Day in the life of a plant detective

It’s a perfect day for a paddle down the river. The adventure potential is good, since the water level is low and there’s a chance of getting snagged upon—or swept beneath—a fallen tree. My mission is to find the once-common Glycyrrhiza lepidota, our native Licorice Root, which is purported to enjoy lounging on river bottoms and stream banks. Sadly, these areas have become suffocated by tangles of exotic, invasive weeds.

It’s my second year of tracking the elusive legume, having scoured other locales by foot, car, and canoe. But we hadn’t yet explored this stretch of the river. I had studied my plant books to imprint the search image: a plant in the pea family, up to four feet tall, lance-shaped leaflets, with a whitish flower spike. Could be confused with a vetch, of which our region has several species.

Distractions abound. “Lewis’s Woodpecker, 2 o’clock!” A rare sighting, indeed. So many birds: kingfisher, golden eagle, red-winged blackbird, killdeer, great blue heron, cedar waxwing, violet-green swallow. “Look at mama duck and all her little ones!”

“One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine—good grief—ten duckings!” My partner exclaims.

“Whoa! What’s that???” Not a bird. Flower. Purple, but not the lupines we’ve been seeing…something different. "We have to pull over!” I shout.

“Paddle left. Paddle HARD left. Good, tie her up.” He directs.

Tromp, tromp, tromping through the weeds. “Hmmm…look at that backwards-drooping inflorescence…definitely a borage of some kind…probably not native, though. Damn, forgot the camera. Too few plants to grab a sample. I'll take a mental picture and look it up later. Back to the mission!"

Paddle, paddle, paddle. Sunshine’s getting hot. What’s that!? Just young willows…their tops looked like white flowers for a second. Getting hungry. “Lunch spot…on that log in the shade!” I suggest.

“Back paddle left…I said BACK paddle! Tie her up there.” He says.

Mmmm…yummy…homemade sourdough bread, garden salad, and berries from the garden, too. Good fuel for this "exhausting" day of paddling, wading through weeds, squinting in the sun, and scrutinizing tangles of streamside veg.

“Let’s walk around here a bit.” I suggest. More invasive tansy, thistle, and knapweed…yuk. Oooohh, neat rock, and cool piece of water-worn root. Gotta bring these home for my landscaping project. “Looooooook! A little froggy!!!” Boing, boing, boing…springy little critter. No licorice here.

Back on the river. Sun is intense. Sweating. Nearing the take-out point. “Mama and fawn at 10 o’clock! Awww…little fishies. Ooooh…BIG fishies.” Oops, pay attention…

“Paddle left. NO, your OTHER left! Forget, it, we’re going OVER that log!” Thunk. “Nice job, we’re stuck. Push us off, would you? Without tipping us over.” He suggests.

Scooch, squeech, squish. Slimy, slippery log. Whoa, whoa, whoosh! Made it.

Cruising merrily down the stream again... “What’s that white flower?! Can we stop?!” I shout.

“What, where? All the way back there?! O.K., we’re backpaddling. More, more, more…o.k., right paddle…good! Use that root for a tiedown. Now, where was that, exactly?”

“Upstream about 100 yards.” Tromp, tromping. Weeds slapping on knees.

“This it?” He asks.

“Nope, that’s one of those darned vetches. Over here! Here it is! It’s the licorice…I’m sure of it! Look at those pointy leaflets! But let’s see…” I pull upwards on one of the plants. It snaps off just below the root crown. I gnaw enthusiastically on the broken root. “It’s got a sweet licorice-y taste! To be 100% sure, though, we’ll take back this sample and I’ll key it out (identify it).”

At my home botany lab, I grab the hand lens and detailed plant key with illustrations. My specimen is a bit dried out at this point, but we'll make do. Stems...covered with stalked or sessile glands. Well…I’ll be darned, there they are. Yellow brown glands also dot the underside of the 11-19 lance-shaped leaflets. Check! Pale yellow to greenish-white flowers are crowded along the terminal portion of the long, naked stalk arising from the upper leaf axils. Wahoo! That's it, illustration "m" in the book pictured below. Glycyrrhiza lepidota variant glutinosa. Mission complete.

Photo credits: Glycyrrhiza lepidota - Matt Lavin; Lewis's Woodpecker - public domain; others by @InnerLight.