Consider these two flowers. The white flowers grow on a plant that is indigenous to Prince of Wales Island and surrounding areas. It is known variously as pushki, Indian celery, and cow parsnip. The purple, on the other hand, is foxglove, which is apparently a stranger in these parts. Some would call it invasive.

I say, however, that if the pushki is any indication, we have nothing to fear from the foxglove. Pushki is, truth be told, a subtly nasty character. Once, many summers ago I joined a mountaineering class through what was then Anchorage Community College. One of our weekend expeditions involved almost a full day of wading through thick stands of this seemingly innocuous plant, with the sun shining down and while wearing shorts. While the perfect storm of these conditions was slow in brewing, within twenty-four hours my poor legs were a study in giant, very painful, purple blisters. The scars remained for several years. (Forty years later, I still feel that I should get even with those two instructors for not warning us, but as they say, revenge is a dish best served cold. Very, very cold. . .)

Where was I? Oh yes, the foxglove, with its purple bells. . . .in earlier days this plant was a direct source of digitalis, a medicine used to treat heart trouble. I’m told that digitalis is now synthesized, so we can leave the pretty flowers in peace. Doctors prescribed digitalis to my mother when she was about my current age, hoping to reverse her congestive heart failure. She balked at taking it, though, because among other things it made everything she tried to eat taste like metal. After she died, I wrote this:

Foxglove

1996

The foxglove grows by the ocean,

Purple and white and lavender.

I hold it in my hands, and I think of my mother.

Foxglove—digitalis—heart medicine.

Can I use these flowers to bring her back?

Maybe if I crush the blossoms

In my hands, stain my fingers,

And carry the mangled mess to her graveside

And grind it into the dirt—

No—the magic only works for the living.

Anyway, I think she would have preferred

To leave them growing, so that

There might be heart medicine for me.