A speedy way to wellness

Species name: Veronica longiflora

Common name: long-leaved speedwell

Location: Ontario

This plant is a "nearly native" wildflower common in roadside ditches and disturbed open fields. Unfortunately, it is a poor competitor in southwestern Ontario so is rarely found in large abundance in natural habitats for long since it is out-competed by native and non-native goldenrods, thistles, and other asters like daisies (likely the non-native ones), black-eyed susans, and Queen Anne's lace. This plant is very attractive to bees and other insects, and are an important food source in Canada for the Grizzled Skipper, a butterfly that actually builds itself a shelter when still a caterpillar to use at night and when it's not feeding. Pretty smart caterpillar!

Like all good things in botanical nomenclature, the genus Veronica is being reanalyzed using DNA sequencing to determine relatedness between species. The morphological variation between species in the genus is quite drastic, as are the habitats of each species, and geographic location. Since there seem to be at least two distinct groups, one having its origins in North America and the other having its origins in Australasia, it wouldn't surprise me if genetically those were two distinct genera as well. It's actually estimated that the 500 or so species of Veronica might actually fit into as many as 7 other genera once analysis is complete.

Since so many people consider this plant species a "weed" (I personally think it's actually quite attractive...), there is one good thing about this plant existing in urban areas. The entire plant is edible! The leaves reportedly taste a lot like watercress, so a peppery spinach. The flowers are also edible, but just make sure there aren't any bugs hiding in them or else you might have a nasty surprise when you bite into your salad. The roots and leaves when dried have commonly been used in traditional North American medicine in a tea that is consumed to relieve chest congestion. If you are going to attempt to eat this plant, just make sure you're not confusing it with another common species that grows in the same type of environment, skullcap. Skullcap is in the mint family and has square stems, speedwell is in the snapdragon family and has round stems. As with all wild plants, if you aren't 100% sure of the identification of the plant, don't eat it!

The Biggest, Baddest Bull Thistle

Species name: Cirsium vulgare

Common name: Bull thistle

Location: Ontario

This plant, often deemed a "weed," is native to Europe and parts of northwestern Asia but has been naturalized throughout most of North America. It prefers to grow in recently disturbed areas (where many non-native asters thrive), and so often pops up in gardens or lawns if they have recently been re-landscaped. That's the virtue of the beast! Because of its preference for disturbed areas, it can become invasive in prairie-like habitats which are, by definition, constantly being disturbed (hopefully; a healthy prairie has wildfires that blaze through once every 7 to 10 years).

Bull thistles are clearly not for the faint at heart for weeding, especially when they get to be this size. They can cause some serious damage to anyone (or any animal) that accidentally brushes up against it, is pushed against it, or falls on it. I wouldn't go as far as saying there's a serious threat of being impaled by a bull thistle, but it's certainly not a plant I would want a close encounter with!

Like many members of its family, the Asteraceae, the bull thistle is actually 100% edible when  young (as in, before flowering) with the taproot being the tastiest. It can be boiled then eaten exactly like a carrot or boiled further and mashed like potatoes. There aren't many people that would mess with this plant long enough to figure out you could eat it, so hats off to whoever discovered this fact! That's one brave soul.

I figured this would be a good time to point out that quite a few of my pictures, seemingly mostly the pictures of the aster (or sunflower) family, have bees in them with giant yellow sacs on their back legs. Those aren't actually sacs, those are giant balls of pollen. Most people think that bees are excellent pollinators, and that lots of bees in your garden means that you have lots of cross-pollination that's occurring. In reality, bees are absolutely terrible pollinators, and the globs on their back legs shows you precisely why. Bees hate having pollen attached to any part of their body, which is completely understandable; would you like sand crusted all over your skin? Probably not too comfortable. So bees have actually perfected the art of grooming while in flight. They use their antennae and front legs to meticulously groom all of the pollen off of their legs, back, head and torso. This doesn't mean pollen is useless to a bee; it's actually incredibly useful. They pack it onto their legs to carry back to their hive, and store it as food. On a lucrative pollen day, a bee will only return to the hive when the back legs get so encrusted with pollen that it's difficult to fly.

So now you know!

As a non-blog side note: sincerest congratulations goes out to my lab-mate Jessie who just successfully defended her Master's degree! Proud of you!