Pictures of Week 4.26.13

Somewhere in North Cascades National Park, summer 2003. It took me about 6 hours by trail and another 3 hours off trail to get to this spot. 

Somewhere else in North Cascades National Park, summer 2003. It took me almost 2 days to walk to this spot, about half of this was off trail. 

Same place as above a little later in the evening. 

Red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa). These are beginning to bloom right now.  Though they are members of the honeysuckle family the flowers smell pretty rank though they are pretty.

Some red elderberries are yellow rather than red. The berries are edible after cooking but should never be eaten raw. Jelly and wine among other things can be made from elderberry. The leaves and bark of this shrub contain cyanide compounds and are poisonous to humans. However, many herbivores including deer and cows love fresh elderberry growth, which has the highest level of toxins in the plant. These herbivores have toxin neutralizing enzymes in their saliva and their livers and other internal organs are designed to filter poisons. This was a very easy concept for me to pick up in wildlife biology class. I had long known the leaves and bark of this plant were poisonous, having been told this at a young age by my parents. Yet for years I had watched deer and cows eat them with no ill effects. When the poison neutralizing adaptations of the herbivore digestive tract were explained to me, it all made perfect sense and a long standing question of mine was answered. 

Red elderberry at the height of the firewood bloom.