Genus Bar Podcast
LightNews LightNews
banner
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Genus Bar Podcast
@genusbarpod.bsky.social
390 followers 1.7K following 150 posts
Friends who chat about the genera of plants which enhance our lives and ecosystems. Plants first (botany) then associated wildlife, then indigenous uses foraging, growing, and herbalism.
We are here to help promote connection to the more than human world.
Posts Replies Media Videos
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Aromatic asters (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) have two useful names. One for oblong leaves which seem to make geometric shapes of the rosettes. One for the aromatic foliage, like balsam. Here they are with Licorice Goldenrod (Solidago odora) in our native herb garden.

#nativeplants #herbalism
Some Rough-leaved Goldenrod (Solidago rugosa) at the top, then pale lavender-blue Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) flowers, and a spray of anise-scented Licorice Goldenrod (Solidago odora) flowers at the bottom
September 30, 2025 at 1:53 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Happy Vernal Equinox, folks! Virginia Creeper is looking lovely today, at the South Acton Train Station (MA). It's slowly filling in a fence in dense shade. I need to talk to the town about letting me hop that fence and cut some Asiatic Bittersweet and Norway Maple.

#nativeplants #ecoregion59
The train platform, and the fence with the Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) behind the first fence. A fence, with densely growing Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) turning red. Some green Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) as groundcover.
September 22, 2025 at 7:51 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
This little guy was feasting on the Goldenrods (Solidago) sticking out of our Allegheny Blackberry (Rubus allegheniesis) patch. He is a male Monarch (Danaus plexippus): note the thin stripes with the thick spot on his hind wings.

#nativeplants #ecoregion59 #butterflies #lepidoptera #insects
A monarch on a yellow tuft of milkweed flowers, sticking out of a dense layer of Allegheny Blackberry leaves. The spot in the thinner stripes on the rear wing identifies him as a male. A monarch taking flight, with a wing blurred and vanishing at the upper edge where it bends. Under him, there is a yellow tuft of milkweed flowers, sticking out of a dense layer of Allegheny Blackberry leaves. The same monarch on a different yellow tuft of milkweed flowers, sticking out of a layer of Allegheny Blackberry leaves. His hindwing spot is not visible here. Blackberry thorns on the Rubus primocanes are looking fierce.
September 19, 2025 at 8:41 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
It is still summer. On our morning walk, Ezra and I were very cross with this Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) for indicating otherwise. But rather than call her (dioecious -> berries on females only) out I realized that I was wearing a hoodie l, so I couldn't talk.

#nativeplants #ecoregion59
Ripe red winterberry clusters peeking out of between dark green leaves, all over the stems of a leggy wild Ilex verticillata shrub.
September 17, 2025 at 1:22 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Found a little friend eating the parsley this morning. This beautiful Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) caterpillar is my first sighting of the year, despite us growing Lovage, parsley dill, and a native host: Angelica atropurpurea.

#hostplants #lepidoptera #butterflies #insects #bugs
September 16, 2025 at 11:48 AM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Birdwatching from our kitchen: a Goldfinch eating the aphids and a Hummingbird, too sus of me to eat. Our Common Evening Primroses are our bird feeders. They provide seed in October, but are a sturdy buggy perch from August on.

#nativeplants #ecogarden #wildlife #birdwatching #nature #ecoregion59
September 8, 2025 at 1:02 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Announcing the release of our second episode, Genus Rubus, at noon today! What wild diversity with blackberries, raspberries, dewberries and more.
Find us by searching Genus Bar on your podcast app.

#podcast #plantpodcast #newpodcast #nativeplants #ecoregion59 #foraging #grownative #permaculture
Mixed and sorted Northern Dewberries, Black and Red Raspberries (L. and top R.) and a big bowl of Allegheny Blackberries (bottom R.) Rubus hispidus, Swamp Dewberry showing waxy leaves, a bristly cane and late (July) flowers Rubus occidentalis, Black Raspberries, producing in early June, 2025 Me (Eli, L) with a bramble and a blurry restless Ezra (our Ausidoodle director) and Niladri (R) with a bowl of berries and a blackberry mixed drink. We took this right after recording the episode on genus Rubus
September 7, 2025 at 12:41 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Sunchokes, Jerusalem Artichokes, Topinambur, ... Why the European names for this indigenous plant? Samuel de Champlain found the native people of Nauset Harbor in modern day MA growing it. But it's not native to MA? Here are my thoughts.

#nativeplants #wildfood #foodforest #ecologicalgardening
A patch of densely packed Sunchokes (Helianthus tuberosus) bursting with mini yellow sunflowers The same patch of Sunchokes, further away, showing the garden edge and the driveway (a car anyway) behind a wire fence (not visible) A view of our yard, with gardens lining the path and fence, and the big patch of Sunchokes hiding the car.
September 3, 2025 at 1:00 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Hello, who is this, please? I think this wasp was the one who chewed a hole in this Oenothera biennis bud, but I only caught it visiting, not chewing.

#insects #wasps #hymenoptera #mymecologists
September 1, 2025 at 5:20 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Those concentrated soda mixes aren't my style. Syrups, cordial and sour mixes from wild and native fruits are free and fun, healthy and delicious.
Small bottles of a dark elderberry cordial, a golden hemlock mugolio, and a larger bottle of sour apple mix next to a RunDisney cup of red-purple soda. A home-carbonated seltzer bottle in the background.
September 1, 2025 at 2:19 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Feral apples and crabapples, ready to be juiced. We used a juicer, strained it, cooked it down, and mixed it with lemon juice for a canned sour mix that will last through the fall. Large, sweet, crisp feral apples, and tart, tasty large crabapples deserve to have their seeds spread IMO.

#foraging
Large, crisp, green feral apples, cut up on a cutting board, next to a bowl of large, bright red crabapples and a little dish of seeds Mini bottles of apple sour mix and elderberry cordial, a glass with ice and a bottle of seltzer
September 1, 2025 at 12:28 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
We got together for a curry, some mixed drinks, and a fire last night. The curry had pokeweed stems from the freezer, and sumac powder in place of tamarind. Elderberry syrup, hemlock mugolio, and a feral apple, crabapple, and lemon sour mix were main ingredients in the drinks.
Niladri in a lawn chair behind a fire. I was on my way to turn off the light, since it was burning nicely. The paths through the garden have recently been opened up, but you still might brush by some touch-me-nots or mountain mint if you walk down one. The Hibiscus moscheutos is standing tall above the rest, adorned in white flowers. The fire, our doggy director Ezra, and our home, with herbs hanging in the screened porch. The moon is over the house, on the left.
September 1, 2025 at 12:10 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Opening up the path into our yard required harvesting some Blunt Mountain Mint. I plant mint by the path so I can watch a diversity of pollinators visit. This patch which I harvest is the most dense and productive patch of mint, and that's no coincidence.

#grownative #herbalism #nativeplants
Pycnanthemum muticum spilling out over a path. Solidago odora and rugosa on the left. A pile of just-cut Mountain Mint and some scissors A passable path between the mint and Solidago spp. Viola sororia and Fragaria virginiana along the bottom right. Mountain Mint hanging to dry on our covered porch
August 29, 2025 at 3:29 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
You can have your plant and eat it too. Harvesting the little rosette of leaves on top of the stem mid-summer, when few other greens are available, makes them branch out. It seems to massively increase foliage, flower and seed production. Same for Wild Lettuces to a lesser extent.
A Common Evening Primrose whose top was harvested when the plant was about 3' tall, showing extensive branching. If the tops of the branches are harvested it branches from the branches again, but this was only harvested once.
August 27, 2025 at 8:37 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
The roots are great when you let them grow in rich, loose soil. They can be as big as cultivated carrots. But I get far more use from the greens and flowers. Flowers can be dried for tea, used as garnish, snacked on. Greens from the tender tops of stems for stock, saag, chopped small in stir-fries.
August 27, 2025 at 8:26 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Plant blindness is real. When I talk to people around my neighborhood, about how harmful and invasive Burning Bush (BB, Euonymus alatus) is in New England, they usually say theirs doesn't spread. Most also walk in this park, with trails lined by BB.

#nativeplants #invasivespecies #ecoregion59
Burning Bush seedlings, lining the trail Burning Bush seedlings, lining the trail Burning Bush seedlings, lining the trail, behind a fallen tree Burning Bush seedlings, lining the trail
August 22, 2025 at 3:00 AM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Giving thanks to the wild world for the harvest. Sambucus canadensis (Black Elderberry) and Vitus labrusca (Fox Grapes). Feral apples and a few blackberries to end that season.

#nativeplants #ecoregion59 #foraging #wildfood #berries #grapes #wildberries #elderberry
A bowl of elderberries on a wooden stand, with two cymes covered in tiny black berries sitting in separated berries and hanging out into the pale green apples that ring the bowl. Besides thatis a large bowl containing almost two gallons of dark purple-black grapes, with a powdery pale yeast bloom coating many berries. There is a small carton with a few blackberries in front.
August 17, 2025 at 12:57 AM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Apios americana (ground nut) growing wild in the meadows in a Conservation Area, in MA. The northern variety is an escaped native vegetable and it is sterile. It was used extensively by Indigenous peoples and early settlers, then largely forgotten.

#nativeplants #ecoregion59 #wildfood #foraging
Pink, succulent, edible, sterile pea-like flowers and compound leaflets of an Apios americana vine that climbed up some Goldenrod, and pulled it down to the edge of the path.
August 14, 2025 at 2:23 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Some favorite local #Rubus spp. Purple-flowering #Raspberries (R. odoratus) smells lovely and looks like a delicate rose. Swamp #Dewberries (R. hispidus) cover wet ground and Northern #Dewberry (R. flagellaris) dry. R. allegheniesis is the powerhouse #Blackberry.

#nativeplants #berries #ecoregion59
Purple Flowering Raspberries (Rubus odoratus) in a mossy, feen-dappled understory. Leaves are simple (not pinnately compound) with 5 prominent veins, 3 pointed out and 2 back. Swamp Dewberries (Rubus hispidus) with bristly, thin-prickled lianas for stems, creeping around between logs, densely covering the ground with waxy, tripinnately compound leaves. A few flowers standing up above stems are showing off sets of 5 long ovate white petals and dense sprays of stamens. Big, showy white flowers in dense clusters covering Allegheny Blackberries (R. allegheniesis) which lines the open edge of young woods. 5-part leaflets stand out on the bottom of the image, with 3 leaves pointing out, and two going back. Northern Dewberry (Rubus flagellaris) creeping along dry leaf mulch in a pine barren. The duff here is mostly oak leaves. Berries stand on upright stalks above tripinnate leaves with toothy curled leaflets
August 10, 2025 at 5:02 AM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
We recorded our second episode last night! It's on genus Rubus, AKA brambles: Blackberries, Raspberries, Dewberries, and Thimbleberries

#PodcastLife #Podcaster #PodcastingCommunity #Podcasts #PlantPodcast #NativePlants #NativeFlora #Permaculture #GardenForWildlife #Rubus #Blackberry #Raspberry
A bowl of mixed berries (aggregates of drupelets, botanically speaking) of Northern Dewberry (Rubus flagellaris), American Red Raspberries (R. strigosus), and Black Raspberries (R. occidentalis) Two guys kneeling, one with a dog and a Rubus cane, and one with a bowl of blackberries and a Red Raspberry beverage. It's me, Eli (L) with Ezra (the doggie director) and Niladri (R). The bar is visible (R), and there's some recording equipment in the background. Ezra, panting, and our wives (Emily and Amelia) holding the dark red blackberry/sumac/gin beverages we made to accompany this episode. Cheers! Seeds, spread out on a cloth to dry, with a little red raspberry pulp still attached
August 9, 2025 at 12:59 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
The Midas Flies discussed in our first episode have been poking around through the mulch and feeding on Common Milkweed flowers. They mimic spider-hunting wasps, but are harmless. The larvae may help the milkweeds by eating the Red Milkweed Beetle grubs off roots.

#ecologicalgardening #grownative
Two photos of Midas Flies, showing off their wasp-like appearance belief by their google eyes, and the gold stripe on the top of their abdomens.
August 5, 2025 at 11:24 AM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Our first episode, Milkweed, is live! We dive into milkweeds, their wildlife connections, Indigenous uses, foraging, recipes, and how to grow them. Listen now on Spotify, iHeart, Amazon & Apple Podcasts.

#nativeplants #wildlifegardens #pollinatorgardens #ecogardening #podcast #newpodcastalert
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) with two Eastern Bumblebees (Bombus Impatiens) feeding on a drooping umbel Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) opening orange flowers in a low-growing bed of Wild Strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) Red Milkweed Beetles mating on a budding milkweed inflorescence. Oleander Aphids (Aphis nerii) are clustered all over, beneath the umbel. Little swing-top bottles of bright red milkweed shrub, with a Common Milkweed flower in a shot glad in the middle. There is a oval wooden bowl of drying rose petals as a backdrop, and the petals are notable a darker pink than the Milkweed flowers, but significantly less vibrant a color than the shrub
August 4, 2025 at 8:46 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Capitalist hellscape or ecological gem? This is around 3000 Allegheny Ave, in Philly. It is loaded with Shrubby St Johns Wort, Northern Bayberry, and Aronia Berries that are bending to the ground under the weight of their berries. Go pick some!

#nativeplants #urbangardening #ecoscaping #foraging
A view from the road, bordered by pavement (L) a concrete drive (Bottom) and a fence topped in barbed wire (R). The dense scrub of wonderful native plants stretches into the distance. This was no accident. Someone removed the Tree of Hell, Pawlonia, etc, and made sure these native species flourished. Shrubby St Johns Wort (Hypericum prolificum, with pale, powdery foliage and little cluster of seed pods tinted yellow in the foreground, with much taller, shiny green Bayberry (Morella pensylvanica) in the background Clusters of fat Aronia Berries (Aronia melanocarpa) Clusters of bayberries along the stems, under the leaves.
August 1, 2025 at 6:59 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Cherry Springs State Park, in PA, has the largest expanse of purely Clubmosses that I have ever seen. This was one of three superlatives on our incredible hike. I love it when I'm not the only one wanting to stop for pictures of the plants.

#nativeplants #clubmosses #hiking
A giant, observing a tiny forest. My friend Matt is squatting down for a picture on a path through a dense mat of clubmosses A profusion of 3+ species of 4-6 inch tall Clubmosses.
July 31, 2025 at 8:53 PM
genusbarpod.bsky.social
Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typha) is ripe! It's my favorite sumac for making zataar thyme and sumac lemonade. I'm trying 3 methods of processing: berries and water in the food processor for sumac lemonade, and drying whole VS broken-up infructescences.

#foraging #wildfood #nativeplants #ecoregion59
Staghorn Sumac drupes galore! There are 10 fuzzy red infructescences up front on the counter. The infructescences are spikes of tiny red berries (really drupes: single-seeded fleshy fruits), densely clustered on 5” stems tapering from 2-3" thick to a point. To the left of the whole infructescences is a food processor with over a quart of loose red fuzzy drupes. The baking trays in back are covered with broken up clumps of berry with some stem attached. A glass of water stands unaesthetically on the right edge, and my green canvas foraging bag is in the back left.
July 27, 2025 at 1:44 PM