Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) is not listed in Haliburton Flora, as it’s another southern Ontario native. And even there it is rare. The tree has rather nefarious looking clusters of large thorns. And memorable large, brown boomerang shaped seed pods. Where I grew up, quite a ways south of Ontario, honey locust had filled a …
Red elderberry or red-berried elder (Sambucus racemosa) is not as edible and medicinal or renown as its relative common elderberry is. But it wins in another area. It’s a wildlife favourite. As soon as the berries are ready, birds flock to this shrub and clear them out quickly. Its early blooms attract pollinators too. And …
In our previous post, we covered tree lungwort, a lichen. Today’s lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis) is an herb related to borage. Often in my herbal book collection, one will always be mentioned in the others entry. Perhaps they get confused? While the namesake lichen is native, the herb lungwort is introduced to Ontario. The species is …
If you spend any time in public parks and woodlands you may be familiar with the notorious garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). While there are numerous nonnative plants in Ontario that are spreading into wild spaces, plants like garlic mustard, creeping jenny, dog strangling vine, “bamboo” that’s actually Japanese knotweed, and Lily-of-the-valley are some of the …
In Ontario, black walnut (Juglans nigra) and butternut AKA white walnut (Juglans cinerea) are our native walnut species. Around Haliburton we’re barely in range, with only a few black walnuts and butternuts noted on iNaturalist. Both species are more abundant to the south. There are a few nonnative Juglan species around Ontario too. As a …
It may surprise folks that basic kitchen herbs and spices have any medicinal value. Thyme (Thymus spp.) is actually a powerful medicinal herb for respiratory issues and more. Wild thymes (Thymus spp.) have one species noted in Haliburton Flora: mother of thyme (T. praecox). The few specimens were found on an open hillside and in …