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 … [Read more…]
Related to marsh mallows, the Malva spp. of mallow around Haliburton isn’t native. But it is an edible and medicinal wild plant with similar uses to the more popular marshmallow herb. Common mallow (Malva neglecta) is rare around Haliburton. You’re much more likely to find white or pink flowered musk mallow (Malva moschata), listed as … [Read more…]
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), while not edible like most plants we’ve featured, is a medicinal herb and a butterfly favourite that is so easy to plant. It adds bountiful pops of sunny yellow to meadows and path sides. For the most part I’m covering plants that are both edible and medicinal, but it’d be “sow … [Read more…]
The chickweeds we’re talking about here is the Cerastium spp., known as mouse-ear chickweeds. They’re almost as edible, furriness aside, but not as medicinal as the Stellaria species. It’s important to note the hairless “common chickweed” (Stellaria media) is a rare nonnative in the wild here, and the usual one offered from seed providers. It’s … [Read more…]
Sow thistle (Sonchus spp.) is not a true thistle and also non-native here. Sometimes mistakenly called milk thistle, sow thistles are another edible and medicinal plant to gobble up or feed to the pigs. Sow thistles in these parts include field sow-thistle (Sonchus arvensis), spiny-leaved sow thistle (Sonchus asper), common sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus), and sow-thistle … [Read more…]