windthread

the information given here in quotes is from a print out of a web page   Medplant, new mexico state university which i printed out quite some time ago,  like years, and then again last May.  But when  i looked for it this morning,  it no  longer is available.   So…the quotes here.  Because i liked it very much and there were good photographs.  it is by Andrea Medina Summer 1999 and Fall 1999.

"Yerba is spanish for herb and mansa is the feminine form of the spanish word manso meaning tame, tranquil or calm.  I have found no information as to why the plant has been given this name and it has not been reported to have a sedative effect.  Yerba mansa does well in an arid climate though it must have plenty of water and is found growing in wet marshy niches..

Yerba mansa, a perennial is characterized as having a white spiked basal inflorescence surrounded by striking white bracts that are often mistaken for petals.  As the plant matures, it will develop red to purple stains on all of its aerial parts, the entire plant turning brick red in the fall.

Yerba mansa roots at the nodes of strong rhizomes and it has a mass of spongy looking roots, a combination which makes this plant a challenge to harvest.  Yerba mansa is very aromatic, the roots especially are said to be reminiscent of a cross between camphor and eucalyptus.  The plant has a distinct musty, spicy scent,  our noses led us to the stands in the Rio Grande Valley long before we actually saw it.

The broadleaf foliage is lush and spongy.  While gathering i discovered a wooly bear caterpillar, Estigmene acrea of the Arctidae family rapidly consuming huge portions of the leaves.  Estigmene acrea, commonly known as saltmarsh caterpillar, is an agronomic insect that poses a threat to cotton, alfalfa, and lettuce growers in the Mesilla Valley.  There is evidence that a minor infestation may reduce the chances of boil rot.  Presently, the catterpillar is in capitivity as i am curious to see the resulting moth".

So.  That's enough for now.  More tomorrow.

I have some un~Understood affinity for this plant.  I tried to grow a start that was given to me some years ago by the same people i went with today.  It didn't make it.  But i dyed some cloth with those "brick red" dried plant parts and got a very beautiful red/amber cloth.  Once.  And then… for reasons of circumstance,  i never tried to grow it again.  But i also never forgot it.   It is in my mind often.

 

 

these are mostly dried stems and  "blooms" .  Most of the plants were still green.  i boiled them for maybe 10 minutes.

 

a small bundle of muslin and one of linen.

 

 

Now Time and SUN.

 

 

 

i feel uhhh,  well,   ummmm not good,  i guess is good enough to say it.  i feel like we didn't honor the plant.  But though i tried,  it was just an almost hurried thing.  Mike,  Thelma's husband is edgy always and in a hurry to accomplish things.  Thelma's dad,  who was born in this Place as was all his family as long ago as anyone can remember,  is full of humor and kind of devil may care.   His wife,  the fourth member of this harvesting party wasn't feeling well.  They are old.  Like Old.  At one point i tried to say something about honoring the plant and her dad said.."What?  are you part Indian?,  i thought you were just Weda (blondie)" .  And i am wondering in this moment if i am too hesitant to uhhhh,  insist on things….?????  But i'll work with this tomorrow morning when i plant the two plants i brought home.  Work with this with THEM.  I don't know.  And i will go back now,  now that i know where they are and do it a different way.  So, maybe i should let it go for now.

 

propagates by runner

 

you don't visit the old ones here without taking a gift.  Preferbly something you have grown or cooked.  So i took eggplant, yellow hot peppers and a very succulent red onion that i didn't grow but came from the farm market i visit on every other Monday.  While cutting the eggplant,  i saw this one.  How BEAUTY FULL,  the marks, the flaws….i see a Grasshopper king driving a chariot .