Devil's Claw

One of the uncountable gaps in my botanical experience is Devil's Claw on the hoof. The dried husk of Devil's Claw made my awareness on my very first tramp across the Southern Great Plains, decades ago. The twin barbs by which the plant hooks on to passers-by to spread its seed are strong enough to use for fishing hooks. The first time my grandson (3) discoverd one dug into the spongey sole of his shoe, he screamed hysterically, trying to shake it loose until I came and *rescued* him. Once I showed him what I had rescued him from, an obsession was born. He is almost 5 now and can show you a world of inventive uses for devil's claw husks. A casual internet surf has grown-up versions of his art. It is entirely possible to nurture that obsession for a lifetime. Then we get to its place in the world of herbal medicine. . .

For all my long familiarity with the dried husk, I still havenae ever seen it *on the hoof*, blooming and growing on the vine. The prevalance of the husks here on the ranch is sufficient to make me sure it is growing somewhere, but. . . So many plants and so little brain space. . . I solidly believe humanity never will know all there is to know about plants, not even with the most efficient of data collection systems. Plants are continually reinventing themselves. If we manage a complete compilation today, it will be out-of-date before we can pop open the celebratory champaign. There will always be something new to learn about plants.

The honey barn painting is coming along nicely. The playful colors on the inside are, indeed, reducing the creep factor considerable. If nothing else, the resident wildlife has been served notice and many an insect nest has been hermetically sealed with the latex covering. The route from the back porch to the honey barn takes me past the newly tilled and mostly unplanted garden. The tilling was done too late in the season. It is already too hot for starting most of the traditional garden plants. One of the wild plants which has sprung up in the newly open space appears to be devil's claw. It's still too early for my certainty, but it is matching up with my fledgling attempts to identify it. It's kinda neat that I get to study it without having to go out of my way for the study. It sure is happy there. I imagine it applauding the soil improvements as I wander by.

I've been taking bids for the roof, windows, doors and electricity needed to make it a working honey barn while I have been painting. It looks like I am letting the work here delay my return to the river region indefinitely. Is a metaphorical devil's claw at play here? We see. . . Whatever the evers of those whats, it's feeling pretty good.