A Walk in the Cretaceous

It was beautiful here today, with blue sky traced by a few wispy clouds and temperatures in the mid-70s. We went for a walk and saw some tiny dark purple-black berries I hadn't noticed before. Perhaps one of you knows what they are.


And we saw what looked like figs, which I also don't think I have seen before. I would have thought our winters to be too cold for the plants. Figs apparently have been dated to the cretaceous era.


And finally, also from the cretaceous, some roaming front-yard velociraptors.

It was beautiful here today, with blue sky traced by a few wispy clouds and temperatures in the mid-70s. We went for a walk and saw some tiny dark purple-black berries I hadn't noticed before. Perhaps one of you knows what they are.


And we saw what looked like figs, which I also don't think I have seen before. I would have thought our winters to be too cold for the plants. Figs apparently have been dated to the cretaceous era.


And finally, also from the cretaceous, some roaming front-yard velociraptors.

Purples are elder berries

Elderberry jelly is my all time favorite. Absolutely delicious.

Purples are elder berries

Interesting. They do look like elderberries, but someone else told me they look like pokeweed, and Googling that produces images that also look quite a bit like what I saw.

Here’s a link that'll help clear up the mystery.  Elderberry has a toothed leaf and the fruit hangs in clusters.  Sure wouldn’t want Poke and Elder confused as Poke is toxic.  

https://herbs.motherearthliving.com/elde...ification/

Here’s a link that spends some time talking about the uses of each and with your scientific and medical background I’m guessing you will find it interesting.

Here’s a link that'll help clear up the mystery.  Elderberry has a toothed leaf and the fruit hangs in clusters.  Sure wouldn’t want Poke and Elder confused as Poke is toxic.  

https://herbs.motherearthliving.com/elde...ification/

Here’s a link that spends some time talking about the uses of each and with your scientific and medical background I’m guessing you will find it interesting.

Thank you.

We have those figs up here near the Canadian border too. I also thought that was strange when I first saw them, but there are a lot of varieties of figs and I would not be surprised if there were species that lived in relatively cold climates. Not that the PNW is that extreme, of course.