Much Info on the Lotus-like Plant!

First a quick couple of sketches from yesterday-- people eating at Thai Orchid:

Well, not the cows, but the two above and on the left.  The cows I drew today from inside their pasture.  I found out that Bellpepper is actually the little milk cow's name, and the big wooly sheep are nameless( at least according to the farm student   that I talked to).

Now press your nose close to this page or find your magnifying glasses, because I crammed eight drawings (life sized) and all the info I could find on this page.

This pod is the same as 7044 from 04.30 only drawn much more carefully from life while I was squatting down a few inches from the plant so I could see all the details of the pod.  The rest of these I drew from pictures on my phone.  The real plants are growing in a raised bed under a shade (drawings 7062 and 7064). 

I learned that the plant is a Jeffersonia Berberdaceae, commonly known as ground squirrel, twin leaf, helmet pod, rheumatism root, or yellow root.  It is so rare that people are asked to not harvest it.  Students at the college are growing it along with other native plants and medicinals. 

The flowers are white, with eight petals and yellow center parts. Inside the pod (which looks like a knight's helmet when it opens along a dehiscent line) contains a nut - like seed.  All parts of the plant are useful , especially the roots.  It is powerful medicine (read at the bottom of the page) and is poison in the wrong hands!