Another plant we found at Abbot's Moss was bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia). It's a lovely little plant that is only found in bogs in peat-accumulating areas, often alongside Sphagnum mosses, though there are some high maintenance cultivars available from some garden centres. The plant below was found on a raised moss hummock, growing in amongst cranberry plants:
This is a distinctive plant, called bog rosemary because the leaves look so much like actual rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis, that is). Of course, you'd only make that mistake the once as the plant is quite toxic, containing the same poisonous compound as rhododendron. This particular toxin, which is referred to in the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes as "hydrated rhododendron" has several names including grayanotoxin, rhodotoxin and andromedatoxin. The end result is the same though -- depending on the dose, the unfortunate sufferer will experience excessive salivation, sweating, dizziness, weakness, numbness, low blood pressure and vomiting. In high doses it causes a loss of co-ordination, muscle weakness, slowing of the heart and dangerous palpitations. Fortunately, this type of poisoning is rarely fatal and generally lasts less than a day. This is doubly fortunate seeing as honey made from plants that contain this toxin (usually rhododendron) causes these symptoms -- in which case these problems are referred to as "mad honey disease." As a side note, tainted honey was used to poison invading armies at least twice in ancient Rome. Apparently, locals didn't like the invading Roman army coming to town and fled leaving these amazing stores of honey, which the 1000 strong Roman army then ate. It didn't go so well for them from that point on as the Roman force was incapacitated, defeated and sent on home!
Bog rosemary has had a few uses in it's own right though. According to Duke, 1998, the Ojibwe Indians used to create a cold tea by macerating the leaves in water. The cold part is important because heat draws out the toxins, making the tea poisonous. Apparently it's very nice, but even as an actual card-carrying native, I'm not sure I'd be willing to try that one! In Russia, the plant was used in the leather tanning process.
Linnaeus himself gave the scientific name to bog rosemary in 1732, naming it "Andromeda" because it "is always fixed on some turfy hillock in the midst of the swamps, as Andromeda herself was chained to a rock in the sea, Which bathed her feet as the fresh water does the roots of the plant." Mr. Linnaeus had quite the imagination, as he saw the frogs as the sea monsters from the Andromeda myth -- and even did drawings on this theme:
This is a distinctive plant, called bog rosemary because the leaves look so much like actual rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis, that is). Of course, you'd only make that mistake the once as the plant is quite toxic, containing the same poisonous compound as rhododendron. This particular toxin, which is referred to in the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes as "hydrated rhododendron" has several names including grayanotoxin, rhodotoxin and andromedatoxin. The end result is the same though -- depending on the dose, the unfortunate sufferer will experience excessive salivation, sweating, dizziness, weakness, numbness, low blood pressure and vomiting. In high doses it causes a loss of co-ordination, muscle weakness, slowing of the heart and dangerous palpitations. Fortunately, this type of poisoning is rarely fatal and generally lasts less than a day. This is doubly fortunate seeing as honey made from plants that contain this toxin (usually rhododendron) causes these symptoms -- in which case these problems are referred to as "mad honey disease." As a side note, tainted honey was used to poison invading armies at least twice in ancient Rome. Apparently, locals didn't like the invading Roman army coming to town and fled leaving these amazing stores of honey, which the 1000 strong Roman army then ate. It didn't go so well for them from that point on as the Roman force was incapacitated, defeated and sent on home!
Bog rosemary has had a few uses in it's own right though. According to Duke, 1998, the Ojibwe Indians used to create a cold tea by macerating the leaves in water. The cold part is important because heat draws out the toxins, making the tea poisonous. Apparently it's very nice, but even as an actual card-carrying native, I'm not sure I'd be willing to try that one! In Russia, the plant was used in the leather tanning process.
Linnaeus himself gave the scientific name to bog rosemary in 1732, naming it "Andromeda" because it "is always fixed on some turfy hillock in the midst of the swamps, as Andromeda herself was chained to a rock in the sea, Which bathed her feet as the fresh water does the roots of the plant." Mr. Linnaeus had quite the imagination, as he saw the frogs as the sea monsters from the Andromeda myth -- and even did drawings on this theme:
(From WikiMedia Commons)
That's quite an imagination. I just saw a pretty flower in a bog that looked like a cross between bell heather and rosemary. I somehow feel like I'm letting the man down!
No comments:
Post a Comment