Early Meadow-Rue

 

Early Meadow-Rue
Thalictrum dioicum

This little plant has become one of my favorites since I only see them on steep, partly shaded hillsides.  I found it hard to get near one to shoot.  The other species of Thalictrum that I've seen are either in open fields or flat woodlands.  Rue Anemone is in this genus, which is weird since they have way prettier flowers.

There is no evidence that Native Americans used this plant for medicinal or any other purpose.  They probably just didn't want to go to all the trouble of collecting it when there were so many other plants that were easy to get.

If you Google Thalictrum you'll find that the vast majority of hits have to do with gardening.  Apparently, this genus has been cultivated a lot to make different varieties suitable for the garden.

These are the staminate flowers.  The pistillate flowers are even less showy.

The leaves don't have the wavy teeth like other Thalictrum's.

Dwarf Larkspur

Dwarf Larkspur
Delphinium tricorne

I wish I were a professor.  Then I could study anything I want.  In this case, Professor Lazarus Walter Macior from Akron University spent 6 years back in the 60's and 70's studying pollination of this plant with the resultant research paper titled "The Pollination Ecology of Delphinium Tricorne".  This very detailed study found out that while many insects visited these flowers, only queen bumblebees and hummingbirds actually distributed any pollen.  How many nature secrets are out there that could only be learned by spending years studying such specific topics?

This southern Indiana plant was an essential part of the dye palette of Native Americans, producing a sky-blue color, which apparently was hard to come by in those days, so this plant was valuable to the artists of the day.

Common Tansy

Common Tansy
Tanacetum vulgare

If you plant Common Tansy in your herb garden, be prepared to find it growing everywhere else.  It's a cool looking plant, but it will invade all corners of your property.

This is another of those plants that were brought over from Europe long ago, then escaped from the gardens and have been a problem ever since.  In the past, it was used as an herbal remedy for about everything, but is now known to be toxic.

Many websites tout is as an herbal insect repellent, particularly mosquitos, but also ants, spiders and even mice.  I've not tried it for any of these things, but I do know that the flowers are very attractive to insects.  Perhaps the leaves are toxic to insects, but the flowers are dependent on them for pollination.

Flowers have no petals!

Common European Greenbottle Fly

European Corn Borer Moth

Yellow-collared Scape Moth

 Ligated Furrow Bee

Common St. Johnswort

Common St. Johnswort
Hypericum perforatum

This plant has a cool name, and while many of its generic siblings are native and well-mannered, this species is non-native and invasive.  It seems to be more of a problem in other states than Indiana, and I've not seen it taking over any areas, but descriptions from other states sound like it can be a big problem.

An unusual problem with it is that when eaten in quantity, it will make an animal hypersensitive to the sun, resulting in sunburns.  This can be very difficult problem for range animals.

Medicinally, this plant has been used for centuries to treat a whole variety of problems, internal and external, which is probably why it was brought to America in the first place. In fact, it is being studied as a treatment for COVID.  There are two compounds, hypericin and hyperforin, that account for the wide variety of effects this plant has on the body.  All of the Hypericum species have some of each, but Hypericum perforatum has the most and has been analyzed and studied extensively by the scientific community, with results showing that it is likely a good herbal treatment for a number of issues.

The little translucent dots are actually tiny sacs fill with essential oils of the plant.

This is a fairly noticeable plant which is in bloom during the feast day of St John the Baptist, June 24.