New book is a lovely addition to any hike

Wildflowers of Vermont, text and photos by Kate Carter, pocket-sized, published  by Cotton Brook Publications in Waterbury Center in 2001, 245 pages, $14.95.

reviewed by Jennifer Hersey

Kate Carter of Waterbury Center has brought together 235 beautiful color photos and informative text in her guide, Wildflowers of Vermont. The book is a lovely addition to any hike, especially those off the beaten path, where Ms. Carter spends a fair amount of time.

Ms. Carter, who is also editor of Vermont Sports Today, says in the introduction that many of the photos were taken while hiking and biking on trails and back roads.

The book conveniently includes a full index, the date and location of each flower, and a list of endangered flowers. The listings are organized by color to make looking them up easier. There are also look-alikes mentioned on the same page to avoid making wrong identifications.

Ms. Carter used a 35mm Canon A2, mostly with a 50 mm macro lens. All shots are taken on Fugi Sensia film.

The book was edited by Charles W. Johnson, who was Vermont state naturalist from 1978 to 2000.

The best parts of the book are the quirky descriptions of plants and interesting facts included. Some of my favorites follow:

Skunk cabbage is composed of tiny white flowers hidden in a mottled hood that is purplish-green. You have to peek inside to see the flowers. The heat from this plant growing can melt snow around it. Let’s plant lots of that!

Mayweed looks like miniature daisies but can cause skin irritation. Don’t make a crown out of this, or even stick one behind your ear.

Don’t eat the berries of the white and red baneberry plant. They are poisonous.

There is one flower that can only be found in Vermont at the summit of Mount Mansfield and that is diapensia. It is also an endangered species. Another flower can only be found on Lake Champlain, the flowering rush.

Turtlehead whiteflowers are called that because, well, they look a lot like turtles. Their Latin name, chelone, means tortoise.

One of the oddest flowers in the book is the Indian pipe, which doesn’t photosynthesize. Instead it gets nutrients through its roots from humus or decaying matter.

Horse nettle is "pretty star-shaped flowers on angry-looking plant."

For the entry on great Angelica, Ms. Carter writes, "Great indeed! Impressive plant with golf-ball size clusters of tiny white flowers that form large globe-shaped balls at the end of thick purplish stalks....A real stand-out!"

Bishop’s weed she describes as a "vicious fast-spreading weed," and wild chervil as a "noxious invasive weed."

Some descriptions are whimsical such as that of the bladder campion, an "odd-looking yet engaging flower."

If you are looking to photograph the white campion, pick a dreary day, for they only open at night or on overcast days.

If you are trying to attract hummingbirds to your garden, plant some wild columbine, because hummingbirds love it. Then again, if you want butterflies, plant common milkweed, which will attract monarchs.

A common flower in springtime in this area is the purple trillium of which she writes, "Stinky! Sometimes called Stinking Benjamin."

Don’t get your finger near the northern pitcher plant, one of the few carnivorous plants. Ms. Carter writes, "Water-filled tubes trap insects and drown them, providing plant with nitrogen, which is scarce in bogs."

Chicory is used as a substitute and additive for coffee, and each flower lasts only a day.

Some descriptions make you want to run out immediately to sample particular flowers. True forget-me-not is described as "beautiful sky-blue flowers with golden eyes....You won’t forget this flower’s intense color."

The closed gentian has flowers that resemble Christmas tree lightbulbs, but "unfortunately they never open or light up."

Some plants were wrongly named because of misconceptions about them. One such is lupine. "Latin name comes from lupus, meaning wolf, because the plant was once thought to gobble up, or "wolf" its nutrients from the soil. But the reverse is true....Lupines put nutrients, especially nitrogen, back into the soil. Roadside lupine...are garden escapees. Wild lupine is rare in Vermont."

Another is the great lobelia which was "once mistakenly thought to be a cure for syphilis, hence the Latin species name," Lobelia siphilitica.

Bluets form colonies that are "irrepressibly blue."

Herb Robert has a "surprisingly unpleasant odor for such a cute flower."

The bouncing bet "has poisonous soap-like substances. Latin name comes from sapo, meaning soap, thus the common name soapwart; bouncing bet is an old-fashioned nickname for a washer-woman."

Possibly the most enduring and inspiring included is the live-forever, which "regenerates from nearly any part of the plant, so it can ‘life forever.’"

My only question is this: when can we expect Mushrooms of Vermont or Wildlife of Vermont or Insects of Vermont....