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, is common here. … [Read more…]
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, … [Read more…]
New Jersey teas close relation to prairie redroot. Both have red roots and thus redroot as a folk name. They also have the same uses and host the same caterpillars. This edible and medicinal plant will certainly end up in our pollinator series for the Wood Folk Diaries! (Here is the link to that diary!) … [Read more…]
Who hasn’t heard of coneflowers AKA echinacea (Echinacea spp.)? It’s one of the biggest fads in herbal medicine in recent decades. But are the claims about echinacea legit or overblown hype? Friend or fad? I’ll admit I’ve taken echinacea at the first sign of sniffles before. It’s one of if not the most popular plant … [Read more…]
Wild chive usually refers to the very same chives you’d get from a seed packet for your garden or from a grocery store. The big surprise – there’s a variety native to Ontario! Wild chive (Allium schoenoprasum) is typically a rare escapee from cultivation around here, more specifically it tends to be the European version … [Read more…]
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 to Ontario and hardy enough for our area. They may … [Read more…]