There are times on my everyday adventures when I find some very strange things. Some plants I find along the way are a complete mystery to me. I never find out the identity of some of them, like the one from this post here: Fuzzy WhiteThe plant I have as my subject today may be another one of those. It may also be very familiar to some of you. It is still a very strange looking plant. One odd thing is that I think I've seen this plant before on another blog, so I think somebody knows what it is.
This second picture is what I saw when I was standing over it. I actually saw it first from a lot farther away. It was a small cluster of red just above the forest floor. The whole plant is only a stem that's maybe four inches long with a cluster of red berries on it.I actually found it very deep in the forest, away from any of the hiking trails. There were no other plants like this around anywhere. I looked around for others, but this one was all by itself. I always thought if you see one of something, there would most likely be more close by, but this was not the case here.
I'm not sure what else to say about the plant. It's a mystery to me. Maybe it's some sort of evil alien life form that has come to destroy us all. Maybe it's just a small version of a normal everyday plant. Or maybe it's the next President of the United States. I have no idea. Do you?
I have seen that before and I checked one of my books to verify. I believe it is Jack-in-the-Pulpit. The red berries appear after the bloom is gone.
ReplyDeleteI have no clue what it is but SquirrelQueen's answer sounds good :)
ReplyDeleteHmmm, our next president, now there's a thought....lol
That's an interesting looking plant, and the color red is beautiful..Great find, whatever it is but I'll go with SquirrelQuen..
ReplyDeleteLooks a bit like stinking iris so maybe a relative?
ReplyDeletei encounter a lot of strange plants too. i'll see if i can research for that pretty strange find... for now, i'll go with SquirrelQueen. :)
ReplyDeleteWhere are all the squirrels? They might have missed these, or these are not their cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteNever seen anything like it! interesting indeed!
ReplyDeleteLooks to me like Jack in the Pulpit whose leaves are gone. The leaves would be above the fruit, so lots of times people don't see the berries, and lots of times the berries aren't so spectacular... just a few.
ReplyDeleteNow I have to go and see what Jack in the Pulpit looks like in bloom!! :)
ReplyDeleteThe flower is quite impressive too! I don't think we have anything like that in our portion of CA. There are some carnivorous plants in Nor Cal but here nada!!
ReplyDeleteNot seen one like that before, looks bright and appealing, I bet it is toxic.
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting plant, I have no idea what it is though, sorry! I love the bright red color of the berries. Great find!
ReplyDeletebeautiful photos ratty. unfortunately i have no idea what it is.
ReplyDeletehave a great weekend my friend, much love to you!
I concur with SquirrelQueen
ReplyDeletehttp://www.northernontarioflora.ca/description.cfm?speciesid=1001483
I am once again very behind in responding to comments, although I read every one almost as soon as they come in. I will do my best to catch up.
ReplyDeleteSquirrelQueen - Thank you very much! That is exactly what it is. I thought I saw it somewhere before, and now that you said the name I'm sure.
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Ann - We've gotten our Presidents from stranger places. :)
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Icy BC - I saw it from far away. The red color was like a beacon.
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John - It does look like stinking iris, but I think SquirrelQueen's answer is right. I did a search for stinking iris on Google Images. Can you guess on what blog I found the best pictures?
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Cher - I think SquirrelQueen got it right. Any confirmation is always helpful though.
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Rainfield - The squirrels are all hiding from me. They think I might try to start another war. Only their queen will come out. :)
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Tes - It's the first time I ever got to see one in person. :)
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Sharkbytes - I'll have to start looking for some with the leaves on. Now I'm very interested in this plant. :)
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Julia - I'm going to do some heavy research on these plants now. There must be more of them where I found this one.
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Glynis - I was thinking it was toxic too the moment I saw it. I was afraid to touch it.
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Ashley - I'm glad I found it. I did something I usually don't, and I think I might do it more often.
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PJ - Now we all know what it is, so I might do a post with some information when I put it all together. :)
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Canadian Mark - Thanks for the excellent link, and the confirmation.
Wow, I love mysteries and the "group think" here was just so cool! I couldn't guess by the berries but I do know the plant from around here when it's in bloom. But am intrigued about toxicity. Why? because it occurred to me that since there was "1" that a bird or animal had eaten a berry "back when" and expelled one seed where you found it growing? I'm with you, one looks for things in multiples, Ratty!
ReplyDeleteWillOaks Studio - Yeah, everybody came through on this one very well. Once I saw a picture of the leaves, I remembered seeing pictures of them at one of my nature parks. I hope I can find where I was so I can look for more.
ReplyDeletei actually see a lot of them in the trails sometimes, like you, deep in the forest. i simply call them "red berries", since i do not know them ")
ReplyDeleteBetchai - I'm still new to venturing off the trail into the forest. I hope I find very many new wonders like these red berries.
ReplyDeleteYep, Jack in the Pulpit berries.
ReplyDeleteYou won't find big groups of the plant, they're more of a loner and at best you might find a small grouping.
They bloom in spring so keep getting off the path and you should find some. I did get some so so photos of the flowers but haven't posted them.
Native Americans used the plant but not the berries as a medicinal plant. The roots form corms that when dried can be eaten - usually ground up as flour.
The fresh 'herb' is irritating.
WiseAcre - Thanks for all the cool information on the Jack in the Pulpit. I just went to the same park today and found more of the stuff. The leaves were a bit chewed up and old, but I got some good pictures.
ReplyDeleteThere are about 5 different plants up here that have red berries like that....some are Mountain Ash berries, some are wintergreen..there are several plants that seed themselves with red berries, so I am not sure!
ReplyDeleteThe Retired One - I found out these are definitely Jack In The Pulpit. I'll be doing a very informative post about them, complete with lots of pictures, very soon.
ReplyDeleteI have seen plants exactly like these in the forest near where I live, and I was curious of what they could be, but too afraid that they might be poisonous to touch them. The ones I saw were growing on stalks too, but I found a few growing on dead bark on the ground. So, could they be a some kind of fungus? Very weird :)
ReplyDeleteSavannah - I have since identified these strange plants. They are called Jack-In-The-Pulpit. I'm going to try to write a full post about them very soon with every bit of information that I can find. They are a strange plant and not a fungus. I have even more and better photos of them coming with the story, so stay tuned!
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