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 …
This isn’t the herb lungwort, which we’ll be covering next month. This is a very special lichen also called lungwort. Tree lungwort AKA lung lichen (Lobaria pulmonaria) wowed me the instant I saw it. This is a large distinct lichen, named after its pulmonary appearance. I first spotted it on a tree in damp woods …
Dear Wood Folk, Have you seen the plant with doll’s eyes for berries? In Samuel Thayer’s newest book, Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants, he calls baneberry “possibly the most poisonous fleshy berry” in our region. As far as berries go both white (Actaea pachypoda) and red (Actaea rubra) baneberries can make you feel pretty …
In Chippewa, gawa’komic, slippery elm is the medicinal star of the elms (ulmus spp.) native to Ontario. It’s also most popular local/Haliburton elm for foraging. But elm is at risk due to Dutch elm disease. Around cottage country Ontario there are three main native elm (ulmus spp.) trees. The most common is American/white elm (ulmus americana) …
In Ojibwe, mitigwaabaak meaning “bow tree”, hickories (carya SPP.) are diverse and native, but not very abundant in our area of Ontario. They are part of the walnut family and more edible than medicinal. Hickories (carya SPP.), like the shagbark hickory (carya ovata) sapling that’s pictured and bitternut hickory (carya cordiformis), are two of the four …
Bush cranberries are a common sight in Cottage country, Ontario. These berried shrubs include hobblebush, wild raisin, nannyberry, maple-leaved viburnum and highbush cranberry. All mentioned have edible and medicinal uses. Bush-cranberries (viburnum SPP.) are common here around Haliburton. Hobblebush (viburnum lantanoides), pictured in the featured image, is common along wooded roadsides and edges of woods. …