r/nativeplants

I was looking up native willow species in my range on BONAP and Salix actophila was the first species I checked out. When I saw the photos of this adorable little creeper I thought I must have misspelled "Salix"!

BONAP indicates a wide distribution in Maine, but according to maine.gov/dacf arctophila has only been observed above the tree line on Mount Katahdin. Not sure which source to trust, though I have found BONAP's data to be a bit sloppy at times.

How adorable is this long-horned bee napping on this Butterweed? So cutie!

On another note, anyone have Butterweed growing? It just showed up in my flower bed but I read it can be really aggressive.

Ohio, USA

Pretty color! Zone 7a

Maryland zone 7a. It's a small woodland perennial known for its shiny green leaves and clusters of tiny, fragrant white flowers in spring, followed by red berries in fall. It forms colonies in cool, moist, shady forests across North America, spreading via rhizomes, and is also called false lily-of-the-valley.

Has anyone seen a variegated skunk cabbage before?

Thin-leaved peavine is endangered in Washington and is known to exist in just one county (Lewis County). A farmer captured it in bloom next to camas at his organic farm.

I shall try to not make a habit of this, but once in a while I think it’s nice to compare Northern Hemisphere Geraniums with Southern Hemisphere Pelargoniums. Especially when there is a botanical story.

At the weekend I visited a friend’s medieval physic/herb garden.

One plant in flower was a UK native - Geranium sanguineum, or Bloody Cranesbill.

It’s hard to see in the photo but the flowers have red veins giving its Latin name sanguineum (“blood-red”).

But its common name comes from its medical use of treating the “bloody flux” - what we’d now recognise as severe dysentery.

Under the old Doctrine of Signatures, plants resembling a disease or symptom were thought to treat it.
So a “bloody” plant for “bloody” diarrhoea made intuitive sense at the time.

There is some science too:

Bloody cranesbill contains significant amounts of tannins—compounds that:

- Tighten and contract tissues
- Reduce secretions
- Help constrict small blood vessels

In a condition like dysentery, where the bowel is inflamed, bleeding, and producing frequent loose stools, this would:

- Reduce diarrhoea
- Help limit bleeding
- Soothe irritated intestinal lining

It also has weak antimicrobial activity.

But remember this is medieval science - experimentation where doing nothing would be fatal so you might as well try.

Plants are a wonderful source of medicine because nature and evolution have found ways to synthesise chemicals.

But modern medicine is an extension of medieval medicine - researching better and better treatments. Modern herbology and homeopathy arent. Best stick to medically prescribed treatments for things as serious as the bloody flux.

anyone know what this disease is? should I cut back my plants to prevent spreading to rest of my garden?

[effacé]