Our Own Black Death

 During the Black Death, travelers arriving at locations on ships were forced to isolate in their ships for 40 days to prevent spread of infection.

The Italian word for 40 is quaranta, which is where the word ‘Quarantine’ originates.

This little flower is called a BlackBerry Lily.  Thomas Jefferson planted them at Monticello.  This Asian perennial, which Thomas Jefferson called "Chinese Ixia," is actually a member of the Iris family. Jefferson first received seed from nurseryman Bernard McMahon in 1807, during his second term as President of the United States. These were sown in an East Front oval flowerbed at Monticello. Today the blackberry lilies that are found naturalized throughout Monticello are believed to be descendants of Jefferson's original plantings.

The Blackberry Lily is a hardy, herbaceous summer-flowering perennial with red-spotted orange flowers on stalks, followed by unusual seed heads that resemble blackberries, but the seeds are not edible.