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["Sage Austin | Eureka! Design" <eureka AT hctc.net>]

Yes, the Kentucky Coffee Tree /Gymnocladus dioicus /is a legume. It is 
very toxic to livestock so you'll want to be careful where you plant it 
if you get some seed started. I have never tasted coffee from it, but 
I've heard if you really love coffee you probably won't like it. Also, I 
drink a lot of coffee, so the toxicity of it would probably kill me in 
that quantity. LOL.

I've looked at the roots of bluebonnets under a microscope and they have 
these little nodes where the nitrogen-sugar transfer takes place in the 
symbiosis. Often you'll see Indian Paintbrush growing along side the 
bluebonnets here. The Paintbrushes are considered hemi-parasitic. They 
can live on their own, but do much  better partnering with the 
bluebonnet to tap into the nitrogen. Currently, it's assumed the 
bluebonnet is getting nothing in return, that's why the Paintbrush is 
considered partially parasitic. (Of course, I secretly believe they are 
giving something in return that just hasn't been discovered yet).

I know I've mentioned it before, but you would enjoy The Lost Language 
of Plants by my teacher Stephen Harrod Buhner, as he explores the 
relationships plants have with each other, and with us. Michael Pollan's 
Botany of Desire is good for the plant-people connection.

Sometimes I post botanical stuff on my blog that is educational, I like 
that format because I can attach photos. The neatest thing to learn is 
differentiating plant families, because if you can figure out what 
family a plant is in that definitely narrows down the field for 
identification, and families are universal so even if you learn it 
somewhere else it will apply to the plants back home. Also, most of the 
best botany books don't have photos, you have to learn how to key out 
plants and most people are afraid to go there without a little 
instruction, however that sometimes is easier with a microscope, but a 
good hand lens will do.

I'm off to a workshop for a week, later you homesteaders!

--Sage
Way Out in Texas


EarthNSky wrote:
> Sage Austin | Eureka! Design wrote:
>   
> > Bev, I'm waaay behind on answering stuff.
> >     
>
> Tis okay, so am I...
>
> /
>   
> > We had our second Healthy Harvest seminar today, and I talked about
> > how I start seeds and brought up this technique. I learned from one
> > of the attendees that supposedly you can mix buttermilk and lichen in
> > a blender and paint it on rocks to make it grow and "age" the rock.
> >     
>
> Yes, I've done that a few times.
>
>   
> > Legumes have many different flowers types, so it's not always easy to
> >  recognize them. For instance, the fuzzy flowers of sensitive briar
> > or mimosa don't look at all like a sweet pea or lupine flower, which
> > don't look like an orchid tree (Bauhinia sp.). But one thing almost
> > all have in common is a joined stamen-filament. In other words, if
> > you dissect the flower, the stamens look like matches all attached at
> > the bottom instead of separate. We mostly recognize legumes by their
> > fruit, or pod. But some aren't as readily recognizable, for instance
> > the curled burr that comes off burr clover doesn't look like a pod.
> >
> > --Sage
> >     
>
> Sage, I know you are busy, but if you could just write a botany lesson-a
> paragraph or so a week, and post it here, that would be cool.  Is that
> Kentucky coffee tree we were talking about before a legume?  It has the
> pods....
>
> The other day I was reading about mycorrhiza and came across a
> description of the nitrogen fixing process that legumes have.  I swear,
> sometimes plants seem like an alien life form.  It truly is an amazing
> ability for a plant to have, I think.  I just started thinking about
> evolution and adaption and how it was really cool that the plants
> adapted to infertile soils by pulling nitrogen from the air..it is
> really cool when you think about it, but then, the little things in life
> impress me.
>
> B
>
>
>