Monday, April 9, 2007

Rattlesnake Plantain


After returning from the land of Lexuses (Lexi?) and 7,000 square foot houses, Fuzzy and I spent Easter weekend in our 140 square foot camper, drinking American beer and trying to stay warm despite the traditional West Virginia Easter snow. At night, a few good friends came out to help us stoke the bonfire and drink the rest of the apple-cinnamon moonshine, and we all had a great time.
During the daylight hours, Fuzzy and I explored the woods around our camp. The only wildflowers up this early were violets, but I did come across lots of this interesting little plant, the Rattlenake Plantain.

Later, it will send up a stalk of small white flowers, but really, it's the everygreen foliage that's interesting.

"Following the Doctrine of Signatures, the plants were used to treat snake bites. Since there appears to be no special agent in the Rattlesnake Plantain to act as a remedy, it must be assumed most victims recovered only because there bodies were able to fight off the poison." So writes Leonard Adkins in "Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail," a great little guide with gorgeous pictures.

I can't wait to see what has sprung up in the woods next weekend!

3 comments:

Melissa said...

Hi Elizabeth!
Looks like we got into the blogging at about the same time :)
I am loving reading about your adventures in WV, you sound so happy. I am glad for you even though I miss you in the backwoods of Louisiana! Love the camper, spiders are good protein: you know every human eats at least 8 spiders in their sleep during a lifetime...maybe you will develop a resistance to spider bites, giving you more of an antidote towards spiders than the rattlesnake plantain does for snakebite... HI Fuzzy and Zeke!
Mel :)

Jamie said...

Hi Gladey ! I heard a great saying last week "At the end of a Spring day we should all smell like dirt" Here's hoping you have many wonderful days smelling like dirt !

Bijoy said...

interesting stuff you have got here keep up the good work.will be back
regards Biby - Blog