Friday, April 16, 2010

Dandelion Picture Books

When you start to look for books to share with children and, at the same time, discover the magic of dandelions, you will discover that the book-nature-child triangle  for dandelions  is an easy way to bring fun, nature facts, and children together.
On a trip to the library you will find many books. Or if you are building your own library, Amazon offers an array of choices.
Some non-fiction for ages 4 to 8 might include:
From Seed To Dandelion by Ellen Weiss. A 2007 publication by Scholastic.
A Dandelion Seed by Joseph Anthony. The illustrations by Cris Arbo show how sad the dandelion is when autumn arrives. It is easy to talk about the cycle of life with this terrific picture book.
Dandelions Stars In The Grass by Mia Posada. The two Amazon readers who reviewed this book said it well. Seeing the beauty in a cast-away  tells  children- dandelions or rose- each has a place in our world.
And, of course, in addition to this nonfiction reading,  there is Don Freeman's wonderful, vintage picture book Dandelion which may spark a discussion of the flower's name. If you draw around the outline of a leaf you and your friend might see a resemblance to the teeth lining a lion's jaw. Actually, in French dent-de-lion means lion teeth.
Eve Bunting's 2002 picture  book, Dandelions. shows how the beauty of a humble flower can transform the lives of an entire family. With dandelions blooming on their sod roof, their new home in the prairie seems a little easier to get used to.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Dandelion Poetry

There are many simple rhymes about the dandelion for children to enjoy. Eveleen Stein's "Dandelion Curls" reminds us of William Stack's description. However, we must wonder how poets like Walt Whitman and James Russell Lowell were moved to create poetry for the dandelion.  In Leaves of Grass, Whitman talks about the dandelion's... "freshness, innocence, and trusting face." Hardly the words you will find on the back of a 'Weed-Be-Gone-Sprayer.'

Dandelion! A weed, herb, or flower.



You might be surprised to learn that the dandelion  is in the same plant group as the daisy and sunflower. There is much to learn about this medicinal herb  and child's toy.  "Children," according to William Stack who  wrote  about wildflowers in1909, "love to split the smooth, hollow flower stem with their tongues, and make long, spiral curls and ribbons. They also used them for blowing soap-bubbles, and for sipping water from a spring, or by blowing through them (to) produce funny noises."

Stack also comments on the dandelion's abundance, but reminds his readers that, "the solitary flowers are also a welcome sight in the spring."

Do you agree that this early splash of yellow dotting greening lawns is a welcome sight?

No? Well, you are not alone. Google "dandelion" and you will find that  dandelion extermination efforts ranks right up there with termites. But this is not a debate for friend or foe. It is a search, like all my blogs, to discover the dandelion as a curiosity of nature (albeit-weed to many).

As we discover  more about the dandelion, we will find that it is an oxymoron in the flower world. However, it is precisely this paradox that puts it in the category of "wildflower names that every child should know."

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Skunk Cabbage & Pollen & Leaves

It seems that there is more to know about the first flower of Spring. It is a simple test. Stick your finger in the middle of the hood. When you pull it out, the sticky pollen will prove skunk cabbage has earned  true flower status; even if the month is February with snow and ice under your feet.  If a youngster accompanies you, this search for pollen can continue with the other flowers you examine over the season. Another interesting discovery will be the leaf size. Some may measure between as long as three feet. No wonder the Indian used a leaf to line a pot heating on a fire.

Skunk Cabbage & Crocus In Connecticut

 When  Skunk Cabbage melts it way above the frozen earth in February or March, it is one of the first green signs  of Spring in Connecticut, but there are many other flowers that tell us Spring is here. Another early favorite is the crocus.
Read More About It!
Mud Flat Spring by  James Stevenson This is a perfect book to read  with a skunk cabbage spring expedition (as my granddaughter calls a walk into the woods). It is short with jaunty poems that sound and look like Spring.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Oxalate Crystal

Ok. I had to know. What is an oxalate crystal? Why do these two words show up in every discussion of skunk cabbage. What they do is successfully produce a nasty sour taste as well as poisonous condition  in the herbivore's mouth- large deer, or small rabbit, for instance, looking for a green salad after a very icy winter. The oxalate crystals make the muncher's mouth burn fiercely and swell. So it is understandable that any animal who lunches on skunk cabbage will feel the mouth pain before supper. But that's not all.  These raphids, or crystals, are made up of calcium.  Most undesirable is  the oxalate, a  poisonous, crystalline  acid that produces this sour taste  and causes the burning, swelling and choking.  Some scientists suggest that this is the way woody plants get rid of the much needed calcium they must absorb  for growth.  Rhubarb and spinach are two common edible plants that have a significant amount of oxalate crystals. Interestingly, humans who suffer with kidney stones, or oxalate crystals that are excreted painfully in the urine, also are advised to eat a low oxalate diet.

The American Indian And Skunk Cabbage

Now that you know skunk cabbage can warm itself similar to a warm-blooded mammal, you might wonder if it serves any other function. The American Indians certainly thought so. They harvested  the root in the fall to make a tea for  relieving  a cough, toothache, asthma or seizures. Unlike the leaves, the root does not produce the intense burning from the long oxalate crystals.(There is much more to learn about these crystals. Skunk cabbage uses them successfully as a protection against hungry animals looking for some vegetation after a winter of ice and snow. But oxalate crystals are all around us-even in us. This is a great example of the value of research-it just goes one and on to whet your curiosity and exercise your brain at any age.) The resourceful Indians  would also inhale the plant's  fumes to bring on intense sweating which, in turn, acted like an expectorant to cough up phelgm. Inhaling these crushed leaves also  relieved headaches.  One can just imagine that that the odor was so intense, the victim forgot about his headache! However, the plant is said to have a narcotic affect. Perhaps the serotonin in the plant's oil encourages a feeling of well-being. Crushed soft leaves also provided a poultice for swelling. Besides these medicinal uses, the American Indians used this plant for seasoning, a liner for a cooking pot, a food to fight famine at the end of a long brown winter, and as a drinking cup. Can you imagine why skunk cabbage served these needs? Discovering the answers will encourage your young friend and you to imagine and reason while on your skunk cabbage adventure.