Dehiscence

Day 294: Muppets. But seriously, your word for today is "dehiscence." That's what's going on here. The fuzzy-haired seed cases of Comptonia peregrina (Sweetfern) have begun to dehisc, i.e., they're splitting open to release their seeds. Each pod contains two to four hard nutlets, seen here poking out like shiny Muppet noses or beaks. Typically, very few of these nutlets will germinate naturally, and starting new plants from seed is challenging to say the least. Rather, the plant spreads by suckering, but even so, it is difficult to transplant, although I have done so successfully on several occasions. That said, I have had very little issue with unwanted suckers coming up from the parent plant. I keep my Comptonia pruned to a manageable size, and in so doing, the foliage is quite lush as opposed to the leggy appearance of Sweetfern in the wild. The leaves give off a wonderful scent on warm days, but unfortunately it is not sufficiently persistent to use in potpourri.

St. Luke's Fete Mystery - Styrax Officinalis

Day 337: For the last several years, Sound & Fury has danced at St. Luke's English Fete in Renton. We did so again yesterday, and afterwards I sat for an hour with the ladies who were spinning wool, the conversation centered on the topics of fiber and sheep. As I stood up to leave, that which had been hanging above my head the whole time caught my eye. "What in the heck is THAT?" I said, and anyone who has ever been on a botany hike with me would have recognized my tone: Crow had found a mystery plant.

The mystery proved fairly easy to solve. Mark Turner's excellent "Trees and Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest" gave me my first clue. Although only a rare bush-like California species (S. redivivus) is included in the book, further digging brought up descriptions of other Styrax species. While I am not 100% positive that this is S. officinalis (my specimen was a little the worse for wear by the time I got it home), the height of the tree exceeds the upper limits for S. redivivus by a substantial margin. S. officinalis is also more likely to be available from commercial growers.

According to my references, the resin of S. officinalis is fragrant, and it (or that from related species) can be used in combination with other substances to make incense and perfumes. Indeed, my fingers were left very sticky after peeling the outer husk (still green and sappy) away from a small brown nutlet. The flowers of the tree are white and also highly aromatic, in appearance not too unlike those of shadbush (serviceberry). I think I'm going to have to take a trip back to St. Luke's in the spring when the tree is in full bloom.