Plant of the Month: August 2006

Mimosa Pudica
Sensitive Plant

A short entry this month inspired by the surreal video found on the University of Indiana's biology server:

This plant has been identified as the Ayurvedic herb lajjalu. The bark from a close relative of this plant, Mimosa hostilis, is used in Brazilian Ayahuasca brews. It presents a pharmacological anamoly because the DMT available is orally active without any MAOI, unlike any other phytoindolic entheogens.

Other notable plants with intrinsic response movements include Desmodium gyrans (another Ayahuasca herb containing DMT) and Stylidium sp.

Gertrude the Gopher

A new friend has taken up residence in my front yard; how can one sustainably treat pest matters around the home/farm? Pesticides and chemical deterrents may very well do more harm than good in the greater scope of things.

This German website (Translated) offers a Euphorbia species as a remedy for those "troubled by Wühlmäusen." It owes this unique property to Ingenol-3-angelate, purportedly a "tumor promoter." It also suggests Fritillaria imperialis, due to its Imperialine. Ever-useful PFAF notes that "The flowers smell of wet fur and garlic," which seems to be a reasonable deterrant in and of itself.

Invariably commercial botanic gopher repellents include garlic, castor oil, or dandelion.

The Gopher Getters shun other phytoremedial techniques for common marigolds. This may be the most convincing (and least toxic) suggestion. Marigolds are often used in tribal remedies and are widely renowned for their nematocidal activity. Tegete oil is a derivitive used most notably for bowfly deterrent and mosquito larvacide. Additionally, this remedy may not kill the vermin but merely force it off your properly marigold-lined property.

If all else fails: "Freeze, Gopher!"

Creative Cartography

The lull in Horticultured posts recently is due to the beginning of the Fall Semester and my reticent absorption into breadth classes required for transfer. However i've started some Frappr maps to enhance entries in this blog considerably.

To aid in your native plant location efforts should you decide plant bombs sound like a good idea:

Native Plant Map

And for all you would-be ethnopharmacologists:

Entheogen Plant Map

User participation is crucial to a sucessful map so add some plants that you've noticed growing around your area.

Please be mindful when collecting seed/taking cuttings from wild or landscaped specimens as they are not your property and should be treated as such. A few snips or some collected seed is understandable but uprooting a plant to suit your needs is worse than doing nothing at all.

Cyclops: I am Undone

There are few creatures of myth that maintain man's rapt attention as well as the mighty cyclops of ancient Greece. Could it be possible that the true inspiration for such an alien creature be rooted in earthly reality?

A mother in India gave birth to a one-eyed child. It is believed the deformation is caused by Cyclopamine, a derivitive of Veratrum californicum. Welcome to the wonderful world of teratogenesis!

Historically there are two versions of the monster. The first are Theogony's Cyclopes, three primordial sons of Uranus and Gaia, the earthly creator gods. They forged and bestowed the almighty lightning bolts utilized by Zeus, Perseus' helmet, Poseidon's trident, and Artemis' bow and arrows. As the brothers of the Hecatonchires (literally "the hundred-handed") they most likely only represented metaphoric blacksmiths, one eye being invisible due to the patch often worn by metalworkers of the period for protection from flying sparks.

Alternatively there is the Cyclops of Homer's Odyssey, a one-eyed creature known as Polyphemus that inhabited an island somewhere in the Mediterranean. A flock of sheep are pivotal to the story and in the end the Cyclops' eye is gouged out and he is left by Odysseus and the remaining party to die. Could it be that this supposed son of Poseidon was in fact a teratogenic mishap that made his way into history?

Veratrum album is a cosmopolitan plant known to many European regions and its medicinal properties were utilized despite its paralyzing neurotoxic effect. Homer's island of the cyclops is generally believed to be Sicily, and it may have been teeming with the plant, nearly indistiguishable from its American cousin. Perhaps a Sicilian woman used a Veratrum preparation and birthed what became the Cyclops monster of myth.

I must forewarn that ingestion of any amount of Veratrum will result in paralysis, unconsciousness, then death. For all your teratogenic needs please stick with Accutane, widely available on American and International pharmacy shelves.