Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Coastal Plain Plants

Here's some more plant pics I've been wanting to share with you, taken from the Croatan to the Outer Banks. I've got some research to do before I'll know whether any of these are edible and/or medicinal. Please feel free to offer your input if you know!

Spurge Nettle (Cnidoscolus stimulosus) - I found this growing in dry woods admidst loblolly and long leaf pine in the Croatan. According to Wikipedia, the seeds are very tasty and were much appreciated by Native Americans; the root can also be eaten like a potato, "tasting like pasta", which I assume means simply starchy.


Frog Fruit (Phylla nodiflora) - this small flower (3-6" tall, each flower under a 1/4" wide) grows thick along roadside grasses as well as beside ponds.
Beach Morning Glory (Ipomoea sagittata) - this is a flowering vine with deeply lobed arrow-shaped leaves (see below). It perplexed me for sometime as it looked like a morning glory or bindweed but didn't really have leaves like either of these that I know. It can be found trailing in abundance along the roadside by both beach and marsh.
*In post: a week of marshland, bugs, and trail magic, I incorrectly refer to this plant as Pink Bindweed.

Arrow shaped leaves of Salt Marsh Morning Glory

Loblolly Bay ( Gordonia lasianthus) - this plant was growing in abundance along a long logging road still in use in the Croatan.

Carolina Yellow-Eyed Grass (Xyris caroliniana) - growing in a sunny patch amidst towering long leaf pine whose open canopy let in lots of sun, the ground very dry, in Croatan
More plant pics and info to come soon!

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