Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Need to Add

Even though this flower is considered to be an invasive weed, I've always loved its unusual and interesting shape. What I didn't know was its colorful history! A native plant of Europe, it is now found in most parts of the world and has been found all the way back to the early Neolithic age, about 8,000 years ago! I wonder if that's why it's so odd looking!!! There is evidence that people in what is now Germany gathered "Plantago lanceolata" for a food source for their farm animals. It has been historically known as a medicinal cure-all, even mentioned by Chaucer and Shakespeare! Today, this herbal plant is found to be useful as a cough suppressant and if you look up Ricola , you'll see this herb listed as one of the ingredients they use in their formulas! It's also used in teas and other herbal remedies. Besides its mediciinal uses, Plantains (not related to the banana relative by the same name) are also edible; young leaves and flower heads can be added to salads; the leaves can be substituted for spinach. If you would like to know more about its edible and medicinal uses, there's a great page here: Prairie Land Herbs: Plantain If you would like to know more about the plant in general, Wiki has a source here: Wiki: Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) and here Wiki: Plantago Explored on June 10, 2012, placement at #406

Back in April, I posted the 35th Flower of Spring, the Narrowleaf Mule's Ear. This flashy flower is in the Aster family, and has a strong resemblance to sunflowers. They grow all over our hillside and I had a lot of fun taking pictures of these when they were in bloom. Here's one of my favorite shots, I taken from behind with the sun glowing through the petals. I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! 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! :) Explored on June 15, 2012 placement at #32

This is from my archives, taken last spring. It's the bud of a Yellow-Tinge Larkspur flower, which was featured as the 38th Flower of Spring & Summer. When I began that project, I only put one view with none in the comments as I do now. So this picture was left behind. I think these buds are amazing to see, and so different! I hope you like it too! :)