Maine wild flowers/weeds

[7th generation]

starwalker, here is a good reference *and flashy too!*
Wild Flowers of Baxter State Park

[boonelsewhere]

7th, can you check, if this is a url you intend to post.
thanks,boon.

Originally Posted by 7th generation

starwalker, here is a good reference *and flashy too!*
Wild Flowers of Baxter State Park

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by boonskyler

7th, can you check, if this is a url you intend to post.
thanks,boon.

Likely is... it's a (blankety-blank) GEOCITIES site... they often have -- or give -- problems.

[7th generation]

Ya know guys, I checked it after I read your posts....and no.....$@^&% Yahoo.....
Then clicked on it again...and bingo!

[boonelsewhere]

thanks 7th, it was address on the url "yosemite", otherwise i would have wait and try it later.
i am there now.

Originally Posted by 7th generation

Ya know guys, I checked it after I read your posts....and no.....$@^&% Yahoo.....
Then clicked on it again...and bingo!

[elston]

The first flower is called Rhodora. R.W. Emerson wrote a beautiful poem in its honor based on its habit of growing in swampy and out of the way places often unseen. It ends with the following beautiful thought.....

"Rhodora if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being.
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you."

Starwalker, thank you for bringing this to my mind.....it is one of my favorites and love its simple justification "Beauty is its own excuse for being"; not everything has to have a practicality.

[moughie]

"Beauty is its own excuse for being"; not everything has to have a practicality.

Lovely quote, elston! Thank you!

We are so fortunate to be able to smell, see, hear and touch all the amazing beauty of the natural world! I am continuously deliriously in awe of the many wonders......

[elston]

This looks like a Hawthorn Tree to me. Star there is much Celtic Lore about the Hawthorn which is both a magical, a culinary and a healing plant. It is associated with Beltane.


It is a favorite with fairies and witches and is associated with beauty, chastity and sexuality. (It is best not to mess around with the Hawthorn )

Celtic Tree Lore - Specific Information on

"The fair maid, who on the first of May,
Goes to the fields at the break of day,
And bathes in the dew from the hawthorn tree,
Will ever strong and handsome be".

Originally Posted by starwalker

Here is another one that I spotted a few days later...

They look kind of like apple blossoms, but look at that THORN near where I picked it.. and they were thorns, indeed, not broken off twigs. There were not a lot of thorns but they were all like that, about 2 1/2" long!

Similar location around Milo...

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by elston

This looks like a Hawthorn Tree to me. Star there is much Celtic Lore about the Hawthorn which is both a magical, a culinary and a healing plant. It is associated with Beltane.

Thank you, Elston. I had drawn that conclusion following threads online from the earlier identification as "thornapple"... I don't think it was QUITE in bloom by Beltaine (at least this year) but now I know to watch for it.

I have had several folks (in other online venues such as my blogs) who are interested in my flower project, and by this time next year, I hope to have a searchable database online (since I am making it for my own reference anyway, why not share?) where folks can look by flower color, when it blooms (at least in my location) and as I learn more, the lore attributes of various types as well. Unlike the sites I have found thus far, I will include a small photo of the blooms on the search return page, so it will be quicker to identify the plant in question.

This in my "copious free time" LOL I do know the plants and trees really want me to know them.

[elston]

Originally Posted by starwalker

Thank you, Elston. I had drawn that conclusion following threads online from the earlier identification as "thornapple"... I don't think it was QUITE in bloom by Beltaine (at least this year) but now I know to watch for it.

I have had several folks (in other online venues such as my blogs) who are interested in my flower project, and by this time next year, I hope to have a searchable database online (since I am making it for my own reference anyway, why not share?) where folks can look by flower color, when it blooms (at least in my location) and as I learn more, the lore attributes of various types as well. Unlike the sites I have found thus far, I will include a small photo of the blooms on the search return page, so it will be quicker to identify the plant in question.

This in my "copious free time" LOL I do know the plants and trees really want me to know them.

When I moved to California one of the things that never felt right was that I had left behind the flora and fauna of the north east. I never disrespected the things that grew in California (even tho the vast majority in southern cal---were from other continents---and non native; but I truely grieved for my relationship to the plants of my childhood: even the weeds.

Many plants have immediate associations with loved ones....and the power to bring them into my presence. When I was little my father used to read to me from Thornton Burgess' field guide and also from his Old Mother West Wind series. Then we would go out walking and find the plants that we had read about. Learning to identify a plant wasn't just about the shape of the leaves and number of petals....but also its companion plants, bog or sunny slopes, and its place in the forest or field, what critters ate it or was it poison? It was like getting to know a friend. I missed them all terribly while away.....but they were all waiting to welcome me home. I noticed that the honey or black locust trees are in bloom where I am and the hawthorns are starting to bloom as well.