SHSU Botanical Study-More Botanical Information on FERNS

I was sharing with my husband what interesting facts I just learned concerning ferns in my Honors Botany lecture on Tuesday and realized I should share it with you too.

So here goes, did you know that ferns have been on the Earth for 350 million years and there are 12,000 species?  Ferns are also the species that bridges the gap between Algae and the other species of plants: Moses, Gymnosperms, and Angiosperms.

They need to be close to a water source like a pond, lake, spring, or marsh for their reproduction.  When it is time for reproduction the female ferns and the male ferns release spores into the air, but it is when they land into a water source that fertilization occurs.  This is what causes a high rate of hybridization, because the females will let different varieties of ferns fertilize her spores.  This is what is called intersexual competition by the females of the species.

Leaves of ferns are known as fronds and these plants do not have secondary growth.  In other words they do not have woody stems, but instead use their energy is used for primary growth consisting of leaves and roots.

These leaves are called Fronds and the new growth are known as Fiddleheads, because that is what they resemble.  These Fiddleheads then will unfurl revealing the Fronds.

So there you have it, Botany 1411 about ferns in a nut shell.

Until Next Time.

SHSU Botanical Reseach- Mexican Plum Tree (Field Work) part 1

Now that the wonderful rain and cold front has passed through Central Texas, I can again safely venture outside and work on my research. The grounds crew will be busy this week thinning out the Bamboo thicket, so I need to choose a different site to work.

Feeling the cooler temperatures outside gives me a clue as to where I should light.  Fall is peeking right around the corner and so will the holiday season and that means tasty foods.

In doing some preliminary research I found some very interesting information on the probable food uses of the wild plums found on Mexican Plum trees produced on the Houston's home site. 

Mexican Plum by old kitchen 

Some of the tasty stone fruit

To wet your taste buds here is a modern recipe for wild plums:
Plum Jam Canning Recipe.  I will share some of the historic 1800's recipes I found in a later post.

Okay that settles it, Mexican Plum tree it is this week.

UR-TURN: So what is your favorite Plum recipe?  Feel free to share .

Until Next Time.

SHSU Botanical Research-Margaret Houston's Fern (Field Work)

Historical Marker about Margaret Houston

Margaret Houston's ferns growing by the Woodland Homesite

 The plaque in front of the Woodland Home honoring Mrs. Margaret Houston is not the only item that draws attention to wife of Sam Houston.  Near this historical marker at the corner of the white picket fence you will find lush green woodland ferns growing underneath a large tree.  These ferns at this time have not been identified other than by their common name: Margaret's Ferns, or their botanical name:Thelypteris (Kunthii or Lindeheimeri). These ferns can typically be found growing in this area of the U.S. in marshes or close to ponds, and they have some medicinal properties.  As medicinal plants they have been known to help with asthma, bronchitis and pleurisy.  That may be why the Houston family had them on their property.  These particular ferns disappeared from the home site for a while, but happily they voluntarily reappeared.  
There has been much interest in these delicate looking plants, in fact a science graduate student, Tracy Ellen Willis, wrote her thesis paper on this fern.  There is a copy of her thesis in the NGL and Museum Library.

These field pages show my Field Sketches and history documentation

It has been a very enjoyable experience being on the Museum and Homesite grounds working to capture the beauty of these historic trees and other plants.  I decided to take a moment to pause and realize that where I sit to work this famous family actually lived, played and entertartained some very important guests to Texas history.

When I was on site Monday and Tuesday of this week the weather was still hot and humid.  None the less hearing the ducks and geese, seeing the squirrels chasing each other around tree trunks, seeing families enjoying strolls or feeding the ducks around the pond makes my work so fun.  

These pages show photos of the ferns and my Plein Aire (working on site) mixed media field painting 

I decided to finish this painting in my personal art studio, the heat became too intense for me to continue to work outside, besides I needed to get to my Printmaking studio class.  When I got home that evening, I had an idea that I decided to run with,  adding DMC embroidery floss stitching to create some of the fern plants.  The mixed media art was created by using watercolor, colored and watercolor pencils, ink pens, and DMC embroidery floss.

The next Field studies will revolve around the Mexican Plum trees found by the kitchen and chimney of another building.  I hope to take advantage of the cold front moving into our area this Friday and be the grounds Saturday making a new Field sketch.  If you are out and about please come by and say hello.

Until Next Time.

Many Blessings,