Pennsylvania Game News - June 2011 - 55

root refers to its use by Indians in treating women’s health problems.. Another plant used to treat women’s health, the well-known medicinal black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), flourishes beside our hollow road and inside our deer exclosure. One of its alternate names is squawroot. Others are black snakeroot, bugbane, bugwort, rattleroot, rattleweed and, my personal favorite, fairy candles. How else to describe its upright spires of white, feathery, ill-scented flowers growing above a wreath of sharplytoothed leaflets? Instead of driving bugs away, as its generic Latin name indicates as well as its nickname bugbane, its carrion smell attracts pollinating insects. This plant is also the sole food for the caterpillars of the Appalachian azure butterfly (Celastrina neglecta-major). This butterfly lives in the central and southern Appalachians, from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia, and thrives in rich, deciduous woods, especially near streams, exactly the habitat we have. I don’t think that I’ve seen this species yet, but we may not be far enough south, or perhaps I have misidentified some of our spring azures. Rattleroot and rattleweed refer to the seeds of black cohosh that rattle inside their pods or perhaps, along with snakeroot, to its use against snakebite by Indians. The rest of our June native forest wildflowers are less showy. Both sweet-cicely (Osmorhiza claytonia), also called Clayton’s sweet root, and aniseroot (O. longistylis) grow beside our hollow road. Members
june 2011

of the parsley family, both have fern-like leaves, small umbels of white flowers, and club-shaped, blackish fruit that cling to clothes, but sweet-cicely has hairy stems and short styles whereas aniseroot has longer styles than the petals and smoother stems. In addition, all parts of aniseroot are anise-scented. A few Philadelphia fleabane (erigeron philadelphicus) plants also grow beside our hollow road. A member of the daisy family, its small, pink-rayed, yellow-centered flowers have from 50 to 100 petals, and its leaves clasp its soft, hairy stem. Another name for this attractive plant is the Philadelphia daisy. Hooked crowfoot (Ranunculus recurvatus), also called hooked buttercup or blisterwort, is a buttercup with tiny, pale yellow flowers that grows along our stream and is pollinated by small bees. The “hooked” refers to its spiny-looking fruit. Wood ducks, ruffed grouse, wild turkeys and eastern chipmunks relish its seeds. The single, greenish or white, fivepetaled flower of thimbleweed or tall anemone (Anemone virginiana) grows atop a 2- to 3-foot high, hairy stem above a set of whorled, 3-part, toothed leaves. Its name comes from its thimble-shaped fruit. It, too, grows along our hollow road and, like hooked crowfoot, is a member of the buttercup family. Indian cucumber-root (Medeola virginiana) crowds our road bank and flourishes beside our stream. Its lance-shaped leaves grow in two whorls, and beneath the upper whorl dangle two greenish-yellow flowers with long and spreading, spider like styles. A member of the lily family, its upper leaves are stained with crimson in the fall, a striking contrast to its dark purple berries above those leaves. Its generic name is
55

Pennsylvania Game News - June 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - June 2011