New Jersey teas close relation to prairie redroot. Both have red roots and thus redroot as a folk name. They also have the same uses and host the same caterpillars. This edible and medicinal plant will certainly end up in our pollinator series for the Wood Folk Diaries! (Here is the link to that diary!) … [Read more…]
In Ontario, you’ll find both wild grapes like riverbank grape and abandoned stretches of old cultivated vines. And they are all edible and medicinal. Wild grapevines (Vitis spp.) like riverbank grape (Vitis riparia) are strangely absent from the plant index in Haliburton Flora. Their look-a-like Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is listed and I do see … [Read more…]
A favourite of porcupines, hemlock is a tree that’s beneficial to countless wildlife. It also has many edible, medicinal and craft uses. Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) can be found in moist hardwood forests. I know people hereabouts with a mature hemlock forest for a backyard. On the 100 acre I frequent, I’ve had to go … [Read more…]