Friday, April 18, 2008

Middle of April in Southern Indiana...


...is red bud time. The picture was taken as I was leaving the golf course tonight, the tree, and another one as well, growing right there on the bank between the parking lot and the highway. Also known in some parts as the spicewood tree. From the link:
In some parts of southern Appalachia, green twigs from the Eastern redbud were once used as seasoning for wild game such as venison and opossum. Because of this, in these mountain areas the Eastern redbud was, and in a few locales still is, known as the spicewood tree.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hard to imagine that anyone could make possum taste good! I remember redbud trees for another reason. Back when I was going to a Catholic grade school in Boise, Idaho, the nuns used to pray that the redbud trees would bloom in time for the May Day procession. If they did, the girls would each get a spray of blossoms to carry. Big deal back then.

michael bird said...

Interesting - so Spring arrived a couple of weeks later out there in the west. All that mountain air and cold water from the snow melt.