Names in Nature

When Nature Calls Earl Plato
Names in nature that’s my topic. In the 1980’s the late Dr. Marcy referred to his Carolinian nature forest as Abino Woods. His sign at the entrance at the west end read for many years Abino Hills. I fell in love with the exceptional site. Some forty plus nature articles I wrote over the years I changed Abino Woods to the present appellation- Marcy Woods. Yes, I’ll take credit for promoting the deserved change.
As I walked the trails and side trails of Marcy Woods I now recall some of the names of flowers that grow in Marcy Woods. Here as follows: Gold thread, Wake robin, Queen Anne’s lace, jack-in-the-pulpit, buttercup, boneset, and black-eyed Susan.
The late American Ed Teale said thus, “Was there ever a real Susan whose name was bestowed on this flower of our fields?” No one seems to know. Who first referred to plants with these unusual names? I believe that it is part of the poetry of the common people of the past.
The late Bert Miller one spring showed us
Gold thread in the Marcy Woods area. He knelt down near the little plant related to the buttercup family. He lifted a stem and there it was - a stem of golden colour hence the name Gold thread. Daughter Allison in recent years rediscovered the plant on the way into Marcy Woods. Exciting for us.
24 carat gold? Could be.
Boneset plants exist in the butterfly fields.
Why he name “boneset” ? Ask me sometime.