It is easy to be misled by those who think they are authorities on just about everything. A few years back, a tree bloomed in the swamp behind the house. A new pathway had just been cleared when the blooms were discovered so the tree was left intact. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered that there was a so-called botanist that was a family member. Aha! A botanist should definitely be able to identify a tree by photos of the leaves, bark and bloom. Throw in the location, the soil conditions and time of blooming and it should be an easy task. My "botanist" friend eagerly gave me an identity and I accepted it as fact. Big mistake! Apparently botanists are not always correct but, for years, I firmly believed the answer given. The tree sat with the misnomer of "Virginia Sweetspire".
Now just through browsing the Internet for the identity of yet another tree, I stumbled across my "fake" sweetspire! It is not sweetspire at all! The tree in question now has an accurate name strictly due to the Mississippi State University website. I suppose I should have known from the get-go that a Mississippi university would know far better about the trees in the state than some out-of-state botanist. (In all fairness here, perhaps my friend just glanced at the photos and took a wild guess as he did not wish to delve into a tree not native to his area. Understandable, I guess...maybe. But I sure wish he would have just said that he did not know instead of giving me false information.)
The true identity of my tree is Swamp Cyrilla! I am just about as happy as a honeybee in a daisy garden with that news! Swamp Cyrilla is an attractive tree sort of on the smallish side but it drapes beautifully over the path. It has the long, dangling racemes that are creamy white and are obviously highly addictive for bees! Thousands of honeybees were buzzing the blooms today and according to the MSU website, the honey made from nectar of the Swamp Cyrilla is exceptional. I guess I need to find that beehive! Still, it confuses me how a botanist can be oh, so wrong about a tree when they have access to the material needed to make an identity. I do believe I shall stick with the university's information if I need another tree's name.
It should come as no great surprise that I will reach for an herb before a pill. While I have nothing against modern medicine, doctors or their vast knowledge, I still prefer to know exactly what I am putting in my mouth or applying to my body. I will, however, listen to my doctor and take what he prescribes if he fully explains why I am to do this and if I fully agree that it is needed. It has long been my thinking that the patients never ask enough questions about their health care. I have been known to fully refuse to take some medicines that were prescribed as they were merely given to me to shut me up. Nope, I want to know why I hurt, what is causing it, what the medicines are going to do to my body, how long it will take and if it is a permanent fix. But, at the same time, I am leery of some of the so-called herbal remedies. If you do not study enough, you are just liable to make things a whole lot worse. With today's readily available "credible" information via the Internet, a lot of things are tossed out there that can cause major problems. As I always say, check with your doctor BEFORE trying any herbal cure. A lot of the information that is thrown at us is not accurate by far.
Just today, I made a discovery that probably should be tossed out there in the mix. I have Gloriosa Lilies growing everywhere. Staying true to the lore behind them, those things will take over the place if allowed. The plants, though beautiful, are highly invasive and since I have been concentrating on the remodeling job, I have rather neglected the yard. This afternoon as I strolled through the gardens, I was greeted by hundreds of the lilies in bloom. Granted they were a bit battered by the rainstorm of the day but their bright blooms still brought a smile. They always make me think of Pop and his gorgeous flower gardens that filled the yard. Then a memory from Pop's great wisdom..."Don't eat any part of those lilies. They are poisonous and could kill you." Pop passed along all sorts of things that have come in extremely handy in my later years. Not that I had an itching to munch a lily but it is good to know.
Curious, I did a bit of research on the Gloriosa Lily. To my surprise, I am finding article after article that refers to the lily's ability to cure just about everything but baldness. A lot of the sites claimed that "extract from the stems can kill lice"....alright, that may be ok if applied topically. "The root heals snakebite"....huh? I guess if you die, it was the snake's fault and not a poisonous tuber. "The tuber heals cancer, cures leprosy and eases constipation." Wow! Why has the medical field not jumped on this one??? Then, one article claims that it has "great medicinal uses such as abortion, suicide and homicide." Can any of those be filed under great medicinal uses? Sounds sort of like just the opposite to me.
I had to giggle when, in one article, a huge disclaimer banner rolled across the screen."This site is not to be held responsible if death occurs while following some of the remedies recommended here." WAIT???? WHAT????? Well, at least they covered themselves, I guess.
So, it sounds like Pop was right about this lily. DON"T EAT ANY PART OF IT!!! Enjoy the beauty of the flame colored blooms and the delicate whorls of leaves but do NOT ingest any of it....and make sure you follow the advice of your doctor not some Internet wannabe herbalist. Never..ever go out and grab a plant thinking that it is perfectly safe because you read about it somewhere. (And I am sure there are those who will contradict me but so be it. My whole point here is to warn folks to use herbs and plants wisely, knowledgeably and carefully. Reread that other site's disclaimer before taking a bite. That should be warning enough!) Thanks, Pop. You are a lifesaver!
Convincing some folks that their long held beliefs are erroneous is like trying to convince an elephant to sit in a thimble. I have just about as much of chance getting that huge animal in a tiny thimble as I do changing the ideas of some folks. A lot of the beliefs are held onto out of fear. "Dad always told me"..."I always heard"..."I know what I am talking about" are all things that I have heard over the years. Sorry, folks...sometimes what you think is not what is correct. For instance, one person swears that all snakes are "hunting" for people to bite and that all snakes are "poisonous". Hmmm, I cannot imagine that human safaris are all the rage with snakes and, while there may be a few "poisonous" snakes out there, I do think you mean venomous. (We won't go there...look it up.) The same person insists that green snakes and black racers are highly "poisonous" (her word). Nope. Neither are. Nor are they venomous. In fact, both will refrain from biting you unless you truly hurt them. Those bites won't hurt either.
The same belief is erroneously attached to another critter that is quite often found in the area. Folks are quick to claim that a broad-headed skink is (once again) highly poisonous. Not that I can attest to this but I highly doubt it. I have not eaten one to find out if it is poisonous so I am in no position to make claims on that supposition. If the statement had read "A broad-headed skink is highly venomous", I could say without hesitation that there is no truth at all to the idea. Broad-headed skinks are not venomous...period. Enough said. The critter will, however, not shy away from clamping down on your finger, hand, nose or whatever else gets poked into its business. They will bite. The fact of the matter is that the skink is merely protecting itself from a huge monster (you) and will use whatever means it has to escape unscathed. I do not blame them. I would, too. But, that bite will not feel to overly uncomfortable once you get over the initial shock of something latching onto you. My best description is the bite feeling a lot like being pinched by two sandy fingers.
While the idea of being bit by any critter is enough to scare folks, I have found that if you ever want to catch a skink there is an easy method. Just corner the critter, poke at it enough and it will catch you. Once it latches down on your finger, just gently pick it up! It works! (And you do not have to worry about poison! Or venom!)
As an added note, the fine specimen of broad-headed skink that I found was not harassed into biting. It is my belief that we can all live in peace...critters and humans alike. The critters have that down pat...to bad humans do not. This is a male broad-headed skink. It is easy to tell as the males have the bright red heads during mating season. This nigh on ten inch long beauty was sunning himself after downing a smaller ground skink for lunch. (Which, by the way, has been labeled as a "highly poisonous scorpion lizard" by our misguided friend mentioned above. Oh, come on! *Insert a tone of frustration at this point...groan!)
Getting back to the fact of folks and their misbeliefs, I figure that perhaps it would be easier to help them overcome their fear of the critters. By pointing out the beauty and the helpfulness of each critter, I may just alleviate their distaste of all things that wiggle, slither, slink, crawl and slide. Hopefully, then they will "live and let live." It is a good aphorism and one I try to live by.
Back on the farm, Pop was highly particular about his vegetables. Only the best, the A-one, the pristine ever made the bins for sale. His squash were supreme, his peppers...perfect, his eggplants...exquisite. Nothing, I mean nothing, slipped by his keen eye when it came to selling his produce. Also, when weighing the produce for sale, he always slipped in a bit of lagniappe. He always said "Treat your customers as friends and they will always return." We did...and they did. But while he sold pound after pound of fresh veggies, he was not one to pick them under-ripe unless some specifically requested him to do so. "Mr. Hengen, would you sell us some green tomatoes?" was a oft heard request that would send him back out into the fields to do just that. Otherwise, those tomatoes were picked at the peak of ripeness each day. What he did not sell each day, was carried inside the old farmhouse where Mom and I canned them. That is another story for another day but the point is that while he grew acres and acres of vegetables, none were harvested before their time and none went to waste. Thumping the watermelons, "popping" the kernels of corn, snapping the ends of okra were all tests done with each picking. Things were truly "vine-ripened" with him. I always loved going out to the fields at daybreak with him to harvest and load the old Jeep pick-up truck. Once it was loaded until it could hold no more, we would slowly drive back home to hand wash each individual vegetable until all the field dust was removed. Then, and only then, were we "open for business". Good times.
All of this reminiscing is to bring a point. Back in the day, things were all grown without harmful additives and without labels. If a tomato was in the garden, it was a tomato. It was not "organic" or genetically modified. It was a tomato, pure and simple. Growers did not mislead folks either. If they said it was vine-ripened...it was ripened on the vine. Nowadays, that just isn't so! The next time you go into the market, check to see how many nice, red tomatoes you can find. Tons....and most are touted as "vine-ripe". Visions of a lush, juicy tomato fills the mind and makes the mouth water. Too bad. I have got news for you. THEY AREN'T! In today's produce market, a "vine-ripe" tomato means that it was picked when only ten percent of the surface has changed to a slight rosy pink. And, get this, only a few of the tomatoes are checked for even that ripeness. Once some have reached the "desired stage", the field is harvested in one clean sweep making the tomatoes being picked at all different stages of unripeness. Well, that is sort of misleading now isn't it? The fruit was snatched from the plant far before Old Mr. Sun could do his job and instill a good bit of flavor into that tomato. The bland, cardboard-tasting, dried-out tomato wannabe, just is not what is touted with all of the fancy-schmancy words. An unripe tomato is an unripe tomato. Sorry. Now, if you want green tomatoes, don't get the idea that you can buy those red things in the store. Unripe tomatoes are not even green tomatoes. They are just blah. Oh, and, by the way, those tomatoes are "gassed" to make them have that red hue.
Personally, I let the tomatoes absorb as much of the beautiful sunshine and life-giving rain as they want. I refuse to pick them until the redness literally oozes from the fruit. They taste so much better! They taste like a tomato should. They are truly vine-ripened. The tomatoes in the picture? They stayed one more full day to ripen to a deep red before we picked them and, oh, my goodness, were they tasty! I am so glad that the garden is filled with such delights and I am so glad Pop taught me how to grow things.
