Jack in the Pulpit

After church today, Tom & I went out for our usual breakfast, & then went for a walk along one of the paths up on the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. My intent was to blip a picture of the Lake, which was deep blue, calm & beautiful today--much like our weather has been this whole past week! But along the way, I saw the "Jack in the Pulpit" plants in various stages of growth, so I went with this one! (it's so much easier to find things to blip when you don't have to walk throught snow to get them!) This is another woodland plant that prefers moist soil & blooms in early spring. It's name comes from the unusual structure of its flower. A tiny upright flower spike looks like a tiny man standing in an old-fashioned raised pulpit. The top is hooded, partially hidden by a leaflike flower petal. After flowering, it develops a cluster of red berries, which attracts birds & wildlife, but all parts of the plant are toxic to humans.
There's one account from the Meskwaki Indians that states they would chop the herb's corm, mix it with meat & leave the meat out for their enemies to find. The taste of the oxalate wasn't detectable because of the flavored meat, but consuming the meat reportedly caused their enemies pain and death. They also used it to determine the fate of the sick by dropping a seed in a cup of stirred water. If the seed went around four times clockwise, the patient would recover. If it went around less than four times, they would not! (Imagine if we used that diagnostic technique in the hospital today! Ha!)

Thank you all for the wonderful comments on my "spooky" plant--it was in the spotlight for awhile! I'll be blipping all week, but may be very sporatic on commenting, as Jennie will be home this eve., & we've got lots planned for the next 4 days leading up to the wedding! So exciting! She asked her Dad to give a "father- of-the -bride" speech, but he said he just couldn't do it--that he'd be too nervous, so she asked me to do a "mother- of- the -bride speech" instead, so I said "sure" as I know it means a lot to her....but now I'M all nervous, & what I'll say, I have no clue! I'll have to give it some thought! :))