These plants were introduced to Ontario from other areas and may or may not pose a threat to native plants. The most aggressive alien invasive plants are tagged with Invasive in Ontario instead. For plants in this middle ground, it’s often best to grow as a seasonal crop and harvest, or find a native alternative to include in your garden.
Salsifies (Tragopogon spp.) are edible and medicinal plants that look like taller, fluffier versions of dandelion. Their giant seed balls resemble dandelions too. They’re a non-native plant in Ontario and part of the sunflower family. In the reference book Haliburton Flora you’ll only find goatsbeard (Tragopogon dubius), better called yellow salsify (there are unrelated plants …
Despite the popular name Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), this edible and medicinal plant is not native to Canada. Yup, Canada thistle isn’t from Canada. But it’s common along roadsides and I’ve found it taking over old fields as well. Canada thistles delicate purple-ish flowerheads make it less likely to confuse with burdock than bull thistle. …
Viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare) is an edible and medicinal plant that’s a lot like comfrey and borage in usage. It even has the same toxic PAs (pyrrolizidine alkaloids) as comfrey. That’s something to consider besides the spiny bristles covering this plant. If you’re prone to roadside walks, I’m sure you’ve noticed this electric blue flowered …
First we covered red clover, and now white clover (Trifolium repens). Used less medicinally and culinarily as its red cousin, it’s like a runner-up clover, but still useful. Most people looking into white clover are thinking crop cover or groundcover options. If you hunt you’ll likely find the uncommon hybird of red and white clover, …
One of the most famous edible shoots in the world, asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) sometimes escapes from gardens becoming a “wild” edible and medicinal plant. Finding asparagus in the wild is uncommon here, but with its legendary title mention in Euell Gibbon’s Stalking the Wild Asparagus and its ability to grow here around Haliburton, it’s making …
Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis), called “bouncing bet” in Haliburton Flora, is a medicinal and nominally edible plant that has been heavily used as you might imagine – to wash things. And sometimes still is. I’ve noticed soapwort growing in damp places, along streams, and going off meager experience I’d say where settlers and water would congregate …