mmkatchatag's Journal

While I was out for a walk today at the Shrine out the road here in Juneau, I was walking back to my car and I was stopped by this little guy. I saw it move at the last second as I was about to step on it but I am so glad I didn’t. It is always exciting to see fuzzy caterpillars so I decided to do this week's iNaturalist on it. This specific one is a Spotted Tussock Moth caterpillar. Its scientific name is Lophocampa maculata. I didn’t find a Lingit name for it. Most of the articles I have read so far don’t mention that they are also found here in Alaska which is kind of interesting, I feel like I see these every once and awhile. However, I found that their distribution depends on their host trees and where they are located (Walther). I thought that was interesting but it also makes sense. They are polymorphic, which means they have many color variations (Walther). They have a one year lifespan and one generation per year which makes them univoltine (Walther). The adult moths are active between May and July while the caterpillars are active between July and September (Walther). However in this case they are active between July and October. I tried to see if there might be any uses for them in humans but I didn’t find anything. There is also little known about their ecological purpose besides the fact that they are prey to other animals like birds, bats, and arthropods (Walther).

Works Cited:
Walther, Claire. “Lophocampa Maculata.” Animal Diversity Web, 2022, animaldiversity.org/accounts/Lophocampa_maculata/.

Today while I was out on a walk on the beach at Auke Rec, here in Juneau, I came across this plant in the land. What intrigued me was that it looked like it was rooted into the sand. I have always seen these plants on the beach but never really thought to look them up or anything so I decided to do this week's post on it. After looking at the many suggested plants while I was making the observation, I am pretty sure it is the sea sandwort. Its scientific name is Honckenya peploides (Edible Wild Food). I am sure there are indigenous names for this plant but I couldn’t find any. Just from their name, you can easily guess that their habitats are on the beach along the coast. They are found all along the coasts of northern North America and the United Kingdom (Edible Wild Food).

While I was observing them on the beach, I was wondering if they were edible because there is another succulent here in the southeast that is edible, beach asparagus, so I guess they were edible. My guess was right. Their young roots and seeds can be eaten raw or cooked (Edible Wild Food). Their roots are high in Vitamin A and C (Edible Wild Food). They can also be used in salads, as a garnish, and in dressings (Laursen). Their seeds can be used as a garnish as well (Edible Wild Food). I also read that their taste is similar to a cucumber and is briny and mildly bitter (Laursen). I think I might consider harvesting these plants.

Works Cited:

Laursen, Thomas. “Sea Sandwort.” VILD MAD, vildmad.dk/en/recipes/strandarve-tzatziki. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.
“Sea Sandworthonckenya Peploides.” EdibleWildFood, www.ediblewildfood.com/sea-sandwort.aspx. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.

While I was walking at Lena Beach in Juneau, I decided to do this week’s iNaturalist on these small invertebrates. The Lingit name for barnacles is s’ook (Edwards, pg. 214). I am not too sure which species of barnacle they are but I am pretty sure it is the Pacific Acorn Barnacle, Balanus glandula. It never really crossed my mind that there were different species of barnacles until making this observation when I had to choose one of the suggested names.

S’ook are sessile invertebrates that live in the upper half of the intertidal zone (Cowles). As a juvenile they are a nonfeeding cypris with 6 legs and then they attach themselves to substrate and metamorphosize into their sessile adult form (Cowles). It takes them two years to reach adult size and can live up to 10 years (Cowles). This was really interesting to me, I didn’t think they couldn’t live that long because of how small they are. They can be found all along the coasts from the Aleutian Islands down to Baja California (Cowles). The moveable plates at the top of the animal are the terga and scuta that protect the animal (Cowles).
I hadn’t heard of anyone harvesting barnacles so I looked it up to see if people did and I found that there were/ are people who did/ do (it doesn’t say if they still do). In some cultures this animal was a staple while others only ate it when food was scarce (Kuhnlein & Humphries). Some would eat them raw while others would steam or roast them (Kuhnlein and Humphries).

Works Cited:
Cowles, Dave. “Balanus Glandula Darwin, 1854.” Balanus Glandula, 2005, inverts.wallawalla.edu/Arthropoda/Crustacea/Maxillopoda/Cirripedia/Balanus_glandula.html.
Edwards, Keri. Dictionary of Tlingit. Sealaska Heritage Institute, 2009.
Kuhnlein, Harriet V., and Murray M. Humphries. “Traditional Animal Foods of Indigenous Peoples of Northern North America.” Barnacles | Traditional Animal Foods of Indigenous Peoples of Northern North America - Animals - Marine Invertebrates - Crustaceans, traditionalanimalfoods.org/marine-invertebrates/crustaceans/page.aspx?id=6519. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.

While I was out harvesting, I saw a lot of this lichen on the trees and I recently started taking it daily so I decided to do this week’s post about it. It is most commonly known as old man's beard or usnea. Its Lingit name is S’eixwani and its scientific name is Usnea longissima (Delay).

Lichen are pretty cool, interesting organisms. They aren’t considered an animal or a plant because they are a symbiotic relationship of fungi and algae. The algae provides food to the fungi while the fungi provides shelter, water, and minerals to the algae. When they are present, it is an indication of clean air as they are really sensitive to air pollution (Petruzzello). They are found in Western Europe and all along the coast of North America from southern Alaska to Northern California (DeLay). One can find them mostly hanging on coniferous trees and can grow from 6 inches to 20 feet long (Delay). Old Man’s Beard can be found in shaded or open areas that are near a body of water (Delay).

There are a couple different medicinal uses for usnea. I am using it as a tincture but you can also make salve out of it (Baby). I am using it for its antimicrobial properties since it is the flu and cold season. Some of its medicinal properties include fighting against lung infections, urinary tract infections, wounds, cold, sore throats, skin infections, and vaginal infections (Baby). Although it has some really great medicinal uses, it shouldn’t be taken in large amounts as that can cause liver failure (Baby).

Works Cited:
Baby, Dany Paul. “What Are the Health Benefits of Usnea, and Are There Side Effects?” MedicineNet, MedicineNet, 16 Dec. 2022, www.medicinenet.com/what_are_the_health_benefits_of_usnea_side_effects/article.htm.
DeLay, Chantelle . “Bearded Lichen.” Www.fs.usda.gov, www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/usnea_longissima.shtml.
Petruzzello, Melissa . “Beard Lichen | Description, Genus, Major Species, Uses, & Facts | Britannica.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2024, www.britannica.com/science/beard-lichen#ref191820. Accessed 21 Sept. 2024.

Today was a really nice day out and I wanted to get outside so I decided to harvest this beautiful plant. I have only ever known it by its Inupiaq name which is ayuu but it also has a Lingit name which is s’ikshaldeen. I have also heard it be called Hudson Bay tea or Labrador tea. I found it on the path behind housing here in Juneau.

This plant has dark green colored leathery, narrow leaves that tuck under at the edges. It also has dense orangish- brown hairs on the underside of the leaves. During the late spring and early summer, it has clusters of white flowers at the very top of the plant. It also has a very distinct, pleasant scent to it. Ayuu can be found in tundras, muskegs, bogs, peatlands and is an indicator of wet and very acidic soil. It is distributed all across the northern parts of North America and in Greenland.

Ayuu is most popularly known to be used for tea but it also has been used for medicinal purposes. It is packed with Vitamin C so it has been used for anti-inflammatory purposes. As a tea, it can be used to help with healing the inner lining of your gut and it also relaxes your muscles. If used as a tea, it should be taken in small amounts as taking it in large amounts can be harmful. It has also been used to treat colds, pneumonia, diarrhea, arthritis, migraines, and the list goes on and on.

Sites used:
https://plantwatch.naturealberta.ca/choose-your-plants/labrador-tea/index.html
https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/cs_legr.pdf
https://floem.ca/en/blogs/blogue/quels-sont-les-bienfaits-du-the-du-labrador#:~:text=Through%20Time%3A%20The%20Benefits%20of%20Labrador%20Tea&text=Indeed%2C%20he%20was%20attributed%20many,Owen%20%26%20Johns%2C%201999).
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-539/bog-labrador-tea

The organism I observed today is devil's club or s’axt’ in Lingit. Its scientific name is Oplopanax horridus. I went out to Lena Beach here in Juneau and this is one of the first organisms I saw surrounding the pavilion. I also noticed that all the leaves were facing towards the break in the forest above.

Its stem and leaf veins are covered in prickly spines all along them. Devil’s club also has small white leaves in the spring that then turn into bright red berries towards the end of the summer. It can be found in wet and shady forests along the coasts of southern Alaska to central Oregon. It can also be found along the Yukon in Canada, Montana, and Idaho.

Although its prickly spines can cause a lot of skin irritation if in contact with it, it has a lot of human uses. It has antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties. All parts of the plant are used like the bark, wood, roots, berries, etc. Some of the common medicinal uses of devil’s club is arthritis, the flu, sores, postpartum childbirth, diabetes, lice, dandruff, etc. Since it is found in so many areas, the Indigenous peoples of those lands have found so many different uses for it because of its different properties.

Not only does this plant have tons of medicinal properties, but it is also known to be used for spiritual reasons in a lot of Indigenous cultures. It is widely known to be used to purify, cleanse, protect against harmful spirits, and bring good luck. Some people put the stem above the door frames in their houses while others chew fresh bark, or take baths with the bark.

Cites used:
http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/issue62/article2697.html
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=OPHO