Plants of Fenner Nature Center

In today's post, Brock Feltman catalogs plants of Fenner Nature Center and the various purposes they serve for humans.

Marisa VanDamme and I are Fisheries and Wildlife majors at Michigan State University. Most of our classes are based around the science and management aspects of natural resources; however, this semester we took a writing class titled: WRA 341 Nature, Environment, and Travel Writing. This class represented one of the few opportunities we had to be creative and combine our love for the outdoors with the process of writing.

During the class, we were assigned a project where we had to describe a particular ‘space’ in a unique way. We decided to map Baker Woodlot, a natural area on MSU’s campus, in terms of what plants were there and how they were traditionally used for food, medicine, fiber, tea, etc. Not only was it fun to hike the woodlot and identify the plants, the knowledge that we gained through completing the project applies to natural areas outside of Baker Woodlot as well.

On a recent hike in Fenner Nature Center, we were inspired to catalog plants in a similar fashion.  In this sense, we hope to enhance the way users experience their environment while hiking and observing these plants.

                 

Dandelion – Taraxacum officinale

ID: Leaves have sharp, irregular lobes. Single Yellow Flowers.

Add young leaves to salad or boil them to eat.  Young flowers can be battered and fried.

Wood Nettle – Laportea canadensis

ID- Slender clusters in leaf axils.  Toothed leaves and stinging hairs.  Leaves long stalked with alternate arrangement.

Edible cooked greens.  Soup and tea can be made from young leaves and shoots.

Lamb’s Ear – Stachys byzantina

ID: Fuzzy/velvety texture.  Grows to about a foot tall and leaves are arranged in whorls around an axis

Nature’s Band-Aid and toilet paper.

Trillium – Trillium grandiflorum

ID: An ephemeral that blooms in spring.  Three petal flowers can be white or light pink/purple. 

Early leaves can be cooked and eaten.  Root has many medicinal uses and can be grated and used in eardrops, or ingested to cure menstrual and other abdominal cramps.

American Chestnut - Castanea dentate

ID: Deciduous tree with saw-toothed leaves that are 5 to 8 in. long.

Produces chestnuts that are edible raw or roasted; wood is excellent for lumber.

White Oak - Quercus alba

ID: Leaves are simple with many lobes and smooth edges.  Trees grow up to 24 meters (80ft). 

Lumber used in ships, furniture, flooring, and barrel-making.  Vernors ages their ginger ale in white oak barrels.  Bark is used for tanning leather.  Acorns can be eaten raw, roasted, boiled and dried.