Rain, Dog Fennel, and Milk Sickness

Above: Looking out at the still dry lake from high on the berm. . . above the Dog Fennel and Canadian Horseweed.

The rains have continued for 5 days but are forecast to end tomorrow. While we received at least 7.60 inches (195 mm) of rain so far, this is in no way the drought-busting event we need. This afternoon after the latest rain the lakebed was looking nice and green but only one puddle exists up close to the property. I mowed this couple of acres of the lakebed during the rain on Tuesday afternoon (above).

The green is mostly Canadian horseweed (Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronquist) and Dog Fennel (Eupatorium capillifolium (Lam.) Small). This is a very, very fragrant crop of native weeds that bedevils me because it is obscuring what water is in the lake. I can pull most of the Canadian horseweed by hand but the Dog Fennel has quickly reached heights of 8'+ (2.5 m+) and is very aggressive. Each root puts off dozens of tough stems that are impossible to extract by hand.



Above: A stand of Dog Fennel that is about 8' (2.43 m) tall. It is one of our most truculent native perennial weeds. Because it contains low levels of the toxin tremitol (or tremetol). . . it is difficult to extract by hand (tremitol causes dehydration). Tremitol is the cause of Milk Sickness. . . Milk sickness, also known as tremetol vomiting, or in animals as trembles, is characterized by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain that affects individuals who ingest milk or other dairy products or meat from a cow that has fed on white snakeroot (another native weed formerly of the Eupatorium genus (Eupatorium rugosum).

Although rare today, milk sickness claimed thousands of lives in the early 19th century. A notable victim was Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Nursing calves and lambs may have died from their mothers' milk contaminated with snakeroot even though the mother animals show no signs of poisoning. Cattle, horses, and sheep are the animals most often poisoned. Read more about Eupatorium at the bottom of this post.



Above: In the foreground I spent a couple of hours painstakingly removing the dog fennel with heavy gloves and pruning shears. It would take me days to remove all that blocks my view of the "lake."



Above and Below: Another look out at the puddles that are now Lake Theresa. Here I stood atop a pile of logs on our wooded property to get a better view of what water is out there.





Above: Water pours off the front of the house during one of the downpours. In one brief shower this afternoon in Debary we received 2.60" (66 mm) in about 30 minutes



Meanwhile work continues laying the new floors. We will all be happy when this project is finished. Mostly the pets are very discombobulated with the activity and do not like being cooped up into single rooms. I guess the workmen finished about 1,500 sq. feet of the 3,000 sq. feet that we're having redone in wood. Most difficult is getting it all perfectly level (atop the old flooring) and fitting it around the fireplaces, cabinets, etc.



MORE ABOUT GENUS EUPATORIUM:

The Genus got its name from the King of Parthia (modern northeastern Iran) Mithridates Eupator, 120-63 B.C, who used a species of Eupatorium as a medicine or as an antidote for poison. Note he was one of Rome's most formidable opponents.

Eupatorium capillifolium is so-named because of its hairy-leaved or finely divided leaves.

The genus contains about 45 species, most of them endemic to the eastern United States. However, there is one famous species native to Europe -- Eupatorium cannabinum. That plant was well known by people in all European countries when the New World was discovered. The plant (herb) was an important medicine, particularly in treating "ague" (malaria).

When explorers arrived in the New World, they found a bewildering variety of Eupatorium species. However, they soon learned from the indigenous people that these new plants were as important in medicine as the one they knew at home.

Our notoriously fragrant E. capillifolium was made into a juice and applied to insect bites by native Floridians. . . it was also strewn on floors as an insecticide. Cubans considered the roots of the plant to be hemostatic and made a tea that was used to remedy fever. I haven't tried it yet. . . but perhaps I will put some of this around the house and see if it works to ward off the swarms of mosquitoes that plague us all summer.