There are a couple strawberry look-a-likes that aren’t the real thing. Many of them are called “barren” strawberry. Then there’s our title mock strawberry (Potentilla indica syn. Duchesnea indica). This mock strawberry is actually a cinquefoil species. It’s not listed in Haliburton Flora, but it can be found in Ontario and especially southern Ontario. These …
Common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a widely recognizable edible and medicinal herb that is most common throughout the temperate regions of North America and Europe. Dandelion being easily identifiable is often the gateway plant to exploring foraging. It’s especially dandy for beginner foragers, being generally safe to eat and thanks to the entire plant being edible …
Dead nettles (Lamium spp.) look like stinging nettles before flowering, but they don’t have the sting, hence the dead. Some of the species could be confused with other mint family plants; a common example being henbit and purple dead nettle resembling ground ivy/creeping charlie. It won’t take long in a foraging meme group to find …
Moosewood AKA Eastern leatherwood (Dirca palustris) has been bumped as a feature here before for more edible and medicinal plants. However, I love this shrub so much and want to talk about it! Have you noticed a mostly inconspicuous shrub in the understory of woods around Haliburton that is rubbery? With leathery branches and stems …
American silverberries or wolf-willow (Elaeagnus commutata) is Ontario’s native mealy sour silverberry shrub. It does somewhat resemble willow. There are several nonnatives around too. Japanese silverberry AKA Autumn olive (E. umbellata) is invasive around Ontario, especially to the south. I have spotted them in the wild to the south. In cottage country, it’s more of …
Common toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) has a much easier folk name to remember: butter-and-eggs. the flowers look just like the breakfast. Around Haliburton this nonnative plant is common on open sandy and gravelly ground. It’s got a lot of aggressive competition in these disturbed areas, but I usually find at least one when I’m walking down …