Clintonia (Clintonia borealis)

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Clintonia(Clintonia borealis)

• Family Liliaceae (lil-ee-AY-see-ee) In the
  Lily family.
• Genus Clintonia (klin-TOH-nee-uh) It was named
  for De Witt Clinton, 19th century naturalist and
  governor of New York State.
• Species borealis (bor-ee-AL-is) Borealis is
  from the Greek, boreios, which means from the
  quarter of the North wind or northern.
  Alternative Pronunciation bor-ee-AY-lis

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Clintonia

• Clintonia is a perennial, herbaceous, native
  plant in the lily family. It can reach 33cm in
  height.
• Other names for clintonia include cow's tongue,
  blue-bead, bluebead, bluebead lily, yellow
  beadlily, yellow bluebeadlily, yellow corn-lily,
  wood lily, blue bead lily, yellow clintonia,
  dogberry, clintons lily and corn-lily.
• The common names which include bead come from
  the round, bright blue fruit. The tongue common
  names comes from the tongue shaped leaves.

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Clintonia

• As mentioned, Clintonia is named after DeWitt
  Clinton (1769-1828). He was an early naturalist,
  educator and historian. He is often referred to
  as the "Father of the Erie Canal," because he was
  one of the prime movers for the construction of
  the canal, which connects Albany to Lake Erie at
  Buffalo. He served in the New York State
  Legislature and the U.S. Senate, and was Mayor of
  New York City and Governor of New York State. As
  a naturalist, he discovered a native American
  wheat and a new fish, the Salma Otsego. He
  authored the "Introductory Discourse" about the
  state of scientific knowledge in United States in
  1814 and a book on New York history as well as
  numerous scientific papers.

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Clintonia

• This plant has 2 to 5 (usually 3) basal leaves
  only. They are large, erect, shiny, bright green,
  basal leaves with parallel veins typical of the
  lily family. The leaves are somewhat stiff and
  leathery and entire, finely hairy on the margins
  and veins elliptic or tongue-shaped, abruptly
  pointed at the tip, 8 to 24 cm long. It grows up
  to 30 cm high
• It grows from 18 to 42 cm high.

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Clintonia

• The pale yellowish flowers, 3 to 8 are arranged
  in a loose cluster of two or three at the tip of
  an erect leafless stalk. The flowers are
  nodding, bell-shaped, about 1.5 to 2 cm long,
  with three petals and three sepals (appear to be
  6 petals.)
• The flowers appear in May and often last well
  into June or early July.

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Clintonia

• Clintonia reproduces by seed and vegetatively by
  rhizomes.
• The fruit are mildly poisonous to humans.
• They are bright, round, porcelain, blue berries
  which ripening by midsummer.
• In Altona Forest, the clintonia is found in
  moist, cool areas usually in the shade of pine
  and spruce. Other plants which share its areas
  include wild sarsaparilla, aster, bedstraws,
  bracken fern, rose twisted stalk and violets.

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Clintonia

• Some interesting facts include
• Hunters said to have rubbed their traps with the
  roots because bears are attracted to the odour.
• The berries are said to be mildly toxic but the
  young leaves can be added to a salad.
• Some herbalists claim that young leaves taste
  like cucumber and can be chopped and added to
  salads while boiling the leaves for 10 minutes
  allows them to be served with butter and
  seasonings. Older leaves become bitter.
• Some 1st Nations tribes thought that dogs used
  the plant to poison there teeth making there bite
  lethal. If bitten by such a dog, a person would
  have to find the same root to extract the poison.
  
• The plant contains diosgenin from which the
  chemical progesterone is manufactured. It is
  anti-inflammatory. 1st Nations people used it to
  treat bruises, burns and infections. The root
  was made into a tonic tea and used for various
  ailments including an aid in childbirth.
  Herbalists have used a poultice, made from the
  leaves, on open wounds, burns, ulcers, sores
  and infections. 1st Nations and pioneers were
  thought to have crushed the leaves and used them
  on the face and hands as a protection from
  mosquitoes.

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