North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Hal Love" <lovehd@comcast.net>]

Serviceberry is often referred to as "Shadblow", from being in bloom when
shad are found in streams. Maybe these have a common origin.

Hal
zn6b TN


>
> We used to bread and fry the elderberry "blow" (flowers)
>
>
> Well that is a new one on me. What is a blow (flower)? As opposed to a
> normal flower? Local term?
>
> Jerry
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
> Sorry Jerry, but we retained some of the Old English down here while the
> trend at one time was to switch the official  American language to German.
> Ironically  "blow" was akin to the Old High German verb,"bluoen" meaning
"to
> blossom".  Why elder blow (elder blossom) hung on, is beyond my
> comprehension. It could be because an elder, especially Sambucus nigra,
may
> be referred to as a bourtree (bower tree).  The blossoms were claimed to
> have medicinal properties and these attributes may have previously
exceeded
> the berries importance as a dye or food. Over time, elder became
elderberry
> to describe the plant.
> Incidentally, the bark, leaves, shoots and roots are claimed to contain
> cyanogenic glycosides which are poisonous and shouldn't be ingested.
> So, to answer your question; "blow" means "blossom"/"flower"/"bloom".
> Doc Lisenby Zone 7/8 (So. Car.)