An explosion of princess pine in Stonington
Within minutes of hitting the trail at the Perry Natural Area in Stonington last week, our group approached a broad swath of princess pine, an evergreen groundcover that resembles a grove of miniature pine trees.
“Look at them all!” Maggie Jones exclaimed, stooping to examine one of the tiny plants. Princess pine, formally known as lycopodium obscurum, is a clubmoss that brings a verdant splash to barren woodlands this time of year.
Princess pine and many other clubmosses have another flaring quality: Their spores ignite so explosively they once were used as flash powder in photography, fireworks, theatre productions, magic acts and chemistry labs. Native Americans also burned them during tribal rituals.
Seeing the plants triggered a memory from my junior high school days, when Mr. Thomas, our science teacher, conducted an experiment that I’m sure would never be allowed in classrooms now.
He filled a cup of lycopodium powder and placed it inside an empty paint can, next to a candle. The cup also was next to a hole drilled in the side of the can, to which a bicycle pump hose had been attached.
Mr. Thomas then lit the candle, carefully placed the lid on the can, stood back as far as the hose stretched, and plunged the pump handle.
Kapow! A column of flames shot up about six feet and blew off the lid, which nearly hit Mr. Thomas in the head. Awesome!
I don’t recall what the experiment was supposed to prove, but I do remember thinking: Where can I get some lycopodium powder?
Don’t ask how, but a couple buddies and I managed to procure a small amount, rigged up a paint can/bicycle pump/candle apparatus, and repeated the experiment in my basement one afternoon when my parents weren’t home.
Kapow! Flames wound up singing the ceiling before we were able to extinguish them, which is exactly why this experiment should never be shown to teenage boys.
Happily, new illumination technologies have replaced lycopodium powder, so the plants no longer are harvested extensively.