Link to Post: Orchids

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWb0Yqbr0F7/?utm_medium=copy_link

Roots

Echinacea as Magical Head Dress

Echinacea seed head worn, on the left, by a discarded Victorian china doll who faces a similar doll elevated by an elegant American chestnut burr, its velvety interior clasping the head. 

Echinacea (Family Asteraceae)  is native to North America and has been known to and used by Native people for centuries as a valuable medicine.  Long before antibiotics were discovered by western scientific medicine, echinacea was used to cure conditions ranging from colds and flu to toothaches to migraines to malaria and tumors.  Native people traditionally chewed and sucked on the root, which activated disease-fighting enzymes in saliva. 

For much more information about human-echinacea interactions as well as insect-bird-interactions, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinacea_laevigata

Edibles

American chestnut from the surviving tree and nasturtium seeds forming from last week’s cut flowers.  The tassel at the top of the chestnut is on both American and Chinese chestnuts.  It’s actually the remains of the flower’s pistol, through which the pollen travels into the ovary during pollination.

The green nasturtium berries are also seed-bearing ovaries ( fruits), which grow in threes and then split apart and fall to the ground as the flower dries up.  These are the vitamin-packed caper-like seeds that early sailors snacked on to prevent scurvy.  I ate one of these green from the garden.  It was super peppery with a nasturtium undertone and a texture something like a raw green pea.  Will try soaking one in vinegar first.

I think the chestnut looks like a World Was 2 canteen in a brown velvet case.

Nasturtiums Seeding

Humans have loved nasturtiums for centuries for their beauty, of course, but also for their vitamin C as well as B 1, 2, and 3 and manganese, iron, phosphorus, and calcium.  Every part of this spicy little plant is edible.  Toss it in salads, float it on soups, even make little balls of soft goat cheese and walnuts and gently poke the balls into the center of the flowers for a light and healthy snack.  

The Incas taught the 15th century Spanish invaders to use  the pickled seeds as a source of vitamin C to ward off scurvy.  And if you fret about your eyesight, know that nasturtiums have more lutein than any other plant.  To make eye-strengthening snacks, drop green nasturtium seeds in vinegar for a few days, then eat them like you would capers.

Even after the plants have seeded and return to the soil, they secrete an essence into the soil, which is absorbed bu other plants, and which helps them resist attacks by pests and diseases.  And as if that weren’t enough, nasturtium nectar is nutritious for the bees and other insects that pollinate the plants.