Sunday, March 12, 2023

A pithy situation

 Linda Goodwin sent these pictures with an explanation:


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cleared out dead pokeweed stalks yesterday & pale gold coins fell to the ground.

Turns out pokeweed is one of the few plants (with walnut, butternut) that produce ‘chambered pith’ inside the stalks / twigs. Found a research paper from 1980 & photos from the NY Botanical Garden, but there’s almost no info about this online.

Each layer is like a skinny Cheerio covered with tissue paper. Neat little things.
 
 

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