Early Morning Sermon

...from Jack.
~Nancy ~ 125/365

    " Arisaema triphyllum
(jack-in-the-pulpit, bog onion, brown dragon, Indian turnip, American wake robin, or wild turnip)
is a herbaceous perennial plant growing from a corm. It is a highly variable species typically growing 30–65 centimeters (12–26 in) in height with three parted leaves and flowers contained in a spadix that is covered by a hood. It is native to eastern North America, occurring in moist woodlands and thickets from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota, and south to southern Florida.
     One account from the Meskwaki Indians states that they would chop the herb's corm and mix it with meat and leave the meat out for their enemies to find. The taste of the oxalate would not be detectable because of the flavored meat, but consuming the meat reportedly caused their enemies pain and death. They also used it to determine the fate of the sick by dropping a seed in a cup of stirred water; If the seed went around four times clockwise, the patient would recover, if it went around less than four times they would not."
  ~~Wikipedia