Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: legume

(+4 insets!) (Please view large for best impact!) Since we got back from our trip, the floral extravaganza continues to explode here as it does every year. One of the plants that grows in massive carpets all over is Hairy Vetch, which is a member of the pea or legume family. This non-native plant is found all over the US because it is a favored companion crop in agriculture and livestock love to eat this healthy forage. It features lovely sprigs of lavender and purple blossoms that catch the light and glow like beacons. In the morning as the sun casts its beams across our meadow and road, thousands of Vetch flowers light up and glow warmly. Its wonderful translucent leaves glow as well, and looking closely, the tendrils can be seen grasping onto anything within reach. I have taken many pictures of these pretty flowers so I did my best to resist. This morning I finally caved to the irresistible beauty of this yearly show. And so I went inside and reemerged with my camera, relieved to finally give in to the calls from the flowers. I thought it would be a nice choice to share such a lovely sight for Mother's Day, and I'll be posting some of my archive pictures too, and a couple of other flower pictures to celebrate all of you mothers out there! Perhaps I fit in the mix too, even though I've never been a biological mom…I am certainly a mother to all of my companions through the years and nurture them with all the love any doting mother has! :) Pam, you didn't have anything for "Mother's Day" so I found a picture of a pair of your kids in "Paw Prints on the Heart". You are such a good mama, and this pair of rainbow pups sure did love you! :) HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY PAM!!! *BIG HUGS* Explored on 5/13/19; highest placement #6.

I think I'm on a poisonous flower kick, because here's the third in a row! This pretty flower gets its nickname (also known as Milkvetch) because of its toxic nature. It grows all over the United States and is an nightmare for lifestock owners. Cattle and other livestock are attracted to this plant and if they eat enough of it over the course of a week or two, they will begin to turn in circles, drool, lose weight, and get a dazed, dull look in their eyes. If owners don't notice, the animals can starve to death or die of heart ailments. Also, affected animals suffer from reproductive problems of many kinds. Yet another flower which is beautiful yet deadly! If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a great source here: Wiki: Locoweed (Astragalus)

All over our property, we have these flowers blossoming everywhere right now, and I just love them! For years I thought these were called Wild Sweetpeas until I did some research and realized that a) this is called Common Vetch, and b) we have a close relative which is entirely different (and beautiful), and c) we don't even HAVE Wild Sweetpeas growing here!! :D :D And Wild Sweetpeas aren't even very close relatives...I couldn't have been more incorrect all these years! :D Silly me!! :D I have to say, it's been really great doing this Flowers of Spring project because I'm learning SO MUCH about the plants and flowers here! (animals too!) Common Vetch is considered a weed, but in livestock fields, it's a very nutritious addition to the grass they eat. In fact, this relative of the pea is specifically planted for this very reason, and is known to fatten up cattle better than most grass or other feed. It can actually be too rich and if there's too much vetch growing in a field, animals can get colic and other stomach problems by overeating. In ancient times, humans used to eat vetch, and remains dated back to Neolithic times have shown vetch as part of the diet of the time! The same evidence has been found in ancient Egypt, Rome, and the Bronze Age. Incidentally, just because it's usually only fed to livestock, the tips of new stems and the flowers are said to be quite nice to eat in salads! If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: Common Vetch (Vicia sativa) Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

This afternoon I took the dogs out with me into our smaller meadow, and it was such a beautiful day. Warm, breezy, wonderful, perfect, the smell of warm grass was so nice, I wanted to stay out there for hours! The dogs had such fun, I laughed at their antics whenever I looked up to see what they were up to! For me, there were endless beautiful flowers to take pictures of, but I couldn't keep away from these stunning blossoms, called "Common Vetch", but hardly common when it comes to being beautiful! :) Carolyn Gold Heilbrun (January 13, 1926 – October 9, 2003) was an American academic and prolific feminist author of both important academic studies and popular mystery novels under the pen name of Amanda Cross. Wikipedia: Carolyn Gold Heilbrun