As we Los Angelinos hustle and bustle about our very important lives and get all riled up about “going green” and “saving the planet,” we sometimes forget the simple things, like taking a deep breath and simply connecting with the magic of nature. It’s so easy in our wide-open city, and we don’t even have to drive to the mountains or find a parking space near the beach. Especially this time of year (weed season in L.A.), wild plants are quietly flourishing all around us, nosing their way through cracks and around edges of the pavement to soak up the sunshine, while their roots continue basking in the nourishing earth.
In Stillness Speaks (New World Library), Eckhart Tolle writes:
“Whenever you bring your attention to anything natural, anything that has come into existence without human intervention, you step out of the prison of conceptualized thinking and, to some extent, participate in the state of connectedness with Being in which everything natural still exists.
To bring your attention to a stone, a tree or an animal does not mean to think about it, but simply to perceive it, to hold it in your awareness.
Something of its essence then transmits itself to you. You can sense how still it is, and in doing so the same stillness arises within you. You sense how deeply it rests in Being—completely at one with what it is and where it is. In realizing this, you too come to a place of rest deep within yourself.”
In other words, just taking a brief moment to notice a plant can bring us into the present and open our senses and spirit to the realm of the infinite. Vagrant plants that happen to be growing up through the pavement do us a great service by reminding us of the omnipresence of nature and persistence of wildness.
The traditional and folk uses of plants are wonderful to learn about as well, as they endear us to the plant and hint at the essence that Eckhart Tolle says “transmits itself to you” when you “hold it in your awareness.” Learning about the medicinal and nutritional gifts of the plants around us can remind us of our profound and mutually supportive connections with other members of our ecosystem.
Mallow, or cheeseweed (Malva parviflora). This edible, nutritious type of mallow seems to be everywhere in Los Angeles right now. According to homegrownevolution.com, its leaves are good in salads and can be cooked as greens. In European folk traditions, it was carried to attract love and used in protection and exorcism rituals.
Dandelion. Dandelion leaves are filled with potassium, used in herbal medicine to treat high blood pressure, and can be eaten raw in salads or juiced. The root supports the purifying actions of the liver, gall bladder and kidneys, and is known to be one of the most detoxifying herbs. In some folk traditions, dandelion root tea is said to increase psychic powers.
Nasturtium. Also edible! Nasturtium leaves are high in vitamin C and make a tasty addition to salads. Every part of the plant is believed to have antibiotic properties, and in the Andes, nasturtium has been used for generations to help heal and disinfect wounds.
Grass. Of course grass is no big news to anyone. But living consciously is about coming into the present and 
realizing that even the seemingly mundane is beautiful, powerful and sacred. Grass is great medicine for cats, as gnawing on it helps them to digest and prevent or dislodge hairballs. And according to Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, grass has protective powers, and tying it into a ball with string and suspending it from the front window of your house has been said to protect your home from negativity and intruders.
Clover. There is something definitively mystical about clovers—could it be that we associate them with leprechauns? In Ireland, three-leaf clovers were a traditional symbol of the Holy Trinity in Christianity, and they are said to have originally represented the three-fold nature of the Irish pagan goddess, Brighid. Red clover blossoms are used in herbal medicine as a blood purifier.
Thanks to Dorothy Steinicke for her plant identification prowess. Tess Whitehurst’s website is tesswhitehurst.com and her brand new blog is enchantingtheday.blogspot.com.
