As with slim Solomon, another false Solomon's seal, there's quite the variation of names. The berries are pretty. Most of the fat Solomon we found along the trail had missing berries and stems as shown in the second pic above. I wonder if deer or horses like to eat them. This trail is a popular horse riding route with several stables nearby.
Now here in CA, we don't have actual Solomon's seal. There are numerous websites devoted to herbal uses. Two that have some name origin and historical use information, not soley trying to hard sell you on their products, are Botanical.com (Polygonatum multiflorum native to Europe and Asia) and Cortesia's Solomon Seal blog (P. biflorum native to eastern North America). There's also a nice online chapter of The Book of Herbal Wisdom by Matthew Wood. I wish I could find as much information about indigenous peoples' uses of CA native plants.
ps 07/20/11 - Thanks to Particia Lichen's comment below about the general confusion around Solomon's seal ID, both the real dealio and the false ones, I'm repeating my reply. When I was in OH, I never could remember which had flowers hanging from the underside of the leaf stalks (true) and which had flowers on the ends (false). Until researching for this post I wasn't aware we didn't have Polygonatum (true) here in CA. As for the false Somolon's seals, fat and slim refer to the overall look of the leaves. The one shown above has wide leaves and the slim Solomon has skinnier leaves. Feathery and starry are also descriptive of the look of the flowers. These common name descriptors are helpful to remember since I found both plants in the same park.
Now here in CA, we don't have actual Solomon's seal. There are numerous websites devoted to herbal uses. Two that have some name origin and historical use information, not soley trying to hard sell you on their products, are Botanical.com (Polygonatum multiflorum native to Europe and Asia) and Cortesia's Solomon Seal blog (P. biflorum native to eastern North America). There's also a nice online chapter of The Book of Herbal Wisdom by Matthew Wood. I wish I could find as much information about indigenous peoples' uses of CA native plants.
ps 07/20/11 - Thanks to Particia Lichen's comment below about the general confusion around Solomon's seal ID, both the real dealio and the false ones, I'm repeating my reply. When I was in OH, I never could remember which had flowers hanging from the underside of the leaf stalks (true) and which had flowers on the ends (false). Until researching for this post I wasn't aware we didn't have Polygonatum (true) here in CA. As for the false Somolon's seals, fat and slim refer to the overall look of the leaves. The one shown above has wide leaves and the slim Solomon has skinnier leaves. Feathery and starry are also descriptive of the look of the flowers. These common name descriptors are helpful to remember since I found both plants in the same park.
4 comments:
I hadn't heard them referred to as "fat" or "slim" Solomon's seal before. I followed your link to your other post about the slim Solomon, but it sounds complicated so I'm just backing away slowly and retaining my flimsy grasp on the difference between Solomon's seal and false Solomon's seal!
Thanks, Patricia, I should have mentioned the differences, eh? Fat and slim refer to the overall look of the leaves. The one shown above has wide leaves and the slim Solomon, well, has skinnier leaves. Feathery and starry are also good descriptors of the look of the flowers. These are good to know since I found both plants in the same park. I'll have to add a postscript. When I was in OH, I never could remember which had flowers on the ends (false) and which had flowers hanging from the underside of the leaf stalks (the true Solomon's seal). Until researching for this post I wasn't aware we didn't have Polygonatum (true) here in CA.
Do you do guest consulting on plant ID? Solomons seal and its cousins often leave me puzzled....
Actually today is a good day as I've been hitting blogs where my attempts to comment have been frustrated by eblog for months. Today their working. Wonders never cease. :)
Hi Mr. T. Good to hear from you. Nope, no guest consulting. I have a hard enough time figuring out what I've got.
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