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Enchanted Rock
Made of pink granite, Enchanted Rock is a mountain situated about a half-hour south of Llano, Texas. The state's 2017 Best Campsite, Enchanted Rock is famous for more than an abundance of hiking opportunities: local Indigenous Nations have long attributed magical and spiritual qualities to the area, resulting in its name. The site is home to archaeological finds dating back over ten thousand years, and is designated as a prime bird-watching destination. It is also the largest pink granite monadnock in the U.S., leading to the next article:
Monadnock
Also known as an Inselberg, this is the geological formation of "an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping plain". The African word for this is koppie, and it can also be called a bornhardt (if composed of granite). Typically formed from erosion-resistant bodies of rock, these mountains spring from a relatively flat surrounding area. The term monadnock is exclusively Native American in nature, derived from the Abenaki language from the words for smooth and isolated mountain. Onward!
Abenaki
The Abenaki are a Quebec/New England-situated First Nation, one of the five participating Wabanaki Confederacy nations. The region they historically inhabited they called Wabanahkik, or Dawn Land. English settlement in the late 1600s forced many of the Native Peoples to migrate northward to Canada, where many became allies of France in the Anglo-French wars. Contrarily, Nescambuit, a Maliseet war chief, was eventually knighted for his contributions to the fight against France. The Abenaki are also associated with the ethnobotany of sniffing the leaves of Ranunculus acris to improve headaches.
Ranunculus acris (Common buttercup)
Found in Europe and Eurasia, the Common/Meadow/Tall/Giant buttercup is a bright, recognizable flower which presents many problematic costs for the New Zealand dairy industry with its developing resistance to herbicides. In Native American culture this plant has many uses, from a poultice for abscesses (Cherokee) to a root infusion for diarrhea. Though originally from Alaska/Greenland, the plant has been frequently introduced as a non-native weed and now can be found around the globe.
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| Image Info: An illustration of Ranunculus acris, the Common Buttercup Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranunculus_acris |
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