Episode 5: Barberry Anarchy, Mandrakes, Ticks, and how the Feds F'd US

Episode 5: Takes a look at the Berberidaceae family and the genera of this family in New England, Caulophyllum (blue cohosh)  & Podophyllum (Mandrake/Mayapple) and in particular Berberis (Barberry). The federal government around the turn of the century put forward a 30 year program to eradicate the Common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) from the surrounding areas in order to save grain crops from Black Stem Rust. Find out the complications of what they did and how that's effecting us in the 21st century. This episode also discusses the Japanese barberry and it's ecological effects on ticks, and native plants.Support the show