American wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) is often called Eastern tea berry now. It’s edible and medicinal, but you have to mind the amount you use because the oil is toxic if overdosed. Similar to Aspirin, just a tsp of pure wintergreen oil is the equivalent of 21 and a half adult aspirins. American wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) …
Spring-beauty (Claytonia caroliniana) is one of our first spring flowers. It’s a small, striped edible and medicinal ephemeral and one of our first available bee foods. It even has its own specialist bee, the spring beauty miner. You might see non-natives like crocus and coltsfoot bloom first in the spring, before our bees even come out …
Ghost pipes (Monotropa uniflora) are an herb most will mistake for a mushroom. This pale wildflower has forgone photosynthesis and can often be found in the darkest woods. It’s one of the many medicinal plants that should probably be left alone due to being rarer and in this case, especially hard to propagate. There are …
Common junipers (Juniperus communis) “berries” aren’t as sweet as they appear. But common juniper is still an edible and medicinal plant, especially popular in Northern Europe. In Haliburton, Ontario, you’ll find J. communis var. depressa Pursh. It’s been fairly common around here, especially dotting open fields. With our forest taking back the land that was cleared it …
Here in Canada, cannabis (Cannabis sativa) is a legal medicinal and industrial plant. When Haliburton Flora was compiled, there was one Cannabis sativa noted on waste ground up in the northeast corner of Haliburton county. In the Haliburton Flora entry it’s called “marijuana”, but that name is used less and less for its racist origins. …
We’ll cover the edible and medicinal wild mint, peppermint and spearmint in this post. There are other mints I will cover separately: heal-all, catnip, wild bergamot, etc.! Wild mint (Mentha arvensis) and peppermint (Mentha x piperita) are listed in Haliburton Flora, with the native wild aka corn mint being more common. Spearmint, called the mother …