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Monitoring Monday – “Eye of newt, and toe of frog…”
Join us Mondays as the Clean Water Team shares information and resources on water quality monitoring. This Monitoring Monday (or should it be Weird Water Wednesday) we will take a look at Shakespear’s famous line “Eye of newt, and toe of frog” and how it may relate to scary things our watersheds.
“Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.”
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These lines from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth are from a scene where witches describe a concoction that consists of “Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog…” Did you know that these terms referred to plants, not actual animal parts? Eye of newt is a pseudonym for mustard seed and toe of frog referred to buttercups. The round mustard seed and a round newt’s eye seems like a reasonable comparison, but if you have not looked at a buttercup’s fat, green, bulbous stem you might not make the connection from it to a frog’s toe. In some places buttercups are referred to as crow’s foot. The witches’ incantation may now seem innocuous but when plants like those, originally from Europe make it into California’s watersheds real harm can be seen.
Native to regions of North Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia, black mustard (Brassica nigra) in California is an invasive winter annual plant that can reach up to 6 feet tall in a single growing season. Like other mustards, black mustard grows profusely and produces allelopathic chemicals that prevent germination of native plants. In disturbed areas such as roadsides, fields, and grasslands this plant forms single-species stands. The spread of black mustard impacts soil microbial assemblages and can also increase the frequency of fires in chaparral and coastal sage scrub, changing these habitats to annual grassland.
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Ranunculus repens, the creeping buttercup, is a low-growing perennial with creeping stolons that's found in rural and urban areas. This flowering plant in the buttercup family is native to Europe, Asia and northwestern Africa. The creeping buttercup's competitive growth crowds out other plants, especially in wet soils. One plant can spread over a 40 square foot area in a year. Creeping buttercup also depletes potassium in the soil which can have a detrimental effect on surrounding native plants. Because creeping buttercup can tolerate heavy, wet soils, it can be a particularly bad problem in wet meadows and poorly drained habitats. Fresh buttercup plants are toxic to grazing animals, who can suffer from salivation, skin irritation, blisters, abdominal distress, inflammation, and diarrhea.
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Non-native species like these are invading California’s watershed, rivers, reservoirs, and lakes. Under the right conditions, these pests can increase dramatically and displace native species, clogging waterways, creating hazardous conditions for navigation and recreation., and increase the frequency of both fire and erosion. Once introduced, many of these non-native invasive species are nearly impossible to eradicate. Controlling these aquatic invasive species is a multi-million-dollar problem.
Learn more about the spooky organisms threatening California’s habitats and biodiversity and how you can help prevent and monitor invasive species:
Aquatic Invasive Species Programs – Division of Boating and Waterways https://dbw.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=28764
California Aquatic Invasive Species https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c21a745b9df54bb18a686140f32b5cc8
California's Invaders - California Department of Fish and Wildlife https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Invasives
California Invasive Plant Pest Council https://www.cal-ipc.org/
California Invasive Species Action Week - June 1 - 9, 2024 https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Invasives/Action-Week
Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health https://www.invasive.org/index.cfm
Center for Invasive Species Research https://cisr.ucr.edu/invasive_species/all
Invasive Plants of California – USFS Region 5 https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r5/forest-grasslandhealth/invasivespecies/?cid=stelprdb5332103
Invasive Species – CalTrout https://caltrout.org/threats/invasive-species
Invasive Species List and Scorecards for California https://cal-invasives.net/home/species.html
Invasive Species List of California https://calinvasives.ucdavis.edu/
National Invasive Species Information Center – California https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/us/california
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Full Play https://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/full.html
Summary https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/shakespeares-plays/macbeth/
Study Guide https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/macbeth/
Shakespeare's Monologues II Macbeth: Witches' Chants "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4-n0C8gmVM
Macbeth (Video) – Performed by McKellen and Dench https://youtu.be/IgEshHhnLqU?si=x8Ack9IG8adhTJh8
The Meanings Behind These (In)Famous Potion Ingredients https://www.dictionary.com/e/witch-ingredients/
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