Thistle, Burdock And Pokeweed, Oh My!

Here it is, late August, and everywhere I turn plants are sending their seeds out into the world. This is an incredibly important part of plant life as many plants live only for a season and must put out seeds to ensure continuation of the species. Even plants, including trees, that live for many years depend on seeds to create new growth, since the number of seeds that actually reach maturity is tiny, compared to the number sent out into the world each year.

On Cape Cod late summer and early fall are the most advantageous time of year for plants to go to seed or drop nuts, berries, or fruits. All the latter either are the seeds themselves or have seeds inside them. Berries, fruits, and nuts get gobbled up by all sorts of animals and birds, including insects and worms. Those left to rot in the earth either grow where they lay or become part of the soil for future generations. Some are lucky and fall to fertile ground with good access to sun and water, but others aren’t as fortunate, falling on rocks, into ponds, or too close to other trees. No matter where they end up, they all have an important role to play.

Because so many may fall in inhospitable places, it is easy to see how many fruits and berries are enticing to wildlife. When a bird or fox eats blueberries or grapes and then travels a distance before they have to poop, the indigestible seeds or pits get distributed in new territories. This is how many plants such as poison ivy and bittersweet end up growing in our backyards even though we never planted them there. Thank a fruit eating bird for sharing. They plant all sorts of things and those who research land use can often determine where farm fences once stood by the row of cedar or other trees that now grow in a straight line across a field.

Nature has a way of timing things pretty darn well. Just as young birds and animals are coming to maturity, so are all the plants. There are seeds, berries, fruits, and nuts everywhere. It is easy for them to find food and take their fill.

What about the meat-eating predators? Well, they benefit from the lack of experience of all those eager and hungry youngsters who don’t know enough to be wary and aware of their surroundings as they take their fill. This is true all the way up the food chain, starting with the tiniest of organisms. 

Plants are the basis of all food chains, including our own. Even the most stalwart carnivores among us eat animals that consume plants. Each seed, then, may be one of the most valuable assets of the earth, not coins or paper money. We can’t eat banknotes or stock reports, a fact that many seem to forget as they pursue these while destroying the very environment that feeds them.

A recent walk brought back memories of playing with various seeds when I was a child. Who didn’t toss around horse chestnuts or play with the caps of acorns? When I was a kid, our dogs ran loose and went everywhere we went. Often, we all came home covered in sticky balls of prickly barbs that were nearly impossible to get out of dog fur or off our socks and pants without adult help. Our parents would roll their eyes and tell us to stay away from the burrs, but we had no idea where we’d picked them up. They just appeared, we’d say. Someone’s dad would take us out in the fields and show us the plants that grew the burrs but to be honest, I don’t think it meant we brought home fewer of them. One year I personally ended up with an unfortunate haircut due to the sticky little buggers.

Burrs are the seed-bearing fruits of the burdock plant and if you’re out and about this week you may find them near a marsh, a beach, the edge of the woods or in a meadow. They have huge leaves, shaped like rhubarb leaves and for those willing to do the work, the young stalks can be cut, peeled, and cooked up for a bland vegetable dish. It is said that the man who developed Velcro got his inspiration from the way burrs attach themselves. Burrs, however, have only one intent, and that is to hitch a ride with whatever animal passes by. This allows them to eventually fall off and get planted in a new spot where it will not compete directly with the parent plant or even its sibling plants.

I also found a huge bull thistle growing in a sidewalk crack. Some flowers were still blooming but others had gone to seed, and a few goldfinches were helping themselves to the seeds. Thistle seeds have fluff and can be whisked through the air on a breeze, allowing them to spread wherever they may land. Thistle plants are spiky and thorny and yet also edible. Most recommend eating the roots since the leaves and stems are so formidable. 

The last plant I passed was brought to my attention by a catbird who was sitting on a branch of the lanky, berry filled plant, stuffing its face. Pokeweed, also called pokeberry, gets a bad rap due to the fact that it can be toxic. People freak out about its poisonous qualities but so many birds and animals love the berries I let a few grow every year. The dark purple berries seem to be heavenly tasting for birds, and they will compete vigorously to defend their favorite plants. Catbirds, robins, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings and mockingbirds all love them. I’ve never had a dog or child try to eat them but if they did, they could get sick, so do be aware.