Angiosperms are also known as flowering plants. Evolutionarily, they are more advanced than the older groups which bear cones and spores in their "race to reproduce". Apparently they are more sucessful too, as Angiosperms and especially Dicots, vastly outnumber the other groups. [I could go on, but this is not the time and place for Darwinian evo-babble]

If you are really into this, check out National Geographic July 2002, there is some really neat information on the "oldest flowering plants" in that, as well as general taxonomy on plant species. AND some great photography!!!

Many Orchids and Lilies (Monocots) are either very unpalatable, or poison, and best left alone. They are rarely mentioned in Western herbal lore, and seem to lurk around the edges of human interest. (Even mushrooms rate more interest) Orchids often are parasites or saprophytes, living off the good will of other species. However, many are very pretty to look at, and very worth collecting if you love beautiful things.

Another reason that we don't have much herbal lore on orchids in North America is that most orchids are jungle and rain forest residents. The indigenous jungle people in the USA (Southeast and Florida) were pretty much "de Indianized" by 1812, and the rainforests turned into farmland, so much of this lore (and probably many orchid species) are lost forever. What we have left are orchids in the Amazon and Central American rainforests, therefore not part of this course. An herbal item that we frequently use from Orchids is the vanilla bean.

Lily Family

Latin or Botanical name	common name	herbal or edible use
Calypso bulbosa	Angel slipper	Calypso was a nymph that Odysseus cavorted with, so that might help with remembering the name. Calypso means "concealment"
Corallorhiza maculata	Spotted Coral Root	If "immaculate" means "unspotted" then "maculate" means "spotted" Lives in the roots of trees.
Goodyera oblongifolia	Rattlesnake Plantain	Not a true plantain (they are dicots) There's a very cute story about Native kids making balloons out of these leaves in Polar and McKinnon. Any herbal use it has seems associated with bleeding.

We didn't look at many Monocots in this class. The good news is they are easy to identify. There are a few Monocots that are of such use to us in our everyday lives, as food, that we cannot pass them over.

Lily Family--Liliaceae--Onions, garlic, leeks, chives and shallots all belong to this family. They are noted for their enhancement of food, the "spice of life". They are also indicated in folk lore as keeping colds away, and generally strengthening the body. Wild onions are used in the tribal rituals of the Muskogee people of Alabama.

Latin or Botanical name	common name	herbal or edible use
Camassia quamish	Camas bulb	Was semi-cultivated by the Pacific Northwest tribes. Literature on camas bulbs is loaded with warnings about the Death Camas, a plant with similar bulb and leaves. The leaves and bulbs of the Death Camas give burning sensation when touched to the tongue. Flowers of the two plants are very different, which just points up the lessons that we learned in our class, that you really can't always identify plants well, unless you have the bloom. The local natives took great pains to harvest while the camas were in bloom, to avoid such mix-ups, and they eradicated the Death Camas from the real Camas beds at every opportunity. Lewis and Clark found huge fields of camas when they first got here (like oceans of blue), but of course, they have been crowed out by urbanization, and a shift in the diets of indigenous groups. Apparently camas make great eating, and are sweet, but gassy!
Maianthemum dilatatum	Wild Lily of the Valley (also Deer Berry, Snake Berry)	Various tribes ate the leaves raw as a "purgative" roots and leaves both used as external washes and poltices, and for eye treatments. Again, the berries are edible, but not very.
Maianthemum racemosa	Large False Solomon's Seal	I think this was the inflourescence with the wonderful smell. Berries edible, not very good, root used as a poltice. Roots boiled and drank by some Natives as purgative.
Maianthemum stellatum	Small False Solomon's Seal, Star flowered False Solomon's Seal	Edible berries, but not very tasty.
Trillium ovatum	Wood Lily	I was delighted to find in Audubon's sketches, a cousin to this, the Toad Shade, which is native to New England. It's almost identical! Trilliums have herbal properties, check it out!

Iris Family--there are wild iris in the Pacific Northwest, but we didn't study any of them, and none have herbal properties that I can find. But they are very pretty. Crocus sativa is an Iris, and the source of saffron, but it's introduced here. The native iris is much more slender and tougher in blade, than the store bought "cultivar" iris, and the bloom is smaller and more modest, as well.

Arum Family--Araceae

Latin name	common name	herbal use
Lysichiton americanum	American Skunk Cabbage, Swamp Lantern	There is a very good article in the Seattle Times, June 3, 2002 about this plant. Some fool was discussing making a "tonic" drink from this plant. If anyone wants to try it out, be my guest and let me know how it goes :P Only bears appear to enjoy eating it raw. The local Natives had a pretty good traditional story in the newspaper article (involved salmon of course); the Skunk Cabbage is the first thing to come up in the Spring, something you only eat if you are starving. (The roots are edible, if cooked: apparently the leaves will sting your tongue good!) Leaves were used by Natives for wrapping food and lining baskets.

Grass Family--Corn, wheat, rye.........so many of the grain plants come from the Grass Family. Also grasses are very palatable to herbivores, so they are a useful plant group indeed. Corn has major religious significance to most Native American people, especially Gulf Basin and Northeastern Tribes, and the Hopi.

[a Kachina of Corn Maiden, I think]

Cattails: Native Americans (and early European settlers) used the fluff for bedding, and wove baskets out of the long, strong leaves.

Duckweed--Lemna minor--here in the Pacific northwest, the duckweed is maybe 1/8" in diameter. In Southern California, it's about 1/4" in diameter. An odd plant, it just floats on top of still water. It has little tiny roots that hang in the water sucking up nutrients, and it practices photosynthesis (aka it's green). I'm sure water critters eat it (fish and ducks), but otherwise it only has aesthetic value for aquaculturalists.

Click here to go check out the rest of the Angiosperms, the Dicots