This past winter my friend Larry, who is behind the amazing writing of the blog botonizing, asked if I had seen a particular flower up here. Larry is a Botony professor out west, and I had to contact him, now that we are into wildflower season, for a reminder about what plant he was interested in.
Turns out he was wanting to find out about Mertensia maritima, Sea Lungwort or Oysterleaf, a plant I'd never seen. But I also didn't spend a lot of time looking for plants in the right habitat, which is essentially the shoreline of the ocean.
Today, Travis and Hilary and I went for a walk along a stretch of beach near the iceberg's new location. And we had success. I have to admit that it was Travis that found the plant, I had walked right by it, my attention on some River Beauty that was starting to bloom. I love spending time outside with my sharp eyed son.
So here is a photo of some Oysterleaf (apparently so named because of a strong fishy taste to it), the colours of the photo seem a little deeper than the actual plant, but that might just be my monitor. Although one of my guide books states "This flower is a photographer's nightmare, as it "fluoresces", causing a shift in colour".
Detail.
Another thing my sharp eyed son saw were two Crane Flies, locked in an (ahem) embrace.
And you know I'm unable to be that close to an iceberg without taking a photo.
Comments
4 responses
I’m jealous of the iceberg. I was thinking about you the other day when I was driving back from the city. There is a “screaming orange” flower going on the side of the highway that kept catching my attention and I kept thinking that I should stop and take a picture of that for you, as I just KNEW you would know what it was. 🙂
Tiger Lily?
Clare–great photos. I was surprised to hear about the taste of the leaves–have you seen mention that people were actually using them in their diet?
Larry,
I don’t believe that they are used by Inuit as a food. At least not around here. The common plant foods here are aira (oxtropes): the root is eaten, raw or cooked. Mountain Sorrel flowers are brewed as a tea (usually heavily sweetened) and the leaves eaten. Some sea weeds are dried and eaten. There may be others but those are the ones I’m familiar with. Oh yea, the flowers of Purple Saxifrage are eaten, and sometimes made into a tea.