Queen Anne’s Lace

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14 Responses

  1. Jaybird says:

    A beautiful post.Report

  2. dragonfrog says:

    That was a very interesting read, thank you!

    Do you / have you eat(en) the roots? If so, what do you think of them?

    I only just recently learned that the lambsquarter that grows all around us and I’d only ever thought of as a weed, is a fixture in some cuisines. I’m sure there is a bounty of delicious plants I walk past all the time unknowing…Report

    • zic in reply to dragonfrog says:

      I have not eaten them.

      There’s a similar flower, Yarrow; the blossom is much courser, it blooms a lot longer, and I’ve eaten the roots; too much fiber for my taste; if I had to use it, I’d want to grate it like ginger, removing the fiber, and use it as a paste; might be good to thicken a stew.

      I wondered on yarrow a lot as I wrote this, for if Queen Anne’s Lace is a feminine flower, Yarrow is her metaphorical mate; at least when it comes to humans. Yarrow, Achillea millefolium, named after Achilles, he used it to staunch his soldiers’ battle wounds. It’s purported to have many other medicinal uses. Most interesting to me is that it’s used to treat skin conditions and stomach/digestive problems, suggesting it might be useful to help someone balance their personal biome; controlling the flora and fauna that plague us when our body chemistry’s out of balance.

      A woman who wasn’t confident in her identification skills; just going by description alone, would easily confuse the two, and the masculine Yarrow would not trigger the feminine menses.Report

      • Oscar Gordon in reply to zic says:

        Although Yarrow doesn’t usually have white blossoms. Yellow, purple, etc. ; but I rarely see white.Report

        • zic in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

          White is the dominant color, I think; it’s been hybridized and selected for yellow/pink/purple (pink-purple grows in my hard, a remnant of a flower garden from sometime in the past).

          But white is it’s wild state; and the most common around my yard; I’d suspect that seeds from the colored forms revert to white with the occasional bright throwback; good-rooted stands, however, would keep color for a long time.Report

  3. John says:

    More QAL info here with some recipes in the World Carrot Museum – http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/wild.htmlReport

    • zic in reply to John says:

      Wow, thank you for that link. It has the most specific instruction on use I’ve read on the contraceptive page.

      , and a great description of contraindications. I would not have been able to use it; I’m extremely sensitive to phytoestrogens.

      Report

  4. North says:

    Wonderful wonderful post!Report

  5. Burt Likko says:

    See, now, this is why I think we need more women writing here. This post was fascinating from start to finish, filled with information I did not know and would never have sought out on my own (it’s a carrot? Really?), possessed of epistolary grace, and leaves me wanting more.

    Well, I suppose a man could in theory write like this also, but a woman wrote this, and the story of the love between grandmother and granddaughter carries a hint of the older woman initiating the younger one to the secrets of the world that women teach each other. Which is a delight to be given a chance to witness.Report

  6. Burt Likko says:

    Also, I wonder if Bob Dylan was aware of the link between QAL and feminine sexuality when he wrote this bittersweet bit of lyric:
    Purple clover, Queen Anne’s lace,
    Crimson hair across your face.
    You could make me cry, if you don’t know.
    Can’t remember what I was thinking of,
    You might be spoiling me, too much love.
    You’re going to make me lonesome when you go.
    Report

    • zic in reply to Burt Likko says:

      Interesting; purple clover is high in phytoestrogens; more something a woman might use to relieve the problems of menopause. But it has anti-clotting properties, and I suspect it could sometimes (with the high does of phytoestrogens) trigger a period that’s delayed, black cohosh and pomegranate, too; and I’ve often wondered if it’s the balance of estrogen/progesterone that matters; even with elevated progesterone, that the higher estrogen levels sometimes trigger the sloughing, and so the egg can’t embed properly and flushes away.Report

  7. zic says:

    Sort of adds a new twist to this old song. Some fine mandolin on this bluegrass classic:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz9l9qFTEy0

    But I prefer this softer appreciation:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BGCTvSHQK0Report