Red-berried Elder – Sambucus Racemosa: Edible & Medicinal Uses of The Other Elderberry

Red-berried Elder – Sambucus Racemosa

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 …

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Black Locust – Robinia Pseudoacacia: Edible & Medicinal Uses of a Contender for the Tastiest Edible Flower

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is the most common locust tree in Ontario by far, although you may find a couple other species. When Haliburton Flora was compiled, they only found two of these on the west side of the county. It’s one of the thorny trees, although not as large of thorns as its relation …

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Heartleaf Foamflower – Tiarella Stolonifera: Medicinal Uses of One of Our Prettiest Native Groundcovers for Shade

Heartleaf Foamflower - Tiarella Stolonifera:

Heartleaf foamflower or foamflower (Tiarella stolonifera syn. cordifolia) is native to Ontario and found on leafy hummus in deciduous or mixed woods. The leaves resemble miterworts, making one of the folk names false miterwort. There’s not much to say about edibility and medicinal uses of this one, but it’s a wonderful shade tolerant perennial groundcover …

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Shinleaf – Pyrola Elliptica: Medicinal Uses of a Lesser Known Wintergreen

Shinleaf AKA white wintergreen (Pyrola elliptica) is overshadowed in foraging and herbal medicine by its relations wintergreen and to some extent its cousin pipsissewa. It’s not used by foragers that I know of, and it’s a weaker medicinal than American wintergreen. I might have waited to cover this one, except it’s so common in the …

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Dead Nettles (Incl. Henbit) – Lamium SPP.: Edible & Medicinal Uses of Stinging Nettles Lookalike

Dead Nettles (Henbit) - Lamium SPP.

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 …

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Chokeberries – Aronia SPP.: Edible & Medicinal Uses of Choke Berries Not Choke Cherries

Todays plant is chokeberries (Aronia spp.), not the more popular chokecherries. Sometimes chokeberry shrubs are included in the genus Photinia instead of Aronia. Chokeberries are one of the less popular native shrubs. Even unheard of. These under-the-radar native shrubs are related to roses. The only species listed in Haliburton Flora is purple chokeberry (Aronia x …

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