Nature Knowledge
Plants
📷Cleavers (Gallium Aparine)
This variety of cleavers has 6-8 leaves on each whorl.
Many people are allergic to cleavers so it is important to take more care than with most wild plants and do a skin test first if possible. Can stimulate uterine contractions in women so avoid if pregnant, nursing or trying to get pregnant. Because of this Native American women sometimes used cleavers to prevent pregnancy
Some people develop contact dermatitis, aka a rash or itchy areas of the skin, when touching Cleavers. These people should not eat cleavers, as this allergic reaction will be more serious.
Cleavers get their name from their ability to stick to things. To "cleave to" once meant "to adhere to" and "cleave apart" meant to tear apart
Cleavers are a favourite food of geese – hence their other name ‘Goose Grass’.
Due to their ability to stick together and hold form, forming a cushioning texture; Cleavers were popular for mixing with straw for filling mattreses leading to another of their names : bedstraw
When matted or woven loosely together, cleavers can be used to strain milk, a practice that is apparently still used in some parts of the world
Cleavers are rumoured to be the inspiration for the maker of Velcro, although it could also have been burdock. Due to their stick ‘velcro’ nature. Cleavers are also sometimes known as ‘sticky weed’ or ‘sticky willy’.
Fresh cleavers ingested act as a diuretic, helping to maintain kidney function and health. Cleavers (fresh or dried) have anti-coagulent properties which can help lower blood pressure, but this is why it is important to avoid cleavers if already on blood thinning medication.
📷In a survival situation, a mat of cleavers pressed against a wound can help is the flow of blood better than pressure alone
Even if you don't develop a rash/itch, I recommend that you try cleavers for the first time in a small amount, and you might want to try a skin test. For a skin test, mash up a ball of plant matter the size of a marble or so. Rub this on the sensitive skin of the inside of the elbow, wait 48 hours, and see if you develop redness, irritation, itching or any other signs of an allergic reaction. If you do, please don't eat!
Cleavers of any age, fresh or dried, can also be steeped in boiling water as a tea. This tea will be rich in vitamin C, and also posses some of the other medicinal qualities of cleavers.
Because of the hooked hairs on cleavers, they must be cooked extremely thoroughly. I recomend boiling in a lot of water, working with small batches of plants, so the entire surface area is exposed to the boiling water. Once boiled you can theoretically use them as any cooked green, provided they aren't too fibrous.
If the plants are stringy even after boiling, I recommend any dish where you will be pureeing them, honestly I really only eat them pureed myself. Sauces, creamed soups, and pestos are all good.
Drying and roasting the seeds can produce a low caffeine coffee like substance. It is a tedious process, but if one is desperate for coffee an has plenty of time, a pleasant, strong coffee flavoured beverage can be made using cleaver seedpods. Use three heaped tablespoons of roasted an ground sees for two cups of coffee. Careful when roasting, they can burn if heat is too high.
To prepare put in a bowl an wash with cold water. Drain water off the bare black seeds andspread them in a shallow pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes until completely dried an slightly roasted. Watch they don’t burn. Cool an grind. Pour ón boiling water,steep for ten minutes an enjoy.
Young cleavers aren’t as sticky and have rounder leaves. They have a gentler texture making them easier to eat.
Cleavers purify the body. They make an excellent cleansing tonic that purifies the lymphatic system and urinary tract. Cleavers help remove toxins from the blood and intestines. They also make a cooling herbal drink when treating feverish conditions. Cleaver tea is often used as a wash for burns, scrapes, abrasions, ulcers, dandruff, itchy scalp, and other skin problems. The tea is also good treatment for relieving stress, tonsillitis, and prostate disorders.
Cleaver tea is used as a remey for asthma an other breathing problems. Use with echinacea or calendula for added strength. Cleavers may also be used as a gentle laxative for the treatment of constipation an are used to treat tumours in the mouth an throat.
Cleavers make an excellent facial toner that helps clear the complexion. Use in tea form an splash ón after washing, apply with a cotton ball, or apply with a spray bottle. Make enough sstrong cleaver tea to use as a wash an for a cup of tea. After a couple of days, acne, eczema, an other skin problems should be starting to clear up.
Cleavers poultices have been used in herbal medicine for hundreds of years. Apply the poultice or compress to sunburn an shallow wounds. The are also good for healing bites an stings. Cleavers help to draw out poisons an toxins causing insect bites an other wounds to heal faster.
Cleavers can be made into an effective deodorant. Make a strong tea with a large handful of cleaver stalks, leaves, an a pint of water. Gently simmer for fifteen minutes, strain, an bottle. Keep in a cool place, out of direct sunlight, an apply to armpits as a cottonbal as needed. Cleavers deodarent will keep for about a week. Add a drop or two of tea tree oil to prolong its shelf life.
Dried cleavers make a wonderful infused oil that keeps the lymphatic system healthy. Use your cleavers infused in oil in massage, gently stroking areas behind the knees, the pelvic area, the sides of the neck, the lower back, an under the arms.
The whole plant is rich in vitamin C.
Cleavers has long been used as a slimming aid, probably because of its diuretic properties.
the root itself yielded a red dye. Here’s an unusual nugget of interest, the plant could turn birds’ bones red if they ate its root[1][2][3].
Mahonia (Mahonia Aquifolium)
📷Mahonia is a common evergreen shrub found both inside the Botanic school gates and in Botanic park. It has a strong scent and both the flowers and berries are edible. It has prickly, holly-like leaves. The flavor of the flowers has been described as; “Think sherbet. First you experience the super sweet honey nectar followed by a delicious lemony tang.”[4] These are an important food for bees as one of the earliest flowering plants. The stamens are sensitive and if poked with a blade of grass the flowers will close up. The berries are edible and high in vitamin C with a very sharp taste, although contain berberine which can cause illness when consumed in large quantities.
Mushrooms
Collared Earth Stars (Geastrum Triplex)
Spotted in several places in Colin Glen Forest Park, late November 2018. (photo from Coin Glen)
· 📷Found in the leaf litter of hardwood forests.
· Inedible
· Spores are released from central hole when breezes blow across them. More are released when central bulb is hit by rain drops.
· No stem
· Outer sack opens up and folds back in a star shape. Leaving it looking like it is sitting in a saucer.
· Uses in traditional medicine - Earthstars were used medicinally by Native American Indians. The Blackfoot called them ka-ka-toos, meaning "fallen stars", and according to legend, they were an indication of supernatural events. The Cherokee put fruit bodies on the navels of babies after childbirth until the withered umbilical cord fell off, "both as a prophylactic and a therapeutic measure".[50] In traditional Chinese medicine, G. triplex is used to reduce inflammation in the respiratory tract, and to staunch bleeding and reduce swelling
Trees
Ash/ Fuinseog / Fraxinus Excelsior
· Ash is the commonest tree in Irish hedgrerows and grows in a range of soil types.
· A large deciduous tree, ash grows to between 12 and 18m (39-59ft.)
· Ash trees have been known to live for 250 years.
· Ash is used to make hurleys, snooker cues and furnitures.
· Ash dieback due to fungus is a huge threat to ash populations.
· Yggdrasil, the World Tree in Viking mythology, grew on an island surrounded by the ocean, in the depths of which the World Serpent lay. This ash tree's trunk reached up to the heavens, and its boughs spread out over all the countries of the Earth. Its roots reached down into the Underworld. A squirrel ran up and down the tree carrying messages from the serpent gnawing at the roots to the eagle in the canopy, and back. A deer fed on the ash leaves and from its antlers flowed the great rivers of the world. A magical goat grazed by the tree, and its udders dispensed not milk but mead for the warriors in Odin's Great Hall. The gods held their councils under the canopy of their guardian tree.
· din, the foremost god of the Vikings, hung himself on Yggdrasil as a sacrificial ordeal, during which he lost an eye to ravens. Ultimately though, he was rewarded with insights and wisdom, notably knowledge of the system of the Runes. Both he and Thor, the god of thunder, were said to possess magical spears made of ash wood. Mortals' spear shafts were also typically made of ash (as were bows, in the absence of yew, and arrow shafts). The words for ash and spear seem to be related in that a poetic Anglo-Saxon word for spear was aesc and the Norse word for ash was ask (influencing Highland place names such as Port Askaig). The Vikings were also referred to as the Aescling meaning 'Men of Ash'.
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· Like the Vikings, the Gaels also thought of the ash tree (which they called uinsinn, pronounced ooshin) as protective. Of the five legendary guardian trees of Ireland, three were ash. Ash is also the second most popular tree growing beside Irish holy wells, and on the Isle of Man ash trees were said to protect the purity of springs. In England the ash is the commonest tree as a place name element after the thorn.
In British folklore the ash was credited with a range of protective and healing properties, most frequently related to child health. Newborn babies were popularly given a teaspoon of ash sap. Ailing children, especially those suffering with rupture or weak limbs, would be passed naked through a cleft in an ash tree or ash sapling, to cure them. The cleft was often specifically made for the purpose and bound together again after the ceremony to heal over as the child also healed. Some folklore then suggested an intimate bond between the welfare and fate of the now related tree and person, with harm to the tree being reflected in the healed person's life, leading people to become understandably protective of 'their' ash tree.
· Though there does not appear to be any religious reason why this tree should be associated with Ash Wednesday, the mere association of the words is obvious, and in parts of England children used to bring a twig of black-budded ash to school on this day. Any child who failed to remember this risked having his or her feet stomped on by other ash-twig-bearing children!
· Ash wood is very strong, tough and elastic, and it is said that a joint of ash will bear more weight than any other wood. Chariot and coach axles were made of ash as were oars, tool handles and the weaponry already mentioned. The tree coppices well, giving strong straight poles for bean poles after five years or oars after twenty. Ash coppice stools seem to be able to go on producing poles almost indefinitely and an eighteen-foot-diameter stool in Suffolk has been estimated to be over a thousand years old. The density of the wood also makes it an ideal fuel, as is reflected in its Latin species name Fraxinus meaning firelight. One of the traditional woods used as the yule log was ash. In some areas the 'log' was actually a faggot, that is a tightly bound bundle of coppiced ash rods. To this day ash is the most highly valued firewood, burning for a long time with an intense heat, whether seasoned or green.
· it is associated with the Welsh Magician-God Gwyddion, who bears an Ash staff/wand, a symbol of healing and especially transformation and empowerment in matters of destiny.
· The name Nuin or Nin, literally means letters in the Celtic languages.
· It is one of the last trees in the year to leaf.
· In the Norse mythology the Ash tree is known as the Yggdrasil and associated with the God Odin who is similar in some respects to the Celtic Gwydion. In order to obtain the Futhark Runes, Odin is said to have hung himself upon the Yggdrasil and received the Runes in his trance. As such, attuning to the World Tree in this fashion can bring gifts of blessing and inspiration
· For fans of Lord of the Rings, the Wizard Gandalf is said also to bear an Ash staff.
· The Ash was seen as the feminine counterpart to the All-Father tree, the Oak: in these two trees, the oak and the ash,
· The Ash tree comes into full bloom in May time and is known as The Venus of the Woods.
· The traditional Witches broom or Besom was also traditionally made of an Ash staff, together with Birch twigs and Willow bindings.
· In some traditions, Witches were said to live inside Ash trees, in the Germanic traditions there was the Askafroa or wife of the Ash who was an evil spirit said to do much damage. To appease her it was said to be necessary to make a donation to her on Ash Wednesday
· In terms of Natural Magic, small crosses of ash wood carried upon the person were said to prevent them from drowning whilst at sea. The use of Ash Keys is generally thought to be protective against negative sorceries. Ash Wands are thought to have been used for the raising and directing of healing energies and enchantments. Ash leaves placed under the pillow before sleep were thought to bring prophetic dreams or were placed in water containers since it was thought the leaves fought off illness.
· There is a well-known English folklore verse which predicts how much rain there will be in spring from the dates when the Oak and Ash trees bud:
· Oak before Ash we are in for a splash Ash before Oak we are in for a soak.
· Another verse, associates Ashes with the ability to draw lightning:
· Avoid the Ash, It Draws the Flash.
· Many species of Fraxinus, the ash tree, exude a sugary substance which the ancient Greeks called méli, i.e. honey. This substance was harvested commercially until the early part of this century, and is found on Fraxinus excelsior in northern Europe and Fraxinus ornus in the mountains of Greece.
Willow / Saileach / Saliz Spp.
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· There are a number of Willow species native to Ireland the most widespread of which being goat willow.
· Typically found on damp soils, willows will also grow on rough or drier ground.
· The willow warbler, an insect eating bird, gets most of its summer foods from willows.
· Willow sap is heavy in salicylic acid which is a precursor for aspirin and can also be used to exfoliate skin.
· Willow can help other plants to root – soak in water and use the water. The reason is that willow cuttings secrete a kind of magic rooting water-soluble hormone called auxin that stimulates spring growth and encourages root development.
· Willow is also grown in Ireland for the production of biomass for use as a renewable source of energy.
· It has vibrantly coloured stems in winter, pretty catkins in spring and attractive leaves in summer, highlighting its attractive appearance right through the seasons.
· St Brigid’s crosses can be weaved from willow.
· In Druid stories, the universe and all mankind was hatched from two scarlet eggs hidden within the willow tree. One egg formed the sun and the other the earth. During Beltaine, this story was re-enacted using painted eggs. A practice which Christians adopted for Easter.
· In Greek mythoogy Willow was sacred to the Goddesses of the underworld – Persephone, Hectate, Circe and Hera. In Celtic mythology it is associated with the death Goddesses, representing dark aspects of the psyce that require great understanding and challenge wisdom and strength.
· The Willow flower remedy is said to alleviate bitterness and resentment and benefit those who often blame others for their misfortunes.
· Willow leaves were often worn as charms to protect against jealousy.
· The wood of a willow outside and inside a dwelling was said to protect against evil.
· The word ‘wic’ from wicker, in Old English means ‘to bend’.
· Traiditionally used in fence posts, beehives, lobster pots, wicker baskets and furniture.
· When Christianity spread throughout Britian they took to referring to those who practiced old rural ways as ‘wicca’, literally those who bend and manipulate.
· 4th letter of the Ogham and 5th month of the Celtic tree calendar. The first tree to flower in Spring, so loved by bees. And the last tree to lose its vibrant colour in Autumn.
· Willow has also been used to treat rashes, bleeding gums, dandruff, mouth inflamations and to prevent fevers and dyspepsia.
Yew Tree / Iúr/ Taxus Baccata
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· Yew is a native species of evergreen conifer
· Reenadina wood in Kerry is Irelan’s only native yew wood.
· Yew trees can grow between 10m and 20m (33-66ft.)
· Yew seeds are slow to germinate and the best seeds are often those that have been ingested by birds before being excreted.
· The medieval longbow was traditionally may of yew.
· The leaves are poisonous to most livestock and the seeds are also toxic, but can be eaten safely by birds.
· Often found planted in churchyards – to protect and purify plague victims? To keep the graveyards inaccessible to cows who would die if they eat the leaves?
· Symbols of immortality but also omens of doom
· Known as the ‘coffin of the vine’ in Ireland as Yew wood was used to make wine barrels.
· Customarily Yes branches were carried on Palm Sunday and at Funerals.
· 📷It can survive to the ripe old age of 9500 years, although it is hard to accurately date due to the unique way in which it grows. Branches reach earthward to touch the ground, forming new stems which entwine around the main central trunk, which is often hollow, eventually becoming inseparable from it.
· 📷The male trees produce cones, the females produce red berries, each one containing only one seed.
· The deep shade beneath its dense needles and branches combined with the toxins secreted through its roots ensured not much grew within its vicinity. These natural open spaces were perfect locations for conducting pagan ritual and ceremonies.
· The three oldest trees in Ireland happen to be yews. The yews of Crom Castle, Co Fermanagh are said to be over 800 years old.
· In Irish mythology, the yew was one of five sacred trees brought into Ireland from the Otherworld when the land was divided into its five provinces. It was protected under Brehon Law as one of the seven Chieftain trees.
· The Druids chose yew from which to make their wands, or staffs. Being so long-lived, and yet also so toxic, it was seen as having powerful magical properties, a tree associated not just with death, but also longevity and rebirth.
· Poets also used staves of yew as memory aids when learning long incantations and poems. It is said that these rods were very long with eight sides, each one inscribed with ogham characters.
· The name Eogan actually means ‘born of the yew
· The yew has given its name to many places in Ireland. Co Mayo, for example, comes from the Irish Magh Eo, meaning ‘Plain of the Yew’.
[4] https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/mahonia-spp
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