NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/853309
56 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2017 Lemonweed By Gerry Steinauer, Botanist L ast August, Chris Helzer of The Nature Conservancy and I were on a Sandhills ranch in Garden County conducting rare plant surveys. Traveling on four-wheelers between survey sites on the high prairie hills above Blue Creek, Helzer abruptly hit the brakes, rose from his seat and looked about inquisitively. I pulled up alongside. I need not ask why he stopped; the answer was in the air … an incredibly strong scent of lemons. The source of the citrusy odor was not hard to find, 30 yards upwind a gravelly ravine bottom was thick with the yellow blooms of lemonweed (Pectis angustifolia). Also known as lemonscent, lemon-scented pectis and lemoncillo, the bushy-branched annual is most abundant in the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Nebraska forms the northeastern fringe of its range. Here, the late summer bloomer is found in five southwestern counties. Preferring dry, nutrient-poor soils, it is most abundant on dry sand and gravel bars in the North and South Platte River valleys. Over the last century, lemonweed also has been collected several times in Cherry County and once, in 1908, far to the northeast in Knox County, where it has not been seen again. The plant's lemon scent does not emanate from the yellow aster-like flowers, but from golden-translucent oil glands embedded in the leaves and green flower bracts. The fragrant oils are primarily composed of citral, a mixture of terpenoids, which also occurs in lemons, limes, oranges and other plants. Native Americans used the young leaves of lemonweed to flavor foods, such as stews, and the women used the crushed leaves as a perfume. Settlers made a tea of the leaves with one author claiming it made "one of the best wild teas in west Texas." In Brazil, a drink made from the leaves of the closely related lemongrass (P. brevipedunculata) is a folk remedy for stress, anxiety and insomnia. Giving possible credence to this cure, scientists have found that oral application of the plant's citral-rich oils increases sleeping time in mice. In plants, the oils function as anti-bacterial and anti- fungal agents, and they are now included in food preservatives and medicines to control parasites and fungal and bacterial infections in humans. They are also added as aroma compounds to perfumes, shampoos and soaps. ■ PHOTO ABOVE AND OPPOSITE BY CHRIS HELZER This strong-scented native annual grows in seven Nebraska counties. In Brazil, a drink made from the leaves of lemongrass (Pectis brevipedunculata), closely related to lemonweed, is a folk remedy for stress, anxiety and insomnia. N ebraska's first collections of lemonweed were made by the Swiss-born, University of Nebraska-educated botanist Per Axel Rydberg, while on a botanical expedition in western Nebraska. On June 12, 1891, Rydberg and his assistant Julius Flodman rode a train from Lincoln to Perkins County. From there, they traveled by wagon, covering up to 20 to 25 miles a day, up the Lodgepole Creek Valley, then northward through the Wildcat Hills, returning in August down the North Platte River. By day, they collected and pressed nearly 480 species of plants, many of which were new records for the state. Most nights they camped beneath the stars in the still only partially settled, prairie landscape. One late August morning, the 31-year-old Rydberg picketed his horse above a sand-draw that led down to the South Platte River valley. As he descended the draw to collect lemonweed and other plants, one wonders if he encountered a strong citrusy odor as well. ■ Early Lemonweed Collections Rydberg