Purple loosestrife is causing a bit of strife here. This introduced edible and medicinal plant sure is pretty, but purple loosestrife is taking over our marshes and crowding out native plants necessary for a healthy ecosystem. Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) was rare here when Haliburton Flora was compiled. They only found it in two locations. …
Witch AKA snapping hazel is one of those edible and medicinal plants that many people have used frequently without even thinking once about herbal medicine. Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) isn’t listed in Haliburton Flora. We’re on the border of its natural distribution. It didn’t take off as an understory shrub here around Haliburton like, say, …
A favourite of porcupines, hemlock is a tree that’s beneficial to countless wildlife. It also has many edible, medicinal and craft uses. Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) can be found in moist hardwood forests. I know people hereabouts with a mature hemlock forest for a backyard. On the 100 acre I frequent, I’ve had to go …
Avens (Geum spp.) are in the rose family, closely related to cinquefoils and strawberries. There is a resemblance. In milder climates they are evergreen. Our chocolatey title is after the edible usage of the purple avens. We’ve got many avens species in Ontario, Canada! Our fairly common avens in the wilds of central Ontario are …
Scouring rush and common horsetail (both Equisetum spp.) are used to scrub and clean, but common horsetail also has edible uses. And scouring rush is the Equisetum plant preferred for medicinal uses. Related to ferns, common horsetail AKA horsetail fern is the only living genus of the subclass Equisetidae. Common horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is indeed …
Oh, ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia). This maligned plant while rare-ish in Haliburton and considered a “weed” in this part of Ontario is actually native to North America. It’s at least as valuable to a swath of wildlife as it is likely to cause a human to sneeze. You might find ragweed here along a roadside or …