The bright blue flowered carpet bugle (ajuga reptans) is another nonnative, edible and medicinal mint that can be found around Ontario. Carpet bugle (ajuga reptans) isn’t listed in Haliburton Flora. There are similar named plants: carpetweed, multiple bugleweeds, etc. It’s another nonnative mint that has since spread here. The first time I saw it, I …
Drug eyebright (euphrasia stricta), the most common eyebright to be seen around Ontario, was brought over by settlers as an herb for making an eye wash. It’s a nonnative edible and medicinal plant with a few rarer native relations in Ontario. Eyebright (euphrasia SPP.) like the pictured drug eyebright (euphrasia stricta), while surprisingly not in …
Lilac is not native to Ontario, but it’s pretty easy to find having been a favourite hedge of many homesteaders. It’s more of a candy to our native insects than nutritive (as a native plant would be). With that and the folk name “nose-candy”, candied petals, etc., “candy” seemed an apt title. My extensive library …
Alfalfa is a superfood of edible and medicinal plants, for some people to consume in moderation anyway. There are conditions and drug interactions that clash with this purple. Alfalfa (medicago sativa) is an uncommon sight here in open grassy areas, typically where livestock was foraging on old farmland, and sandy roadsides. It was brought over …
Purple loosestrife is causing a bit of strife here. This introduced edible and medicinal plant sure is pretty, but purple loosestrife is taking over our marshes and crowding out native plants necessary for a healthy ecosystem. Purple loosestrife (lythrum salicaria) was rare here when Haliburton Flora was compiled. They only found it in two locations. …
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 …