Thunder crashed and rain fell as I drew my most recent set of leaves. My journal page seemed to disintegrate with every eraser stroke, and my sopping wet drawing seemed to fade with every raindrop. Kaleb (one of our instructors) called everyone over to the van to take shelter from the storm, which had come a little too close for comfort. Once we were all in the van, we compared our drawings, observations, and the state of our wet notebooks from the first thirty minutes of our plant study.
The plant study was one of our major assignments, where we were required to observe and investigate the qualities, features, and habitat of a single plant we encountered on our course. At the start of our allotted time (before the rain started), I wandered around our campsite looking for a plant to spend the next two and a half hours with. As I crossed a grassy field, a tall pink flower with strangely shaped seed pods caught my eye. I sat down in front of this plant and let my eyes follow its leaves, stems, flowers, and seed pods. I sniffed its flowers, which smelled mild and pleasant, and I tasted its leaves, which were bitter and earthy (I wouldn’t recommend eating them raw).
The next morning, after the rain, I looked at how other organisms interacted with my plant. I saw ants gathering around a mysterious green scaly patch on one of the stems, and I noticed the presence of quaking aspens, aster, and tall grasses nearby. I wondered why a field filled with grasses with brown seed pods had less of my plant, and why the strangely shaped seed pods had a fluffy white material inside. How much shade does my plant need? How much does it reproduce? Does it provide food to other organisms? I pondered these questions for a few hours. I named my plant “Pink Squirrel’s Tail” after the shape of the branching stem covered in seed pods.
At the end of our allotted time, I opened a plant ID guide and found my plant, which is called Fireweed, or Epilobium angustifolium. Apparently it gets its name because it’s one of the first flowers to bloom in a newly burned area. It provides food for deer, elk, and grizzly bears, and it can be used to make a medicinal tea to treat a variety of ailments.
I’ve been interested in plants for a long time, but this was the first time I’ve gotten to spend this long with a single plant. In today’s fast-moving world, it can be difficult to find the time and opportunity to slow down and really observe something deeply. I will be taking this experience home with me, and I hope this will help me to become as close to New Jersey and Maine plants as I have become to Fireweed.
