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Decorative Gardens Proposed Plant List

Campus Sign Area:
   Bear grass (Xerophyllum tenax)
       Habit: Perennial herb
       Size: Large herb, 1.5 m tall
       Leaves: Basal leaves grass-like, tough, wiry, evergreen, large clumps
        Flowers: White, tiny, fragrant, showy, pyramidal cluster
       Fruit: Oval 3-lobed capsules to 6 mm long
       Underground Parts: Rhizomatous
       Habitat: Open areas and open to fairly dense forests from near sea level to the subalpine (2:112).
       Uses: Basketry (1:23).
       Procurement: sayuyay

   Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris)
       Habit: Perennial
       Size: 10-15 cm tall
       Leaves: Opposite, relatively few
        Flowers: Purplish to pink (occasionally white), 1-2 cm long, spike-like cluster atop
       Fruit: 4 nutlets
       Underground Parts: Fibrous root
       Habitat: Moist roadsides, clearings, fields, lawns, forest edges; low to middle elevations (2:246).
       Uses: Fresh plant juice is used on boils and bites (1:45).
       Procurement:

   Red columbine (Aquilegia formosa)
       Habit: Perennial
       Size:   Up to 1 m tall
       Leaves: 3 deeply lobed leaflets
       Flowers: red and yellow with reddish spurs, a central tuft of stamens and styles protruding
       Fruit: 5 erect follicles, numerous black wrinkled seeds
       Underground Parts: Taproot
       Habitat: Moist, open to partially shady sites (2:180).
       Uses: The root is scraped to makes a milky pulp that is applied to sores to form a scar (nature's band-aid) (1:30).
       Procurement:

   Red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum)
       Habit: Erect perennial
       Size: 1-3 m tall
       Leaves: Alternate, deciduous
        Flowers: Rose colored, 7-10 mm long, in erect drooping clusters of 10-20 flowers
       Fruit: Blue-black round berries with glandular hairs and a white waxy bloom
       Underground Parts: Fibrous root
       Habitat: Dry open woods, disturbed sites, low to middle elevations (2:84).
       Uses: Berries for food (1:32).
       Procurement: Thurston County Conservation District Plant Sale

   Sweet cicely (Osmorhiza chilensis)
       Habit: Perennial
       Size: 30-100 cm tall
       Leaves: Twice divided into 3’s, 9 leaflets coarsely toothed
      Flowers: Greenish-white, inconspicuous
       Fruit: Black, needle-like, 12-22 cm long
       Underground Parts: Taproot
       Habitat: Open forests, forest edges, thickets, glades; low to mid elevations
           (2:217).
       Uses: Chewing the root as a very powerful love charm (1:41).
       Procurement:

Building Entrance Area:
   Redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana)
       Habit: Perennial
       Size: 5-15 cm tall
       Leaves: Numerous, compound, clover-like
        Flowers:   White to pale-pinkish, 12-20 mm long
       Fruit: Capsules, football-shaped, 5 chambered, 7-9 mm long
       Underground Parts: Rhizomatous
       Habitat: Moist, forested sites at low to middle elevations (2:315).
       Uses: Leaves for food, fresh juice from the plant can be applied to sore eyes, and wilted leaves can be put on boils to draw them (1:39).
       Procurement:

   Golden-eyed-grass (Sisyrinchium californicum)
       Habit:
       Size: 40 cm tall
       Leaves: Mostly basal, long (up to 30 cm) and narrow (5 mm), clumped
        Flowers: Yellow with purplish-brown veins, short stalked, 6 tepals
       Fruit: Egg shaped capsules to 12 mm long, with black, pitted seeds
       Underground Parts:
       Habitat: Moist to wet areas (2:115).
       Uses: None found
       Procurement:

   Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris)
       Habit: Perennial
       Size: 10-15 cm tall
       Leaves: Opposite, relatively few
        Flowers: Purplish to pink (occasionally white), 1-2 cm long, spike-like cluster atop
       Fruit: 4 nutlets
       Underground Parts: Fibrous root
       Habitat: Moist roadsides, clearings, fields, lawns, forest edges; low to                middle elevations (2:246).
       Uses: Fresh plant juice is used on boils and bites (1:45).
       Procurement:

Common sweet grass (Hierochloe odorata)
       Habit: Erect perennial
       Size: 30-60 cm tall
       Leaves: Short and broad (8 mm wide)
        Spikelet: Inflorescence, panicle open; lemmas awnless or awned
       Underground Parts: Rhizomatous
       Habitat: Moist-meadows, lake-shores, stream-banks, forest openings, beaches, and tidal marshes
       Uses: Basketry, cleansing and purifying ceremonial incense, flavoring agent (2:369).
       Procurement: sayuyay

   Maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum)
       Habit: Delicate fern
       Size: 15-60 cm tall
       Leaves: Palmately branched; at right angles to the leaf stalk, oblong or fan-shaped
       Sori: Oblong, on the edges
       Underground Parts: Rhizomatous
       Habitat: Shady, humus-rich sites, moist soil, low to middle elevations
            (2:425).
       Uses: Basketry, leaves are used for making hair tonic, chewed leaves are used for sore chest and stomach problems (1:14).
       Procurement: Thurston County Conservation District Plant Sale

Citation:
1. Gunther, Erna. Ethnobotany of Western Washington: The Knowledge and Use of Indigenous Plants by Native Americans. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1973.

2. Mackinnon, Andy, and Jim Pojar. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Vancouver,
British Columbia: Ministry of Forest and Lone Pine Publishing, 1994.

Possible Procurement Sources:

Native Plant Salvage Project
WSU Cooperative Extension
1835 Black Lake Blvd. SW, Suite F
360.704.7785

Names: Allyson Ruppenthal

Proposed Plant Monographs - Winter 2007

Decorative Gardens Proposed Plant List