{"id":327,"date":"2009-06-18T09:18:29","date_gmt":"2009-06-18T17:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/?p=327"},"modified":"2010-06-10T16:11:25","modified_gmt":"2010-06-11T00:11:25","slug":"step-softly-among-the-water-dragons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/2009\/06\/step-softly-among-the-water-dragons\/","title":{"rendered":"Step softly among the water-dragons"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 205px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/lizards-tail.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/lizards-tail.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"260\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-tail flowers seem left over from prehistoric landscapes. Photo by Ken Moore.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em><\/em><strong>By Ken Moore<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never heard it used locally, the common name, water-dragon, appeals to me more than the commoner name, lizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-tail.  Every time I see this plant of swamps, pond edges and boggy stream sides, my imagination propels me back to a long-ago world of giant ferns and dinosaurs. If you find yourself poised on the edge of a lizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-tail environs, step softly, and even then you will most likely become mired in the plant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s preferred muddy ooze.<\/p>\n<p><em>Saururus (saw-REW-us) cernuus (SER-new-us)<\/em> is a truly descriptive  botanical name. The genus name is derived from the Greek <em>sauros<\/em>, lizard, and <em>oura<\/em>, tail, and the descriptive second part of the binomial, the species epithet, is derived from <em>cernuus<\/em>, drooping or nodding, which perfectly characterizes the appearance of a mature flowering spike.<\/p>\n<p>Common throughout eastern America and across to Texas in the South, lizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-tail has a significant heritage as a medicinal plant.  Root poultices were used to treat sores and wounds. Teas brewed from the leaves were thought to be helpful in reducing chest and back pains. There are recent accounts that some researchers are pursuing components of the plant as a potentially powerful tranquilizer. Perhaps more about this research will come to light in the next year or so.<\/p>\n<p>For me, the plant needs no justification other than simply being. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m always stopped in my tracks whenever seeing it in the wild, where it provides habitat for many wetland invertebrates. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an easily cultivated plant for the home wetland or bog garden, whether in pots in a small pool or in normally wet spots on the ground. Gardeners will be pleased to know that deer don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like it, probably because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aromatic.  Lizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-tail is described as being strongly scented of orange peel.<\/p>\n<p>I have to work hard to grasp a hint of orange peel when crushing the flowers and leaves of a plant, though it does have a distinctively pungent aroma to my senses. When not in flower, the long heart-shaped leaves on zig-zag stems are an attractive bit of green architecture in the garden.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mceTemp\">\n<dl class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 205px;\">\n<dt class=\"wp-caption-dt\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/lizards-tail-garden.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/lizards-tail-garden.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"260\" \/><\/a><\/dt>\n<dd class=\"wp-caption-dd\">Pete Schubert\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bog garden in Durham brings affords \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a closer look\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at lizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-tail from the kitchen window. Photo by Ken Moore.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<p>My favorite outside-of-nature place to enjoy lizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-tail is in the wild garden of Pete Schubert in southeast Durham. Every time I visit, I must contain my envy that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not as successful at duplicating nature all around my house as is Pete. Right now, his bog garden just outside the kitchen is a lizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-tail spectacle. In full flower for the past two weeks, Pete\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plants are far ahead of the several populations just now coming into flower along the loop trail around Big Oak Woods in the Mason Farm Biological Reserve. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll also find some lizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-tail along the Bolin Creek trails in the vicinity of Chapel Hill High School.<\/p>\n<p>The several plantings in and around the Botanical Garden\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Totten Center are perhaps the most accessible site for seeing this engaging plant. Another easy viewing vantage point is by canoe and kayak;  if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re planning such an outdoors excursion in the next week or so, keep your eyes alert for the drooping flower stems along pond and river edges and that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153closer look\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is only a few paddles away!<\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ken Moore Though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never heard it used locally, the common name, water-dragon, appeals to me more than the commoner name, lizard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s-tail. Every time I see this plant of swamps, pond edges and boggy stream sides, my imagination propels me back to a long-ago world of giant ferns and dinosaurs. If you find yourself [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,22],"tags":[55,459,458],"class_list":["post-327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ken-moores-flora","category-summer","tag-lizards-tail","tag-saururus-cernuus","tag-water-dragon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":688,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions\/688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}