Welcome to the Woodland Studio - my little corner of the blogosphere, where I can record my family adventures, share my love of nature and the creative endeavours that are inspired by this little rock in the big sea - Bowen Island, BC Canada.
I have always tried to bring nature into our home - when the kids were little, we would set up 'living labs' inside our house or on the balcony. We've had reptiles, amphibians, insects and lots of different terrariums set up to study throughout the years. We've raised tadpoles, salamander nymphs, crayfish and even caddisfly larvae.
With two dogs going crazy in the house, and the kids now bigger and more interested in their friends and video games, the living labs have ended. We do, however, still find ourselves exploring our seaside bluffs and forest paths on a regular basis and collecting little snippets of nature to record in our journals or house in glass vessels. We (or maybe it's just me) love researching the plants we find and learning more about what makes them unique to this part of the world and how they have been used throughout history. I thought I'd start this blog off with one of my favourites - Rattlesnake Plantain.
RATTLESNAKE-PLANTAIN | Goodyera oblongifolia
GENERAL: Evergreen perennial from short creeping rhizomes, with fibrous roots; stems 20-45 cm tall, stout and stiff, glandular-hairy; spreads rapidly by vegetative multiplication.
LEAVES: In basal rosette, thick, dark green, mottled or striped with white, especially along midrib, oval or oblong to narrowly elliptical, 3-10 cm long.
FLOWERS: Dull-white to greenish, petals and 1 of the sepals form a hood over the lip, numerous in long, dense, downy, terminal spike with most of the flowers oriented to one side.
ECOLOGY: On humus among mosses in dry to moist, shade, coniferous forests; common from lowlands to middle elevations.
NOTES: According to the 'Doctrine of Signs' early settlers believed that because the markings on the leaves of the rattlesnake-plantain resembled snakeskin markings, this plant could be used in treatment of rattlesnake bites. Presumably, it was also thought to resemble a plantain because of the similarity of the flattened basal leaf rosettes of the the 2 species. Some northwest coast peoples, such as the Saanich, used the plants as a good luck charm. Stl'atl'imx children used to make 'balloons' from the leaves, by rubbing them until the top and bottom layers separated and then blowing through the stem to inflate them. This plant was known to some interior plateau peoples as a medicine for childbirth, and as a poultice for cuts and sores for which the leaves were split open, and the moist inner part placed over the wound.
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So if you made it through all that, then you MUST be a nerdy nature lover like me. It's a pretty cool little club - and if you glazed over half way through (like my son does) that's okay too...I'm just happy you popped by. xox
