From my archives: Native Plant Garden, New York Botanical Garden
Marcia Strean
June 11, 2015
Blooming new this week: Spigelia marilandica Pink Root/Wormgrass. Native Americans used it to expel tapeworms and they taught their technique to colonists. The difference between
poison and medicine is often a matter of how much used, and
how carefully. Spigelia is a case in point.
Does well in gardens and the flowering season can be
prolonged by removing the flowers as they wither.
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| Spigelia marilandica |
Inkberry Ilex glabra in bloom today; easy to miss the 1/4 inch
flowers. Berries will follow, used by Native Americans for ink.
Plymouth Rose Gentian Sabatia kennedyana The folklore says that the Pilgrims of 1620
named the plant after the Sabbath, the holy day on which they first saw the flower.
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| Sabatia kennedyana |
Phlox, numerous species of Beardtongue, Wild Bleeding Heart, Red and White Clover (non-
native to be removed), Baptisia, Wild Quinine, Bluestar, Columbine, Fleabane, Mountain Laurel,
Meadow Rue, Solomon’s Seal, Wild Ginger flowers still there, one Lady’s Slipper, Bowman’s
Root, Iris, Common Rush, Pitcher Plants, Ladies’ Tresses, Pickerel Weed in the water, Iris,
Common Rush, Golden Alexanders under the River Birch (but elsewhere the remains were
being cut back), Milkweed, Butterfly Weed Asclepius tuberosa, Spiderwort, Lanceleaved
Coreopsis, Black-eyed Susan, Yellow Coneflower, Poppy, Mallow, Deptford Pink, Coneflower,
Cactus, Beebalm, Fire Pink Silene virginica, Dog Hobble, Queen Columbine, Celandine Poppy,
Alumroot Heuchera, Sorrel, Magnolia, Dogwood, Narrow-leaved Blue-eyed Grass.
See the apples on Mayapple. Stop to hear the frog croaking.
The red-berried shrub along the approach is Amelanchier Shadbush/Serviceberry.
People ask about Joe Pye Weed which is not blooming yet. By 1893 he legend had become
that Joe Pye was the name of an Indian who cured typhus fever in New England by means of
this plant (Dana).
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