Bogbean AKA Buckbean (menyanthes trifoliata) is native to Ontario and found in wet, boggy habitats. It’s used for brewing and medicinally. Bogbean is closely related to gentian and it shows. Called buckbean in Haliburton Flora, bogbean (menyanthes trifoliata) is uncommon here. It likes sphagnum mats in bogs and shallow, boggy edges of small lakes, and …
In Ojibwe, kinozhaeguhnsh meaning “pike’s plant“, pickerelweed is another edible aquatic plant in Ontario. Many will notice its lush purple blooms covering the shorelines in our area in the summertime. The bees notice too! Pickerel-weed (pontederia cordata) is a common sight around Haliburton in shallow water, usually in large dense colonies. When flowering it’s a sea …
In Anishinaabemowin, kandamo, variegated pond-lily is not just an edible and medicinal plant to the 2-leggeds, but a favourite of aquatic wildlife. It’s also visited by many pollinators. Variegated or yellow water-lily (nuphar variegata) is common here in gently flowering shallow waters, up to a few metres deep. There was one small yellow water lily (nuphar …
One of the central Anishinaabemowin names for white water lily is odite’abug wabi’gwun. White water-lily is one of our stand out edible and medicinal aquatic plants. The flower itself is widely recognizable: a lotus. Around Haliburton we have white water-lily (nymphaea odorata) and the yellow ones you spot should be variegated (nymphaea varigeta). In Haliburton …
In Chippewa, apuk’we, perhaps meaning “shelter” (muskrat is supporting me on this idea), common cat-tail is the multi-tool of the woods. Its uses reach far beyond the edible and medicinal. Sometimes cat-tails are mistakenly called bulrush, but that’s a separate species entirely here, yet they seem to use these terms interchangeably in Great Britain. There …