A sight for sore eyes

 I was searching through the woods beside the Eve River, looking for mushrooms after a few days of rain. I found only one, and not the species I was hoping for. But there are false lilies of the valley, and they are holding up their mottled green and red berries; that was enough.

Maianthemum dilatatum

The riper they are, the redder.

Some First Nations people ate them, but according to the guide book, "they were seldom highly regarded as food." But the leaves and the pounded roots were used by various groups to heal sore eyes. I should have brought a few leaves home with me for after a long session on the computer.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Andaba en un bosque al lado del rio Eve, buscando hongos después de unos dias de lluvia. Encontré solo uno, y no era de los que esperaba hallar. Pero los lirios del valle falsos llevaban sus bayas verdes salpicadas de manchas rojas; me di por bien servida.

Fotos: bayas de los lirios del valle falsos, Maiathemum dilatatum. Entre más maduran, más se vuelven rojas.

Algunas de las Primeras Naciones (los indígenas de esta región) las comían, pero según mi libro guía, — Pocas veces se consideraban como alimento muy bueno. — Pero usaban las hojas y las raices machucadas para curar ojos adoloridos. Debería de haber traído algunas a casa para usar después de horas delante de la pantalla de la computadora.

Heal-all, white-bearded

 Self-heal, resting after its labours.

Prunella vulgaris. Also known as carpenter weed, heal-all.

It grows in any damp soil, wherever the sunlight reaches. In my lawn, in my flower bed, at the foot of cliffs. This one was beside the path in the museum grounds.

The seeds are tiny,  about 2 mm long. It looks like most of these containers are empty.

It's edible, can be added to salads or made into teas, is often used for its medicinal properties. The Nuxalk (Bella Coola) boiled it for a heart cure, and the juice is used on wounds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

La consuelda menor, Prunella vulgaris, ya descansando de sus labores de producir semillas para la primavera.

También se conoce como hierba de carpinteros, o cúralotodo. Crece dondequiera que haya suelo húmedo expuesto al sol. En los jardines, en mi césped, al pie de los precipicios rocosos. Esta crecía al lado del senderito en el terreno del museo.

Las semillas son muy pequeñas, como de 2 mm de largo. Parece que ya se han marchado.

Es comestible; se puede añadir a las ensaladas o usar para hacer un té. También otorga beneficios medicinales; los Nuxalk de Bella Coola la hierven para hacer una tónica cardíaca; el jugo se usa para curar heridas.

Who needs leaves in winter?

... when there's leaf lichen?

Licheny tree, Ridge Trail.

A branch within reach. Lungwort, Lobaria pulmonaria.

The lobes supposedly look like lung tissue. Basing their reasoning on sympathetic magic (if it looks like something else, it must be good for that thing), European physicians used this to treat lung ailments. Here on the Canadian west coast, the Sechelt First Nations people used it for the same purpose, but for different reasons.* Maybe it actually worked?

*See Plants of Coastal British Columbia