NO!
Don't eat the Geranium!
Be careful little Geranium.
Run!
The Geranium flowers leaned as far from the
threatening mouths of the plant as they could,
given the confines of their pot.
Today I was out in the pasture by 8:30.... before breakfast... before it got too hot. I was equipped with clippers (which I lost in the pasture at one point), a big black pot and a sprayer of Round-Up. I was snipping flower heads off the thistles and spraying the plants. We are slowly making headway against the thistle problem in our yard and pasture.
I came across a thistle-like plant, but the flower buds (in picture above) were very different. They had a spiny covering and four or five pointed spines. The buds, all by themselves, looked sinister. They looked like they had gaping jaws.
When I cut the tops of the stem, removing the flower buds, the plant 'bled' tempera paint yellow! The yellow in the picture below is not a flower, it's the sap of the plant! It welled up, just like blood would behave if you were cut. It even ran down the stems. "Little Shop of Horrors" immediately came to mind!
I love the Internet. A search for "thistle plant yellow sap" yielded my answer. I discovered that this is Mexican Prickly Poppy (Argemone mexicans). It is also known as goatweed, Mexican thistle and yellow thistle. The flowers are quite pretty. But, I don't think Ill be cutting a bouquet of them anytime soon!
I agree, the blossoms are very pretty but that's about it.
ReplyDeleteNow that song is stuck in my head!
ReplyDeletePretty isn't good enough- away with it!
ReplyDeleteOh my, some plant you have there! I think you were right about the kind I posted last week, but I can't find the correct plant. And now the fields are full of them. The stem had a strong odor, I think poison.
ReplyDeleteOn another subject, I have started my anti donkey roping campaign today and I linked to your post about the donkey that rescued her friends from the fire and one of Tina's. I hope lots of people will sign the petition. Have a nice Sunday!
Creepy!!!! Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteLana
Yuck...but it makes me wonder...can you use it to dye wool?
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Courtney
That is one snarly looking thistle, but the flower is pretty. I loved Little Shop of Horror; saw the original movie, the theater play, and the remake of the movie. I can hear it now..."Feed Me!"
ReplyDeleteYellow blood! I'd have had to take pix too!
ReplyDeleteHow are the horses doing? What will you do with that empty pasture?
ReplyDeleteCool! I have never seen a plant like that before! :)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing that we're as dry as a bone, but the thistles are thriving?
ReplyDelete