Ellison to lecture on ‘spring greens’
Award winning naturalist and writer George Ellison will present a lecture titled “Edible, Utilitarian, and Religio-Medical Plants Used by the Cherokees” at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.
The lecture will consider the origins of Cherokee plant lore and the extent to which the early white settlers in the Blue Ridge learned practical usage from them. Emphasis will be placed on ginseng, river cane, buckeye and devil’s-shoestring, green-headed coneflower (and other spring greens); plant dyes, and plants evoked in the songs and chants for religious and medicinal purposes. After the lecture, Ellison and his wife, Elizabeth, will sign copies of their books, which include Mountain Passages, Blue Ridge Nature Journal, and Permanent Camp.
George Ellison writes the “Nature Journal” column for the Asheville Citizen-Times, the “Botanical Excursions” column for Chinquapin: The Newsletter of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society, and the “Back Then” column for The Smoky Mountain News. He is the 2012 winner of Wild South’s Roosevelt-Ashe Conservation Award for Outstanding Journalist in Conservation.
Each year, Ellison conducts regional workshops on natural and human history.
828.369.1902 or www.sapsncga.blogspot.com.
