Tuesday, June 04, 2013

ABC Wednesday

And the letter this week is U.

Believe me, sticking to my theme of flowers I had an Unusually hard time finding a Unique representation of the letter U in plantland.  Well, that's not quite true, the plants I found whose names begin with U were really all quite Unique, - not your usual common  garden variety that you would find in these parts......

I chose to make you acquainted with the Unicorn plant, in case you have not already met.

The Unicorn plant is also known as Devil's Claw and Martynia.
 
 
It is an upright annual herb whose preferred habitat is rich woods, slopes and moist meadows.
 
Heart shaped leaves, up to six inches wide, with large, stout stalks.
 
Flower petals are united into one bell-shaped structure, no more than three inches long and with a crooked stalk that droops laterally.  The flowers are in variable colors but usually pale to dark lavender with a yellow streak arising from the throat.
 
The fruit is edible, being similar to okra with a long beak that extends four to six inches beyond the tip, and drying into a black capsule.
 
 
The curved claw of the fruit splits open when dry, forming two hooks that catch in the fur or ears of livestock, thus the name 'Devil's Claw"
 
 
 
The plant is a medicinal herb and is used in treating health disorders like fibrositis, arthritis, rheumatism, neuralgia, gall bladder disorders, pancreas infections, muscular inflammation and other skin infections.
 
It is also used for curing pain during labour and after childbirth, and externally for treating swollen joints, sores, skin ulcers, arthritic joints and a few other skin infections.
 
Perhaps you know the Unicorn Plant in this form.....
 
All this information I obtained from Sir Google!!!
 
For more interesting tidbits about the letter U visit here, at ABC Wednesday,
with thanks to all who keep this great meme operating.
 





16 comments:

photowannabe said...

Interesting medicinal uses for the Claw.
I really like this series of flowers through the alphabet.

Roger Owen Green said...

nice assortment of UNUSUAL plants
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Reader Wil said...

Hi Hildred, every week we learn something new from you. This beautiful plant is very useful. You know so much about plants. I wish you a great week.
Wil, ABCW Team.

Leslie: said...

For all its benefits, it is unusually pretty!

Leslie
abcw team

Jannibele said...

Thanks for interesting information about unusualt plants that I've never heard of before:)

Nonnie said...

I had heard of Devil's Claw through a relative who touted the helpfulness of it. But thanks to you I now know its other name and how pretty it is.

Unknown said...

This was so interesting! I don't think I want a devil's claw falling on my ear though. That looked a little scary!

Jama said...

Very unusual name!

Carver said...

Great information and a good idea for U.

Lea said...

How interesting!
Have a great day!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie

uberrhund said...

What an interesting post for letter "U"! I knew about some of the uses on Devil's Claw were but I have never seen it in flower or the other stages of growth.

Cindi said...

Fascinating!!! Love it!

LONDONLULU said...

How wonderful to learn about this plant. It looks as pretty as it is useful!

Richard Lawry said...

I didn't know there was a unicorn plant. My post was about unicorns.
An Arkies Musings

The Weaver of Grass said...

You learn something new every day on Blogs Hildred. I had indeed heard of Devil's Claw as a remedy for arthritis (which I have in abundance) but had no idea it was called the Unicorn Plant. So thank you for the piece of information.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Ahhh! I knew I'd heard the term Devil's Claw but the plant was completely unfamiliar. (I used to do some herbal stuff, not any more though.) It's actually quite a pretty flower and I like the "U" name better, because who doesn't want to see a unicorn.