Ferns & Horsetails: Plant Evolution at the Rainbow Gathering

Botany one day ~

Walking up the beautiful, flower-filled way through the birch forest toward main Meadow on July 3, I came upon a plant walk, led by 7 Song {Northeast School of Botanical Medicine} and Frank {Plants and Healers}, two knowledgeable botanists who have come to the Rainbow Gathering a lot, I think.


To a large group, they talked about and brought alive the natural flora around us.


They told us about:

willow - salix

spring beauty

lodgepole pine - pinus contorta

shooting star - dodecatheon

veronica scrofulacia - speedwell

the rose family

juniper - a gymnosperm

clover - in the pea family - trifolium


7 Song had to go to another plant talk, so Frank continued to tell us about plants. He recommended "Botany in a Day" by Thomas J. Eppel, which had a table that listed the evolutionary calendar I was asking him for information about. For example, this table showed that angiosperms emerged around 180-140 million years ago, and horsetails and ferns' (the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta) emerged beginning about 360 million years ago, in the early Carboniferous, and their emergence spanned around 300 millions years.



It was fascinating to learn about plant evolution and plants in this wilderness at the 2008 Rainbow Gathering, focusing all of our minds, and helping to see the natural world in much detail.


Omega-3 fatty acids

7 Song and Frank also mentioned some plants that had Omega-3 fatty acids in them that are found at 9000 feet in forests like these.

I'm curious, but didn't ask, why omega-3s seem to have a harmonizing effect on the bodymind. Dr. Andy Weil's web site's search field {http://www.drweil.com/} provides information about this, but I haven't seen a lot of clinical studies about this specific effect. Omega-3 fatty acids, (200-1000 mg, 3-4 times a day from flax seed oil) also are beneficial for heart disease, bone density, and many other things, for which there is evidence.