Fragrant rocks ~ Ambergris

What are the benefits of just looking around for stuff and being curious about what the random chunk of something might be?  Well, from the news this week....

Pictured here is a young boy with a big rock he found in the beach in England. But what an odd rock it is... In fact, it isn't even a rock at all. After having consulted around ti turns out this kid found a 6 or 7 pound chunk of Ambergris, according to ABC News.

Unless you a an connoisseur of very high end perfume, likely you have never used this stuff.  After all, what else would a waxy intestinal secretion from the gut of a sperm whale in response to indigestion from eating giant squid (the squid's "beak" with chomps food seem to be the gut irritant).  Yes, that's right, ambergris is basically whale poo. Poo that floats in the ocean for years and then comes to shore.

Why is it so fragrant?  Who is to say, but it sure is expensive, almost as expensive as gold by weight. Happen to have some lying around? You might want to sell it here. This nice essay from Natural history magazine discusses the "floating gold" as it has been called. Among other things such as its physical characteristics and supposed uses and, it discusses the fact that for a long time no one actually knew of the materials origin, though certainly they speculated as in this passage froma British book in 1691:

"It is a marine Sulphur, found at the Sea-shore, chiefly in the Indies, which breaks from Fountains and Caverns of the Sea. It is gray, sweet and smooth; pricked with a needle it sweats out fatness, softens in the heat, and when moist appears black.... It is hot and dry, an excellent Corroborative; it is discutient, resolutive, alexipharmic, and analeptic; it strengthens the heart and brain, revives and recreates the spirits natural, vital, and animal. Its sweet Sulphur is an excellent Perfume; it is a good preservative against the Plague, and preserves the Spirits from infection."

You might have come across this fascinating material if you are a Matthew Barney fan - it is just the kind of material he'd be interested in, right?  In Drawing Restraint 9 some whalers find a HUGE piece of it:

 


Björk, who 'stars' in the film, also does the soundtrack, which includes"Ambergris March." Let's take a listen:

 

This, my friends, is natural history.

AY

Observation 1 (AY)

I came across the dried branches of a strange plant, its crown full of seeds, in the northside backyard of my friends' house.   Another friend with me, a landscape architecture student, didn't know what it was any better than I did. But having agreed to propose some updates for this particular yard, she did some research (and then so did I).

The result? Apparently "Cow Parsnip" (Heracleum maximum).  It is a big plant, the seeds are easy to fall off and light, like some paper rattle toy. It had made quite a home in this backyard, and it seemed kind of weedy.  The Eloise Butler Garden in Minnesota, which has some of this growing on its grounds, quotes the writing of Butler on this plant:

"A plea is offered for the next season: O scytheman, spare this weed! It is harmless, and does its best to make glad the waste places. It is named for the god Hercules on account of its massive bulk."

Hercules! What a namesake.  

The website also discusses the uses of the plant by Native American tribes in various medicinal preparations!  That said, as pretty and potentially useful as they are "harmless" isn't quite accurate by many accounts of contemporary folk: 

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) notes that the plant is poisonous to most pets if ingested, and that contact with the skin can cause "ulcerative and exudative dermatitis."  Yikes! Doesn't sound good. Apparently  humans also don't have the warmest feeling about Cow Parsnip, indeed the feelings seems down right "itchy" as runners in Alaska try to avoid brushing up against this plant of the roadsides they run along.   

The only native North American of the parsley family, I wonder how it got its name? Perhaps cows eat them as if they were parsnips?  It looks like true parsnips are in fact in the same taxonomic Family (Apiaceae) as this plant.  

With all these seeds I may try to grow some for next spring - what insects do they attract with their tiny white flowers?


AY