Subject: Re: [Homestead] "Non-Native Invasives" Useful in Permaculture (Part I)
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 15:32:11 -0700
While my pasta water was boiling for lunch, I went to the bible, the
Jepsen Manual of Higher Plants of California. It has nearly any Oregon
species that would be found here (I can't name any counterexamples). Of
the many species of Trifolium, the vast majority are annuals, and of the
perennials, fully 4/5 are alpine, including T. macrocephalum, which
starts at 650 m. elevation. You see, this just reflects the fact that
our dry West is not exactly the crucible of evolution for perennial
clovers, as predicted.
On the other hand, the European cover crops and New Zealand white clover
are hardly the perfect crops for the West either. Nearly every legume
you're likely to find being sold, except bird's-foot trefoil , red
clover, and subterranean clover, is a right water hog. So Monsanto and
all the other evil powers have abundant reason to hope that one of our
native clovers could even be less thirsty and lime-loving than their
European counterparts.
There are only three low-elevation native perennial clovers in Cali:
T. eriocephalum (> 300 m.)
T. breweri (> 200 m.)
T. wormskioldii (found at sea level)
Strictly speaking, this last one is the only candidate, and it has
considerable, although ambiguous, cultivation instructions in Sunset
Western Garden Book notation. It sounds like another water hog. But T.
breweri sounds promising, since the habitat info mentions dry areas.
But as I say, there's usually a catch, and for us it's the fact that the
most drought-tolerant plants tend to be those that can't survive the
winter in our wet clay soil.
The government-corporate complex is also selling this
neo-environmentalism to hunting rights groups. My ultra-conservative
NRA buddy Milton one day started repeating some BS he heard at one of
the weed fanatics' indoctrination seminars about how non-native
invasives are threatening to cut off the food supply for Bambi, and it's
taken quite a bit a explanation to show him that this is just the libs'
latest wacky attempt to kiss some ass.
As for gathering seed from the wild, it sounds like a great fantasy,
with an indian maiden by my side, but alas, it's not to be. I'm darn
sure it's against the law to gather any seed on National Forest land,
and didn't I hear that the BLM recently adopted the same set of rules?
Besides, for positive ID, you have to show up once when the flowers are
open, and again right before they dehisce. I'm pretty certain they can
be found for sale somewhere.