Ocrea/Ochrea

Be still and know that I am God.

Ask God to make time with you. Time is life how you invest your life is time. Make time for what is important.

What is Ochrea? It’s the paper thin parchment that wraps around emerging rhubarb buds. These photographs of mine focus on this slow unwrapping change with time.

Rhubarb bolting or flowering is often seen in spring due to heat, drought or old age. Their life span is often 10-20 years. Some plants have been known to thrive for over 25 years. This one is close to 20 years old.

The name rhubarb is derived from Latin rheubarbarum and Greek rha barbaron. The name is from these two: Rha the ancient name for the Volga River where it was traded and barbarum foreign/ barbarian. The edible plant, Rheamxhybridum, is a medicinal root crop originating from Asia, and valued in Europe for 5,000 years.

The meaning of its name is barbarian plant.

My Dads Bill and Brian always cut these off as soon as they appeared. All good gardeners do this, as the flower takes strength from the plant. A plant that can grow so fast that some say you can hear it grow; snap, crackle and pop! The leaves and flower are so full of oxalic acid that they are poisonous while the stems are great in a pie or crumble.

The flower head is a panicle- a branched cluster of hundreds of small flowers. Each small flower has 6 tepals ( sepals and petals are industinguishable), 9 stamens,and 3 styles.

The plant requires very little care but dividing crowded plants and feeding them with compost in early spring keeps them productive. They are a hardy perennial that needs cold winters. There a UK gardening saying: ‘ never pick rhubarb if there isn’t an ‘r’ in the month.’

The ochre is splitting and changing continually, as our new spring day in the sun progresses. I hope your day is good and here is a joke:

‘ My to-do list is on parchment. It makes procrastinating feel like a historic act.’

Sandy 🙂