Critchicrotches

Reading Thoreau's journal entry for this date for the year 1854, I was curious about the subject of the following sentence: "Critchicrotches have been edible some time in some places." How do you even pronounce that word? Elsewhere in his journals he makes reference to critchicrotches in conjunction with "Sweet Flag." This I found more confusing, since the only plant I know by this name is the local wild iris. It turns out Thoreau is referring to the fruit of Acorus calamus. This wetland plant goes by dozens of common names (hence my initial confusion): sweet flag, calamus, beewort, bitter pepper root, gladdon, myrtle grass, myrtle sedge, pine root, rat root, sea sedge, sweet cane, sweet cinnamon, sweet grass, sweet myrtle, sweet root, sweet rush, and sweet sedge. A good example of the usefulness of scientific names.

I continue to be amazed at how often I can observe the same plant or animal on the exact same date as Thoreau observes it. Today's intersection was a dragonfly. Thoreau writes "I see exuviae or cases of insects on the stems of water plants above the surface. The large devil's-needles are revealed by the reflection in the water, when I cannot see them in the air, and at first mistake them for swallows." This is written in such a way that it seems Thoreau may not recognize the exuvia as belonging to the dragonflies he's observing. Given the time of year and the multitude of exuvia, this suggests the mass, springtime emergence of Baskettails and Emeralds. Visiting the Cowling Arboretum today, the first dragonflies I encountered were, you guessed it, Baskettails.

Posted on May 29, 2017 04:17 AM by scottking