This edible and medicinal plum tree used to be widespread throughout Ontario. The stones were dropped along trails and around villages, wrapping the world in a plum thicket. But now Canada plum (Prunus nigra) is uncommon here, which is surprising as wildlife loves to gobble up the fruit, so you’d think it be dispersed all … [Read more…]
Bulrush (Scirpus spp.) is often neighbor to the similarly highly edible cattail. Across the pond, cattail is called bulrush. Perhaps “bulrush” being used for unrelated plants is one of the reasons Scirpus spp. is an often overlooked edible and medicinal plant here in North America. Or perhaps it’s due to cattail being so similar yet … [Read more…]
Beech (Fagus grandifolia) is considered by some to be the oldest tree name in the world! It’s also an antique edible and old school medicinal plant. The beechnut tree scarcely grows fruit before it’s 40, 50 years old and produces more with age. Even then, good seed crops won’t happen every year. They tend to … [Read more…]
In Chippewa, apuk’we, perhaps meaning “shelter” (muskrat is supporting me on this idea), common cat-tail (Thypha latifolia) is the multi-tool of the woods. Its uses reach far beyond the edible and medicinal. Sometimes cat-tails are mistakenly called bulrush, but that’s a separate species entirely here, yet they seem to use these terms interchangeably in Great … [Read more…]