along the country road #2
Here in New Brunswick, although it is only August, the flowers along the roadside are changing. The daisies and buttercups of summer are giving way to the flowers we associate with autumn – the goldenrods, the asters, and Pearly Everlasting.
Pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea (L.) C.B. Clarke), called immortelle in French, is a weed of roadsides, fields, open woods, and clearings. Its flowers are borne in clusters on an upright, leafy stem. They are easy to dry in bouquets since most of the so-called flower consists of a small yellow floral head surrounded by pearly-white dry bracts.
The generic name is an anagram of Gnaphalium, the name of another genus of everlasting flowers. This, in turn, is an ancient Greek name for a downy plant, derived from the word gnaphallon, lock of wool. Margaritacea means pearly.
What flowers mark the change of seasons in your area?
Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea (L.) C.B. Clarke)
Pearly Everlasting
Anaphalis margaritacea L.
Pearly Everlasting
sign of summer’s passing
yet- immortelle
picked by the road
by the armload
hung from rafters
children’s laughter
runs beneath
downy leaf, woolly stem
white diadem
perfectly matched flowers
thatched in gold
dry and old
Linnaeus-named
for Marguarite
memory sweet
paper petals keep
pale perfume
summer
grace
in a winter room
Published as: ‘Pearly Everlasting’, Winter 1993, The Antigonish Review 92.
(revised)
© Jane Tims
Excellent article Jane….I’ll learn something yet on these wildflowers …. and the poem reads excellent as well … especially like the closing line “summer grace in a winter room”. ~JD
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JD
August 8, 2011 at 9:30 pm