Well, it was wet this morning but I slipped on the boots Clayton gifted me when his big foot out grew them and off Phinnie and I went through Galla Meadow. We saw lots of pretty purple things—Ironweed, Beautyberry, and Mistflower.
Ironweed is really Vernonia—named for a botanist named Vernon something. Butterflies and bees love Ironweed. The blooms turn a rusty color as they are spent is where it gets its name.
Beautyberry is a Bush. The raw berries, are sweet and suitable for human consumption only in small amounts, because they are astringent. The berries are used in jellies and wine. The roots are used to make herbal tea. As a folk remedy it has been claimed that "fresh, crushed leaves of American beautyberry, Callicarpa americana ... helped keep biting insects away from animals such as horses and mules". A chemical compound isolated from the plant was effective as a mosquito repellent in laboratory experiments.
Mistflowers are of the Aster Family. They have soft, fuzzy purple flowers and bloom in late summer and early fall in Arkansas.
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