Dear Wood Folk, Strolling through the grasses here in the summertime you’ll likely see these small butterflies: The hobomok skipper (Lon hobomok) is the most common skipper in the Haliburton Highlands. And the majority of our skippers look something like a hobomok, being similarly orangey and paper airplane winged. Skippers are mostly recognizable due to … [Read more…]
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…]
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 of floating purple. Edible Uses … [Read more…]
Bittercresses are in the mustard family and include toothworts. The Latin name “Kardamine” means water or pepper grass. The folk name “pepper root” tells what this edible wild plant tastes like. Bittercresses (Cardamine SPP.) like the twoleaf toothwort in our pictures here (Cardamine diphylla syn. Dentaria diphylla) are related to mustard. Dentaria diphylla is the outdated … [Read more…]
Who hasn’t heard of coneflowers AKA echinacea (Echinacea spp.)? It’s one of the biggest fads in herbal medicine in recent decades. But are the claims about echinacea legit or overblown hype? Friend or fad? I’ll admit I’ve taken echinacea at the first sign of sniffles before. It’s one of if not the most popular plant … [Read more…]