Americanized Lens-Podded Hoary Cress Gardens: Bitter Herbs, Bad Soils

Summary: Americanized lens-podded hoary cress gardens better bad, barren, compacted, disturbed soils but their juices, roots and seeds batter crops and livestock.

closeup of lens-podded hoary cress flowers and foliage; Bozeman, Gallatin County, southwestern Montana; Thursday, May 26, 2016, 10:30:12: Matt Lavin, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Americanized lens-podded hoary cress gardens apply corklike roots, prolific seeds and rooting rhizomes to adorn ditches, farmyards, fencelines, railways, roadsides and wastelands and ambush croplands, gardens, lawns, orchards, pastures, rangelands and woodlands.

Land invasions bring weed sanctions against the introduced west Asian perennial and against introduced, related Eurasian globe-podded (Lepidium appelianum) and European heart-podded (Lepidium draba) hoary cresses. Alberta provincial, Canadian federal and Arizona, California and Oregon state governments call globe-, heart- and lens-podded hoary cresses, herbaceous mustards in the Brassicaceae family, unwelcome weeds. Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming state governments likewise designate globe- and heart-podded, not lens-podded, hoary cresses weeds.

Hawaii and Iowa state governments enact sanctions against heart-podded hoary cress despite the three species' mustard family relationships with broccoli, cabbage, canola, kohlrabi, radishes and rutabaga.

The bitter herb with eight-year expected life cycles fits club-shaped, dull gray-green, embryonic-leafed, 0.28- to 0.35-inch- (7- to 9-millimeter-) long, 0.09-inch- (2.5-millimeter-) wide cotyledons onto brown-green stems.

The first leaf stages get club-shaped, opposite-arranged foliage with downward-pointing, short hairs on margins and surfaces while lateral roots grow two to three weeks after emergence. The alternate-arranged, gray-green, mature, stalkless, 0.79- to 3.15-inch- (2- to 8-centimeter-) long, 0.12- to 1.18-inch- (3- to 30-millimeter-) wide foliage has heart- to arrowhead-shaped, stem-clasping bases. It includes hairy, irregularly toothed to smooth basal leaf margins and inclines from multi-branched, 7.88- to 19.68-inch- (20- to 50-centimeter-) tall stems atop creeping, extensive roots.

Corklike, thick-barked roots juggle 455 buds and 12.14-foot- (3.7-meter) lengths within the first growing season and 23.62- to 31.49-inch- (60- to 80-centimeter-) yearly increments in growth.

Central-stalked, flat-topped, white inflorescences called racemes keep lens-podded hoary cress, commonly named creeping hoary cress, perennial peppergrass, white top and whiteweed, in bloom April to August.

Lepidium chalepense's (little-scaled Aleppo [seedpod]) perfect, regular flowers, 0.16 to 0.24 inches (4 to 6 millimeters) across, liven 0.19- to 0.59-inch- (5- to 15-millimeter-) long stalks. It maintains one pistil, four 0.12- to 0.16-inch- (3- to 4-millimeter-) long petals, four green-white 0.08- to 0.09-inch- (2- to 2.5-millimeter-) long sepals and six stamens. It optimally nurtures 850 lens- to kidney-shaped, two- to four-seeded, 0.09- to 0.24-inch- (2.5- to 6-millimeter-) long, 0.16- to 0.24-inch- (4- to 6-millimeter-) wide fruiting pods.

Americanized lens-podded hoary cress gardens optimally obtain new plants each growing season from each plant's dry-explosive pods called siliques and from rooted rhizomes and root fragments.

Lens-podded hoary cress, described by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), optimally produces 3,400 oval, red-brown, 0.08-inch- (2-millimeter-) long, 0.06-inch- (1.5-millimeter-) wide seeds.

Sunlit temperatures between 32.9 and minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (0.5 and minus 40 degrees Celsius) quicken germination of seeds with three-year in-soil and five-year dry-storage viabilities. Seeding, along with rooting rhizomes at leaf-to-stem attachment nodes and rooting 0.39-inch- (1-centimeter-) long root fragments, remains one of three reproduction means for lens-podded hoary cress. Rhizomes in the top 7.09 inches (18 centimeters) of soil, root fragments at 0.59-inch (1.5-centimeter) depths and seeds sustain ever-expanding land takeovers by lens-podded hoary cress.

The green-leafed, red-brown-seeded, white-flowered ground covers in Americanized lens-podded hoary cress gardens taunt crops and livestock least when tucked into research settings and onto unpopular sites.

Large stand of lens-podded hoary cress (Lepidium chalepense; synonym Cardaria chalepensis) displays an abundance of white-petaled flowers and accounts for common name of whitetop; May 26, 2016, 10:29:04: Matt Lavin, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

closeup of lens-podded hoary cress flowers and foliage; Bozeman, Gallatin County, southwestern Montana; Thursday, May 26, 2016, 10:30:12: Matt Lavin, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/26667741803/

Large stand of lens-podded hoary cress (Lepidium chalepense; synonym Cardaria chalepensis) displays an abundance of white-petaled flowers and accounts for common name of whitetop; Thursday, May 26, 2016, 10:29:04: Matt Lavin, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/26667742043/

For further information:

"7. Lepidium chalepense Linnaeus." eFloras > Flora of North America > Flora Taxon.
Available @ http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242328872

Dickinson, Richard; and Royer, France. 2014. Weeds of North America. Chicago IL; London, England: The University of Chicago Press.

"Lepidium chalepense L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/4105252

Linnaeus, Carl. 1756. "169. Lepidium (chalepense)." Centuria II Plantarum: 23. Upsaliae [Uppsala, Sweden]: L.M. Höjer.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36017988

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

Americanized Sulphur Cinquefoil Gardens Away From Rose Family Members

Summary: Americanized sulphur cinquefoil gardens separate toxic weeds from edible, ornamental apple, cherry, peach, plum, raspberry, rose and strawberry relatives.

sulphur cinquefoil's characteristic pale yellow flowers, well-developed stem leaves and hirsute, or hairy, stems; Bozeman, Gallatin County, southwestern Montana; Monday, July 13, 2009, 15:13; Matt Lavin, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Americanized sulphur cinquefoil gardens accept pathogen-hosting, pest-attacking, toxin-producing weeds in the Rosaceae family and alleviate cultivation pressures on farmers, gardeners, naturalists and orchardists of roses and non-weedy rose-related herbs, shrubs and trees.

Provincial and state legislation bars sulphur cinquefoil from Alberta and British Columbia in Canada and from Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington in the United States. Only tormentil of the common names five-finger cinquefoil, rough-fruited cinquefoil, upright cinquefoil and yellow cinquefoil communicates objection to sulphur cinquefoil, scientifically named Potentilla recta (powerful, erect). Bristles and tannins discourage foraging wildlife and grazing livestock while seeds and shoots deter native grasses and dominate clearings, farmlands, gardens, pastures, rangelands, roadsides and wastelands.

The European herbaceous perennial endures weed sanctions, along with related, non-native Himalayan blackberry and multiflora rose, that elude related, native rough cinquefoil and non-native single-seed hawthorn.

Gland-tipped hairs fill the margins and stems of oval, three-nerved, 0.11- to 0.16-inch- (2.8- to 4-millimeter-) long, 0.04- to 0.06-inch- (1- to 1.5-millimeter-) wide embryonic leaves.

The seedling stage's cotyledons give way to first- and second-stage leaves with soft-haired surfaces and toothed margins and to third-stage compound leaves with three bristle-haired leaflets. Alternate, mature, palmately (handlike) compound foliage has five to nine oblong to lance-shaped, 1.18- to 5.51-inch- (3- to 14-centimeter-) long leaflets with seven- to 17-toothed margins. It is pale on its undersides, long-stalked on lower leaves, membranous on basal structures called stipules and stalkless on the three leaflets on all upper leaves.

Americanized sulphur cinquefoil gardens join hairy foliage onto as many as 21 hairy, 7.87- to 31.49-inch- (20- to 80-centimeter-) tall stems juggled by one shoots-producing crown.

Sulphur cinquefoil, described by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), knows 20-year life cycles with 29.53- to 49.21-inch (750- to 1,250-millimeter) yearly rainfall.

Shoots and stems respectively lead independent 20-year life cycles after their central crown's death by layering (leaning soil-ward and rooting) and by suckering onto fresh plants. Layering and suckering mingle with seeding, third of multiple weedy reproduction means that manage a maximum yearly production of 6,000 seeds from every mature sulphur cinquefoil.

All 15 to 35 perfect, regular flowers, 0.79 to 0.98 inches (2 to 2.5 centimeters) across, on stem-tipped inflorescences called corymbs need bractlets and hypanthia (cups).

Every five leaflike bractlets offer Americanized sulphur cinquefoil gardens a fused hypanthium of five hairy sepals, five heart-shaped, 0.39-inch- (1-centimeter-) long petals, pistils and 30 stamens.

April to September blooms produce, per flower, about 62 dry, nonexplosive fruits called achenes, each of whose single seeds prove viable for 28 months in soil.

Sunlit soil temperatures between 68 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit (20 and 35 degrees Celsius) quicken germination of beak-hooked, black-brown, 0.09-inch- (2.5-millimeter-) long seeds with winged margins. Cutting, grafting, layering, seeding and suckering remain welcome reproduction means for such edible, ornamental sulphur cinquefoil relatives as apples, cherries, peaches, plums, raspberries, roses and strawberries. They serve sulphur cinquefoil-like sanctions against Chinese, Japanese and Korean multiflora rose and North African and west European blackberry but not Eurasian and North African hawthorn.

Like tames like and never threatens like when Americanized sulphur cinquefoil gardens throw toxic, weedy rose family members together, well away from their edible, ornamental relatives.

Potentilla recta flowers typically have light to pale yellow coloring, but white to gold coloring sometimes occurs; white-flowering sulphur cinquefoil individuals; Nahant Marsh, Davenport, Scott County, Iowa: Jennifer Anderson, Public Domain, via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

sulphur cinquefoil's characteristic pale yellow flowers, well-developed stem leaves and hirsute, or hairy, stems; Bozeman, Gallatin County, southwestern Montana; Monday, July 13, 2009, 15:13; Matt Lavin, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Potentilla_recta_(3726499757).jpg;
Matt Lavin (Matt Lavin), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/

white-flowering sulphur cinquefoil individuals; Nahant Marsh, Davenport, Scott County, Iowa: Jennifer Anderson, Public Domain, via USDA NRCS PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=PORE5

For further information:

Dickinson, Richard; and Royer, France. 2014. Weeds of North America. Chicago IL; London, England: The University of Chicago Press.

Linnaeus, Carl. 1753. "10. Potentilla recta." Species Plantarum, vol. I: 497. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358516

"Potentilla recta L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/27800123

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

Podophyllum peltatum: Umbrella Leaf Charm of Mayapples in Spring

Summary: Podophyllum peltatum is a New World perennial found in woodlands. Mayapples appear with umbrella-like leaves in spring, flower in May, and fruit in August.

"Mayapple plant with lone flower": Velocicaptor, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Except for ripe fruits, which may be consumed raw or, preferably, cooked, in delicate moderation, all parts of mayapples are considered toxically inedible as food sources.

As a therapeutic remedy mayapples have been used judiciously in Native American ethnobotany primarily for elimination as an anthelmintic (Ancient Greek: ἕλμινς, hélmins, “intestinal worm”), an emetic (Ancient Greek: ἔμετος, émetos, “vomit”), and a laxative.

Some tribes, such as the Lenape in the Delaware River watershed and the Penobscot in Maine, treated venereal warts with a topical remedy of crushed rhizomes, which contain podophyllin, a resin effective in stopping cell growth.

Mayapples cluster charmingly as a rare planned planting in my yard. The stalwart sextet represents runaways from woodland settings that were rescued from dusty roadsides.

In April, they always seem to emerge fully grown in the north terrace, between the prim silver maple (Acer saccharinum) to their west and the exuberant box elder (Acer negundo) to their east. With their distinctive umbrella-like leaves, they demurely trail along the western arc of blue rocks encircling the kalanchoe (Kalanchoe ssp.) shade garden.

Although mayapples do not bloom as early spring flowers, they shuffle distinctively across the spring landscape, carpeting forest floors and meadows with their unassumingly effective solidarity.

closeup of mayapple's flower; Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, Graham County, western North Carolina; Friday, April 20, 2012, 14:15:14: Buddha Dog, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

"Mayapple plant with lone flower": Velocicaptor, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PoisonousMayApple099.jpg

closeup of mayapple's flower; Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, Graham County, western North Carolina; Friday, April 20, 2012, 14:15:14: Buddha Dog, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/70278809@N00/6979402998/

For further information:

Moerman, Daniel E. Native American Medicinal Plants: An Ethnobotanical Dictionary. Portland OR: Timber Press, 2009.

Trillium grandiflorum: Showy Whiteness of Spring Ephemeral Wildflower

Summary: Trillium grandiflorum is a New World wildflower native to east central Canada and the United States. Its large, showy flowers bloom from April to June.

Trillium grandiflorum, Saint-Jérôme, northwest Montreal; Sunday, May 22, 2011: by Charles de Mille-Isles, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Trillium grandiflorum is a New World wildflower native to deciduous (Latin: deciduus "that which falls off") woodlands of east central Canada and the United States.

In Canada the showy wildflower is found in Ontario eastward through Quebec and then skips over New Brunswick to form a disjunct, or separate, population in Nova Scotia.

In the United States Trillium grandiflorum claims native habitats along the Eastern Seaboard -- excluding Florida -- westward through Minnesota, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia.

Trillium grandiflorum is known commonly as great white trillium, large-flowered trillium, snowy trillium, white trillium, white wake-robin or wood lily.

Trillium grandiflorum favors triplets in floral foliage. The stem, topped with a whorl of three large green leaves, emerges from a rhizome, an underground rootstock. Rising above the leafy whorl, a stalk conspicuously displays the plant's flower, which features three large, pure white petals with three small green sepals.

Blooming from April to June, the elegant, showy flowers link late spring with early summer. As they age, petals blush with pink tones.

The wildflower's ephemeral beauty is recognized governmentally. Since 1937 Ontario has designated Trillium grandiflorum as the province's emblem. Since 1987 the floral beauty has represented Ohio as state wildflower.

Trillium grandiflorum is a delight to behold, appreciated throughout its native homelands for its exquisite beauty.

Trillium grandiflorum f. roseum opens with light pink petals; Trillium grandiflorum 'Roseum' at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland; Thursday, May 5, 2011, 12:10:48: S. Rae, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Trillium grandiflorum, Saint-Jérôme, northwest Montreal; Sunday, May 22, 2011: Charles de Mille-Isles, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/demartigny/5746872117/

Trillium grandiflorum f. roseum opens with light pink petals; Trillium grandiflorum 'Roseum' at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland; Thursday, May 5, 2011, 12:10:48: S. Rae, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/35142635@N05/5692719194/

For further information:

Druse, Ken. The Natural Shade Garden. New York NY: Clarkson Potter, 1992.

Erigenia bulbosa: Harbinger-of-Spring Wildflower Ushers in Spring

Summary: Erigenia bulbosa is known commonly as harbinger of spring or pepper and salt. Its flowers announce spring with blooms in late February and last into April.

Erigenia bulbosa in flower, C & O Canal National Historical Park, Maryland; Sunday, March 10, 2013, 17:56: Fritzflohrreynolds, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Erigenia bulbosa is a welcome sight in woodlands of eastern and central Canada and the United States.

Known commonly as harbinger-of-spring, the New World native opens its flowers late in February. The early spring bloomer exults in springtime's reduced competition for dappled light as the sun's rays, unhindered by bare deciduous (Latin: deciduus, "that which falls off") trees, warm the forest floor.

A member of the carrot family of Apiaceae, the petite wildflower grows from a sphere-shaped tuber. Its tuber puts forth one or more stems, which shade from green at the base to reddish brown or purple along the stem's length.

Leaves usually sprout as three leaflets with shiny undersides and dull green topsides.

Consistent with the carrot family, Erigenia bulbosa tops its stems with umbels, which are short flower stalks spreading out from a common point like the ribs of an umbrella.

Its flowers have pure white teardrop-shaped petals contrasting with reddish anthers that darken to chocolate and then to black. The speckled contrast between anthers and petals is responsible for the wildflower's other common name of pepper-and-salt.

In early April, flowers close, and the wildflower's aboveground parts wither. Underground, its tuber awaits next year's spring to reveal its presence as an early blooming wildflower.

harbinger-of-spring (Erigenia bulbosa); West Virginia; Tuesday, March 20, 2012; photo credit Ryan Hagerty, USFWS: Public Domain, via USFWS National Digital Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Erigenia bulbosa in flower, C & O Canal National Historical Park, Maryland; Sunday, March 10, 2013, 17:56: Fritzflohrreynolds, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erigenia_bulbosa_-_Harbinger_Of_Spring.jpg

harbinger-of-spring (Erigenia bulbosa); West Virginia; Tuesday, March 20, 2012; photo credit Ryan Hagerty, USFWS: Public Domain, via USFWS National Digital Library @ https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/17520

Hierba mansa, Yerba del manso: Healing Medicine Bag Herb in Bless Me, Ultima

Summary: Hierba mansa (Anemopsis californica), known in New Mexico as yerba del manso, is a healing medicine bag herb in Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya.

field of Yerba del manso (Anemopsis californica), San Dieguito River Park, Escondido, southern California; Friday, June 15, 2012, 16:23: Downtowngal, CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication, via Wikimedia Commonse

Lizard’s tail, swamp root: fair by any name

The herb called lizard’s tail and swamp root in English appears as yerba del manso within the Land of Enchantment and as hierba mansa outside the 47th state.

The herb belongs to the Saururaceae family whose flower-clustered cones droop like lizard (sauros) tails (oura). It communicates musty spiciness through beige, camphor- and eucalyptus-scented, woody rhizomes (below-ground stems) and stolons (above-ground runners) with nodes mass-producing sponge-like roots, dense cones flowering in tiny white clusters from May to August and growing 8 inches (20.32 centimeters) upward, five to 10 petal-like, white bracts, green elliptic to oblong leaves, each growing 3 to 6 inches (7.62 to 15.24 centimeters) from the root crown in early spring, pepper-like seeds, single, tough fruits and 12-plus-inch (30.48-plus-centimeter) stalks.

Multi-tasking medicinal and non-medicinal uses: hard-working anytime, anywhere

Taxonomists describe Ultima’s herb scientifically as Anemopsis (anemone-like) californica (Californian). Morphological (form- and function-related) studies expose anemone-like forms and coneflower-like functions. Plant-lovers find prescient all above-ground parts turning purple and silver-red in autumn. Thanks to the active ingredient methyleugenol, Ultima’s herb gives circulation and immunity a boost through treatments of arthritis and rheumatism; athlete’s foot and diaper rash; bleeding, bruises, inflammations, strains and swellings; burns; colds, coughs, sinus infections, sore throats and toothaches; cuts, hemorrhoids, sores and ulcers; diabetes; gout and kidney stones; pleurisy and tuberculosis; and stomach disorders.

Ultima's herb has additionally helpful non-medicinal uses. It is useful in agriculture as organic-grown cash crops, in crafts as Apache bead necklaces carved from dried root-stock, dried flowers and potpourri and in horticulture as garden ground covers and public park turfs.

Pretty in alkaline seeps, full sun, heavy clay

Agro-economists judge Ultima's herb a native plant of interest. They know of Ultima’s herbs as drought-tolerant water-lovers. Experts and non-specialists like the common name swamp root because of the perennial forb’s relishing clay soils and sodden, sun-scorched alkaline seeps. They mention as conducive to successful cultivation application of organic mulches during winters, establishment of soil pH between neutral 6.5 and alkaline 8 and maintenance of temperatures no lower than 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 12.22 degrees Celsius) or higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.78 degrees Celsius).

Ultima’s herb needs to be germinated as seeds in flats in three months, or four weeks with bottom heat, in summer greenhouses, to get planted as seedlings, 12 weeks after germination, spaced 6 inches (15.24 centimeters) apart and to grow roots two to three weeks after cutting.

Resistant to all but salt-marsh and woolly-bear caterpillars

Cultivated or wild, Ultima's herb operates in pest-resistant ways even in pest-stressed environments. One pest prevents Ultima's root from completing life cycles and natural histories. Scientists quibble over another pest's predatory yet preventive roles.

Salt-marsh (Estigmene acrea) and woolly-bear (Pyrrharctia isabella) caterpillars equally relish Ultima’s herb's scrumptious shoots. Ultima's herb suffers more from woolly-bear infestations than from salt-marsh invasions. It turns out that salt-marsh caterpillars may reduce boll rot incidences in alfalfa, cotton and lettuce and in neighboring crops.

Cultivators value Ultima's herb as easy to grow. Consumers welcome Ultima's herb in capsules, infusions, poultices, powders, teas and tinctures. Per Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima, Ultima's herb yields benefits accessible to household gardeners and to trained healers.

closeup of Anemopsis californica floral cones: Calibas, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

field of Yerba del manso (Anemopsis californica), San Dieguito River Park, Escondido, southern California; Friday, June 15, 2012, 16:23: Downtowngal, CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Field_of_Anemopsis_californica.jpg

closeup of Anemopsis californica floral cones: Calibas, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yerba_mansa.jpg

For further information:

Marriner, Derdriu. "Film Review of Bless Me Ultima: The Ultimate Movie Version of the Novel by Rudolfo Anaya." Wizzley > Entertainment & Media > Movies > Drama. Jan. 13, 2015.
Available @ https://wizzley.com/film-review-of-bless-me-ultima-the-ultimate-movie-version-of-the-novel-by-rudolfo-anaya/

Marriner, Derdriu. "Osha Root, Raiz del Cochino: Healing Herb Bag Powder in Bless Me Ultima." Earth and Space News. Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/01/osha-root-raiz-del-cochino-healing-herb.html