In Chippewa, caca’gomin or spelled zhakaagomin, bunchberry (cornus canadensis) is a small, creeping dogwood. And just like the other native dogwoods, it’s a great nectar and pollen plant and somewhat of an edible and medicinal plant for humans too. Bunchberry (cornus canadensis) is common around cottage country, Ontario. This dogwood likes wet and cool deciduous and …
In Chippewa, oja’cidji’bik meaning “slippery root”, fireweed (epilobium angustifolium) derives its common name from colonizing the charred sites of wildfires. It’s an edible and medicinal plant that is native to Ontario. Fireweed (epilobium angustifolium syn. chamerion angustifolium syn. chamaenerion angustifolium) is common along roadsides, in logged bush, and in fire scourged acres here in central …
In Anishinaabemowin, wiingashic/wiingashk syn. bashkodemashkosiw, sweetgrass is one of the four sacred medicines. The other three are asemma (tobacco), bashkodejiibik syn. mashkodewashk (sage), and giizhik (cedar). It’s sacred in the traditional spirituality of various first nations across the Americas. And it’s holy grass in Europe too. Its previous genus, hierochloë is a Greek-Latin combo meaning “holy grass”. …
In Chippewa, a’sawan, lady fern (athyrium filix-femina) is another edible fiddlehead in Ontario. It is tricky to tell the edible and medicinal ferns from the entirely toxic and even poisonous ones. And then even the edible ones are often toxic if not prepared correctly. Lady fern (athyrium filix-femina), called upland lady fern in Haliburton Flora, …
Bittercresses are in the mustard family and include toothworts. The Latin name “kardamine” means water or pepper grass. The folk name “pepper root” tells what this edible wild plant tastes like. Bittercresses (cardamine SPP.) like the twoleaf toothwort in our pictures here (cardamine diphylla syn. dentaria diphylla) are related to mustard. Dentaria diphylla is the outdated …
In Chippewa, weza’wunuckwuk meaning “yellow plant”, referring to yellow giant hyssop, we have a few native agastache in Ontario. Rarely seen in the wild, they are a popular addition to pollinator gardens and they also have edible and medicinal uses for humans! Giant hyssops (agastache SPP.) are absent from Haliburton Flora although a few are native …