Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Mahonia aquifolium

One of the plants that grows on our property looks similar to holly bushes, covered with thorny leaves. But in the springtime, clusters of pretty yellow flowers bloom, and are then replaced by clusters of small blue berries. What I thought was holly, was actually Oregon's state flower, Oregon-grape! This is information I posted on an another picture of thes flowers: Oregon-grape is the state flower and can be found growing from British Columbia to northern California. Although it's not actually related to grapes, it produces sour-tasting, purple berries, which look like tiny grapes. To add to the confusion, this plant isn't even related to holly, though the leaves look just like them. Instead, they are part of the barberry family...but barberry leaves don't look like holly leaves! So confusing!! (The name itself is hyphenated to reduce confusion with true grapes.) Oregon-grapes were commonly eaten by Native Americans, and can be made into wine and jelly, though a great deal of sugar is needed to counter the berry's tart flavor. The berries have been used as a purple dye, and the roots and stems make a yellow dye! Amazing! This plant even has medicinal uses! It was used by Native Americans to treat dyspepsia (upset stomach or indigestion), and is now used as an alternative to the over-harvested herb, Goldenseal, an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial medicine, used in the treatment of infection. Furthermore, some extracts are used to treat skin diseases including eczema and psoriasis, though a side affect is a rash and a burning sensation, which makes me wonder why anyone would bother! :D Finally, there is evidence that Oregon-grapes reduce resistance to antibiotics!!

2 more pictures above ! :) The day began with a thick blanket of fog that hung around until noon, accompanied by light rain on and off. Every time I got ready to go out for pictures, it would begin to rain again. As the afternoon crept along, I noticed that it was only drizzling, so I went out with my macro flash attached and made a bee-line for the woods. I wasn't looking hard for mushrooms today since I posted them several days in a row, but of course I did find some and took pictures anyway! :D (I'll save those for another day! :) Instead, I looked for something else to catch my attention...it didn't take long! On our property we have a plant called Oregon Grape, and I used to think it was Holly because the leaves look so similar. However, I learned that they are only distantly related. Like Holly, Oregon Grape is an evergreen plant, but while I was wandering around, I discovered that some leaves were dying in a most spectacularly beautiful fashion! Splashes of brilliant yellow and red, along with (fungal?) spots of black and brown, and edges eaten away by insects, I was captivated by their beauty! After looking at all of my pictures, I'm sharing my two favorites tonight. Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American writer. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms, developing a new sort of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, explicit language, sex, surrealist free association and mysticism, always distinctly about and expressive of the real-life Henry Miller and yet also fictional. His most characteristic works of this kind are Tropic of Cancer (1934), Black Spring (1936), Tropic of Capricorn (1939) and The Rosy Crucifixion trilogy (1949–59), all of which are based on his experiences in New York and Paris, and all of which were banned in the United States until 1961. He also wrote travel memoirs and literary criticism, and painted watercolors. Wikipedia: Henry Miller

4 pictures above in notes! If you're anything like me, you probably thought that all plants with spikey leaves like this are Holly! It just never occurred to me that totally unrelated plants could develop the same sort of defense mechanism, but this is just one example of identical leaves on totally different plants. You may also wonder how Oregon Grape got its name, since it's obviously not a true grape, which grows on vines. This plant got its name because after its beautiful flowers are pollinated, the fruit it produces are blue berries which look just like grapes! I don't have any of my own pictures to show you because the deer and wildlife wolf them down even before they ripen, but I did find one picture from another person on ipernity! ( Garry Kinney's Oregon Grapes) If you would like to know more about Oregon Grape, Wiki has a fine page here: Wikipedia: Oregon Grape

Now that Spring is in full swing, our property is covered with so many flowers that I can barely keep up! It seems like everywhere I look there's a new flower! My flower folder is getting more and more stuffed with pictures, so I hope that you don't mind, but I will need to start showing more flower pictures until things start to calm down. So, until then I'll be posting two extra flower pictures every two days, and my normal " Flower of Spring" every day. A few weeks ago, I posted a picture of Oregon-grape buds, and this is what the blossoms look like! Aren't they gorgeous?! They are so pretty in every form, and after this they will turn into purple berries!! So much beauty from one plant! In case you didn't get the chance to read about this plant before, I'm reposting the information below. Enjoy! The Oregon-grape is the state flower and can be found growing from British Columbia to northern California. Although it's not actually related to grapes, it produces sour-tasting, purple berries, which look like tiny grapes. To add to the confusion, this plant isn't even related to holly, though the leaves look just like them. Instead, they are part of the barberry family...but barberry leaves don't look like holly leaves! So confusing!! (The name itself is hyphenated to reduce confusion with true grapes.) Oregon-grapes were commonly eaten by Native Americans, and can be made into wine and jelly, though a great deal of sugar is needed to counter the berry's tart flavor. The berries have been used as a purple dye, and the roots and stems make a yellow dye! Amazing! This plant even has medicinal uses! It was used by Native Americans to treat dyspepsia (upset stomach or indigestion), and is now used as an alternative to the over-harvested herb, Goldenseal, an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial medicine, used in the treatment of infection. Furthermore, some extracts are used to treat skin diseases including eczema and psoriasis, though a side affect is a rash and a burning sensation, which makes me wonder why anyone would bother! :D Finally, there is evidence that Oregon-grapes reduce resistance to antibiotics!! Now that's really cool!! And to think...I thought we had holly growing on our property! It's so interesting to reasearch information for each of the flowers I find here! Hopefully you are enjoying the education too! :) If you would like to know more about Oregon-grapes, Wiki has a great page here: Wiki: Oregon-grape

In our lower forest, we have a small thicket full of holly. The other day I was visiting my local friend's photostream and was very surprised to find that what I thought was holly was actually called Oregon-grapes! I had no idea!! Coincedentally, I'd just taken some pictures of flower buds that were about to bloom, so here is one of my pictures to share! :) The Oregon-grape is the state flower and can be found growing from British Columbia to northern California. Although it's not actually related to grapes, it produces sour-tasting, purple berries, which look like tiny grapes. To add to the confusion, this plant isn't even related to holly, though the leaves look just like them. Instead, they are part of the barberry family...but barberry leaves don't look like holly leaves! So confusing!! (The name itself is hyphenated to reduce confusion with true grapes.) Oregon-grapes were commonly eaten by Native Americans, and can be made into wine and jelly, though a great deal of sugar is needed to counter the berry's tart flavor. The berries have been used as a purple dye, and the roots and stems make a yellow dye! Amazing! This plant even has medicinal uses! It was used by Native Americans to treat dyspepsia (upset stomach or indigestion), and is now used as an alternative to the over-harvested herb, Goldenseal, an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial medicine, used in the treatment of infection. Furthermore, some extracts are used to treat skin diseases including eczema and psoriasis, though a side affect is a rash and a burning sensation, which makes me wonder why anyone would bother! :D Finally, there is evidence that Oregon-grapes reduce resistance to antibiotics!! Now that's really cool!! And to think...I thought we had holly growing on our property! It's so interesting to reasearch information for each of the flowers I find here! Hopefully you are enjoying the education too! :) If you would like to know more about Oregon-grapes, Wiki has a great page here: Wiki: Oregon-grape