of little more-or-less white flowers, there, done. But the more I pay attention, the more I notice. These aren’t the same plant at all.

Enchanter’s Nightshade Circaea lutetiana	Lobelia – “Indian Tobacco” Lobelia inflata
opposite leaves	alternate leaves
regular petals, not stalked. This one’s already forming a seed.	irregular, stalked flowers

And I also saw the cutest ever black-eyed susan.

I should be able to monitor the whole fabulous unfolding tubular petals, as this was just steps from the front door. Remind me to continue avoiding mowing the lawn.
I got busy with the hammer and nails today, hanging up more prints of my photos.



Don’t you wished you lived in my house? You can do this for yourself at home, if I ever get organized and figure out how to market these prints off this website.

four new species, and burgeoning ripening all around.

For someone who delights so much in spending time outside, I’m something of an agoraphobe. Whenever I come home from a trip, even as one as brief as a couple of days, it takes a crowbar to get me out of the house. I like to stay close to home after I’ve traveled because I’m waiting for my soul to catch up. (My soul dawdles and does not make good time.) Nonetheless, I ventured forth three times today. First was my run. That was interrupted by a 5:30 am lightning storm. Let’s try that one again tomorrow!
Then I went blueberry picking for the second time, and came home with 13 pounds, bringing the current season’s haul to 18 pounds. (Twelve more to go and I’ll call it good.)
And THEN…THEN…I went to check up on my friends. Because of the recent heat wave, travelling, and other excuses, I hadn’t actually checked up on these guys for ten – whole – days – which is like a lifetime for some of these species.
The purple-flowered raspberries are still flowering, although not as many of them. I’ve covered raspberry flower development before, but every so often, I happen across another half-stage that I feel compelled to capture:

does this not look appetizing? no? Well, right next door to that one, we have…

This one. That looks more like food, right? None of these have ripened all the way to tasting, unlike the nearby black raspberries.
The first Queen Anne’s Lace plant to jump up along the edge of the driveway is also the first to collapse in a bird’s nest of mystery. The rest are still opening up or are hanging out at the flat disk stage:



The sarsaparilla [Editor's Note: previously incorrectly identified as wild ginseng - this is probably actually wild sarsaparilla - Aralia nudicaulis] at the base of our driveway has taken advantage of the heat wave to ripen:

The tall anemone, commonly known as thimbleberry, has largely gotten to this stage of tall – up to an inch and a bit – flowerheads:

I had fun trying to get a good shot of a little red bug on one of these:

Probably not a good enough shot to submit to bugguide, so we’ll just leave it at “little red bug” for now.
New Species #1: Helleborine (Epipactis helloborine)
I first spotted this ten days ago, but the flowers hadn’t opened up yet…

…so I couldn’t ID it. I was surprised to see that it’s an irregular flower:

This is the orchid family, of all things. And as usual for shots taken in this shady spot in the driveway, my apologies for slight blurriness…
New Species #2: flat-topped aster (Aster umbellatus)
Sneaky question: how many petals does this have?

Answer: five. The petals are the little yellow things…

The white things are rays, not petals.

Here’s one that’s just opening. This reminds me of the black-eyed susan I was so enamored of the other day, whose rays were similarly tubular as they opened up>
New Species #3: Enchanter’s Nightshade
…and prizewinner for the coolest name.

Another trick question: how many petals, this time?

I thought “four” at first – when I looked at it with just my eyeballs. It’s really two.
The seeds of this plant are another candidate for something Charlie the Wonder Cat gets covered in each summer.

Actually, come to think of it, my curiosity about just what that boy rolls around in is one of the inspirations behind this whole project of mine to document each and every naturally-occurring plant on or near our property…
New species #4: Eastern Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium dubium)
On July 7th, when this plant was still flagged with a question mark, this is where things stood:

and today…