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| School children sit on "stumphenge" while studying pondside
plants. They check their shoes for the sharp spiny seeds of the Puncturevine,
Tribulus terrestris, a wickedly dangerous hitchhiking seed known
to puncture bicycle tires. Goathead, a popular non-standard name, is in
the Caltrop family, a name derived from a Roman spiked sphere that was
thrown in the path of cavalry.
The weeping willow, Salix babylonica, is a non-native ornamental. This specimen perserveres through invasion of bees and other insects.Withstanding 30 to 50 mile per hour winds that occur with seasonal frequency in the Columbia Basin, the tree provides nesting sites and food for a variety of birds that changes from year to year. The name, Salix, derives from the Celtic sal (near) and lis (water). More than a hundred seventy-five species occur in North America and leaves and bark were used by Native Peoples to relieve headaches and stomach ailments. The stems and branches were used for craftwork and tools. Greeks knew of its medicinal value over 2000 years ago. In this moist soil there are the pigweeds, Amaranthus retroflexus and Amaranthus palmeri. Members of the goosefoot family are Russian thistle (tumbleweed), Salsola iberica; kochia, Kochia scoparia; and the edible netseed lambsquarter, Chenopodium berlandieri. Bittersweet nightshade, Solanum dulcamara, and others can be identified in late spring. Closer to the water is a two-foot tall sedge identified by its triangular pithy stem. Cyperus spp. is the genus of some 600 species worldwide. Phragmites communis, a reed used throughout the world for thatching roofs, builds soil on pond edges by catching dead plant material and dirt on its thick tangled rhizome roots eventually shrinking water surface area. McNary pond has lost many acres to this plant in the last twenty years. The hollow stem dries into a hard rigid stick used by Native Peoples for mats on their dwellings. Leaves were used for baskets and floor mats. A tall variety of rushes, Juncus spp., obscure the muskrat mound built in deeper water. The stems have foam-like core that dries limp instead of rigid. Native peoples used rushes for mats in their dwellings and for crafts. Yellow-headed blackbirds and marsh wrens weave their nests on the reeds and rushes with the leaves and other plant material. Common cattail, Typha latifolia, is difficult to distinguish among the reeds until it begins to flower and show its fruit, which is a thickened spike. All parts of the plant are edible and used in various ways by Native Peoples. The plant spreads by its heavy rhizome roots. Purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria, can most easily be seen here when it blooms from mid-summer into fall. |