Dear Wood Folk, You’ve likely heard of or seen the plant bleeding heart. I have some planted over the graves of my beloved pets. Dutchman’s breeches (dicentra cucullaria) and squirrel corn (dicentra canadensis) are the native relations to bleeding heart in Ontario. Dutchman’s breeches have yellow “waistbands” on their upside-down knicker shaped flowers, while squirrel …
In Haliburton Flora, there are 9 clubmosses (lycopodium spp.) listed. Although, since that survey was taken most of them have been reclassified. Genus flipping aside, by narrowest circumscription just 2 of these are lycopods hereabouts, and 4 Ontario-wide. Clubmoss/lycopodium species are vascular plants often referred to as fern allies, closely related to ferns and plants …
In Chippewa, o’kadak or aya’bidjidji’bikugi’sin, the later implying adhesiveness, spikenard is another edible and medicinal plant from the sarsaparilla family. We’ve covered its relation sarsaparilla before and eventually we’ll cover its other local close relation American ginseng. Be aware, sometimes wild sarsaparilla is also called “spikenard” (plus a few others plants too, who are less related!) …
In Chippewa, ne’bagandag’ meaning “it is one-sided”. Yew is an important shrub to know if you’re going to forage conifers. It’s trendy to make teas out of evergreens like spruce or cedar, but just a cupful of fresh yew leaves can actually kill you. While parts of yew have been used both for edible and medicinal …
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, …
We have a few edible and medicinal ferns in central Ontario, although ostrich fern is the most popular for fiddleheads. Oh, Merry Christmas fern! This is going out December 24th – happy holidays, folks! Christmas fern (polystichum acrosthichoides) may be common in deciduous or mixed woods around Haliburton, Ontario, usually in damp hummus. It’s this …