From By the Shores of Silver Lake Along the edge of the slough they picked flaming red tiger lilies, and on higher ground they gathered long branching stems of purple buffalo bean pods.
It’s late summer when Laura and Mary walk near Silver Lake and pick tiger lilies (Lilium lancifolium) and buffalo bean pods (Thermopsis rhombifolia), and it’s buffalo beans that I got to thinking about today.
Buffalo beans (also called false lupine or golden pea) bloom in the spring in South Dakota. They grow here in Montana too, and they’re considered a noxious weed. They have pretty little yellow flowers that look similar to every other pea blossom. I hardly ever see the seed pods; since they’re a weed, you really don’t want them to go to seed. Around here, they’re mowed or pulled if seen in flower. The seed pods are hairy – sometimes really hairy, sometimes sparsely so – and they are curved with a hump in the middle. I suppose that’s where the “buffalo” reference comes from, since buffaloes have humps. Buffalo beans are poisonous to people and animals, so they weren’t given their name because of buffalo grazing on them. Good thing Baby Grace never ate any!
I’ve been to De Smet in the spring, but I never thought to walk around Silver Lake and see if there are any tiger lilies growing there now. And yes, there could have been blossoms as late as October, although usually they bloom much earlier.
