It may surprise folks that basic kitchen herbs and spices have any medicinal value. Thyme (thymus spp.) is actually a powerful medicinal herb for respiratory issues and more. Wild thymes (thymus spp.) have one species noted in Haliburton Flora: mother of thyme (t. praecox). The few specimens were found on an open hillside and in …
Dear Wood Folk, We covered so many butterflies in Volume 3, but never got to moths, bees, wasps, ants, etc. Someday we’ll get back to pollinators. And the previous birding series is far from complete too. But I feel like something different, and I’ve wanted to cover my favourite poisonous or toxic plants for sometime. …
In Chippewa, there’s name’g osibug meaning “sturgeon leaf”, referring to an aster that was served with fish. New England asters (symphyotrichum novae-angliae) names include wini’sikens and waanisikensiwang. Asters are all-stars for pollinators and they’re also somewhat edible and medicinal. The American asters (symphyotrichum spp. formerly included in aster spp.) are native to the Americas. A single …
Purple-flowered raspberry (rubus odoratus) is common around Haliburton county, Ontario. You’ll typically find this edible and medicinal shrub on bushy roadside banks in sandy, gravelly and rocky ground. It’s a shrubby thornless raspberry that looks like a maple (due to the shape of its large leaves) and a rose (showy pink-purple flowers) more so than a bramble. …
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 …