Red Clover – Trifolium Pratense: Edible & Medicinal Uses of the Honey of Wild Plants

Red clover - Trifolium pratense

In Ojibwe, nisoobag+oon ezhi-wadong+in, red clover is honeylicious and this edible and medicinal plant is not just for honey bees! My favorite folk name for red clover is honey/honey-stalks, but it isn’t just honey bees that like this honey. Mammals like the opossum, snowshoe hare, eastern chipmunk, raccoon, striped skunk, and white-tailed deer are buzzing …

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Jewelweed – Impatiens Capensis: Edible & Medicinal Uses of the Snappiest Wild Plant

Jewelweed - Impatiens capensis

In Ojibwe, omakakiibag sometimes refers to Jewelweed, the snappiest edible and medicinal herb.  It’s handy to have around if you like clumsily rooting through wild plants like me, and end up grazing yourself with stinging nettle or worse – poison ivy. Jewelweed is so named because of the way the dew beads on it. Sometimes …

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Common Mullein – Verbascum Thapsus: Edible & Medicinal Uses of the Coziest Wild Plant

Common mullein - Verbascum thapsus

In Anishinaabemowin, mullein is sometimes called Waabooyaanibag (blanket leaf). Its uses are blanketly more medicinal than edible. But you can eat the delicate yellow flowers too! Mullein’s folk names include but are not limited to flannel leaf (leaves stuffed in shoes for warmth), tinder plant/torches/torch-wort, candlewick (dried stems used to be dipped in wax to …

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