Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia)

2/24/2012
I find wildflowers beautiful and fascinating. So on my little park excursion I took a photograph of a pretty purple one,
flower was about 2 cm long
had 5 purplish petals
one flower per stem
12.5 cm stem length
patch of leaves at base of flower stem
2 cm leaf
heart shaped
branched leaf veins
toothed edges

pretty easily identified as the Common Blue Violet. Scientifically Viola sororia
I just looked up some florida wildflowers and it was the third maybe fourth one down.
according to wikipedia:
'Beyond its use as a common lawn and garden plant, Viola sororia has historically been used for food and for medicine. The flowers and leaves are edible, and some sources suggest the roots can also be eaten. The Cherokee used it to treat colds and headaches. Rafinesque, in his Medical Flora, a Manual of the Medical Botany of the United States of North America (1828–1830), wrote of Viola sororia being used by his American contemporaries for coughs, sore throats, and constipation."

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9188380

Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamomea)

2/24/2012
Got a chance to explore a small park this afternoon. My original intention was to find some mushrooms and of course, as you will see, I did. But I also ran into some other species that interested me. For instance, there was this large, beautiful fern growing all over on the sides of the path. I took a picture of it and a leaf to sample and I intend to discover what type of fern it is.

What was interesting about the fern was that it did not have spore pods on the bottom of it's fronds.
Found it, not that difficult.  It's called a cinnamon fern, also known as Osmunda cinnamomea
Apparently I found it in the wrong season, when it's spore stalks were not present
Hopefully I'll get a chance to see them later in the year, in full 'bloom'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmunda_cinnamomea
http://www.floridata.com/ref/o/osmu_cin.cfm

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9136684

Tuber Sword Fern (Nephrolepis Cordifolia)

Okay so I dug up a common fern and found it had fuzzy grape like nodules on it's roots. I was curious as to if they were edible. Let the identifying begin!
So I'm 95% positive that it is a Nephrolepis exalta. Also known as sword fern
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephrolepis_exaltata

On second glance however I found a very similar, almost identical fern called Nephrolepis cordifolia.
it is known as the tuber sword fern. Yes. I was previously incorrect, this is the right one.
http://www.fleppc.org/ID_book/Nephrolepsis_cordifolia.pdf
the site claims that N. exalta NEVER bears tubers on it's roots. I guess that settles it then. It's definately N cordifolia.

another interesting thing, I found in many different sources that the tubers are edible and natives in nepal eat them regularly.

Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/8e0CtNta_2Q

^^ dig up, remove hairs, EAT!

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9099074

Florida Betony (Stachys floridana)

Aaaaand I went scavenging again today!
Today was Tuesday, February 21 2012
It was 68 degrees F

My main focus of today was examining berries and roots.

As a child I used to dig up these white bulbous roots and pretend to be a native american. My mother always called it 'rabbit's tobacco'
today I happened upon that same plant and decided to start there.

Plant
Determined Dicot
forb/herb growth habit
nodulose roots
stolon or sucker sub-aerial modification
The lamina is chordate, (the leaf is shaped like a heart)
extipulated (no stipule present)
foliage leaves
reticulate unicostate veniation, (only 1 principle vein which gives off lateral veins that proceed toward edges, forming a network)
pinnatipartile lamina edges (serrated/ lacy)
opposite decussate phyllotaxy (leaves occuring in pairs at the nodes, standing at right angle to next upper or lower pair)

2/22/2012
posting on a fruit I found and I ran across a weeds PDF
http://hortweeds.tennessee.edu/webapp/weedguide/allpages.pdf

it refers to it as Florida hedgenettle, rattlesnake weed

scientific name: Stachys floridana

aaaaand SUCCESS
correctly identified.
edible? apparently!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/cAudL109GOg

http://www.daviddarling.info/images/types_of_roots.gif

according to that webpage ^^ the roots are considered nodulose

Could not find out what it is! I will continue to search

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9092048