nichepoetryandprose

In any season, I think it is important to slow down and look closely at the ground to catch a glimpse of the natural diversity occurring there.    This time of year, in our snowy climate, there are tracks to find, evergreens to notice, and seeds and berries to discover.

Since I am trained as a botanist, looking down is the norm for me.  Often, I fail to look up and see the landscape and horizon.  When we first bought our lake property, it was quite a while before I looked across the lake and realised there were farms and a church on the opposite shore!     

As a result, I identify strongly with Fringed Loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata L.), a yellow flower we find growing along the lakeshore in early summer.  It has a downward-facing flower and can only ‘see’ the ground.  Its shy demeanour encourages close inspection, but you have to get your own eyes quite low to see a view of its ‘face’. 

Fringed Loosestrife has five yellowish-green petals and a reddish center and blooms from May to July.  The petals are fringed and each is tipped with a ‘tooth’.

The genus is called after King Lysimachus of Thrace who, in legend, used the plant to calm a maddened bull.  Ciliata comes from the Latin word cilium meaning eyelash, referring to the hairs on the stem of each leaf.

Fringed Loosestrife grows in thickets and along shorelines like ours.

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Fringed Loosestrife

            (Lysimachia ciliata L.)

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at the edge of lake are two perspectives:

distant and near

horizon and shore

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horizon

            low hills and orchard

            a farm, a steepled church

            the flat of the lake

            three waterfowl

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the shore

            yellow Loosestrife

            Fringed petals

            look down

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red eye studies

            flat rock and sticky bedstraw

            a wood frog, a feather fern

            winterberry petals new-fallen

            shoe leather, shoe laces

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©  Jane Tims  2011