Silverweed

Silverweed (Potentilla anserina)

Silverweed is common around here yet it has taken me until now to post about it!

2010 May 26

2010 May 26

2010 May 26

Found in moist, alkaline places.  Our area is very alkaline!  This plant is sometimes called the Indian sweet potato as many interior First Nations people used the roots, cooked or raw.    Apparently it has a crisp, nutty, starchy taste.  This site states that the leaves can also be made into a tea. An infusion of the leaves can be used as a cleanser for delicate skin, even the skin of babies.  A mildly astringent plant with most of the astringency in the roots.  Leaves are harvested in early summer and dried while the roots are harvested in late summer, early fall.

Black Hawthorn

Black Hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii)

I saw this in shrub form out at Mahood Lake but then found it as a small tree growing by our own lake ... my eye was drawn to the fruit. Funny how I missed seeing it in flower and we walk that way often!

2009 August 27

2009 August 16

2009 August 16

2009 August 16

The fruits are seedy but were used medicinally, mostly for diarrhea. The bark also was used to treat diarrhea, dysentery and stomach aches and pains.

2009 August 16

The wood of this plant is very hard and fine grained used by First Nations for tool handles and weapons.

2009 August 18

The spines had a variety of uses: like a needle to probe skin blisters and boils, piercing ears, fish hooks, etc.

Some people use this as a hedging plant to create a "fence with thorns".

Cinquefoil: Graceful

Graceful Cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis var gracilis)

2009 July 15

2009 July 15

2009 July 15

2009 July 15

2009 July 15

We found this cinquefoil growing on a trail just behind our place.

Some first nation peoples made an infusion of the pounded roots to take for pain and as a general tonic.

Yellow Avens

"Yellow Avens" (Geum aleppicum).

2008 June 2

2008 June 2

2007 June 19

2007 June 19

2007 June 19

2007 June 19

I found these growing down where the lake use to be! There doesn't seem to be any interesting tidbits to report on this one ... no juicy gossip from the plant world ... but if I find out anything ... I'll be sure to post an update.

Strawberry

"Wild Strawberry" (Fragaria virginiana)

2008 May 19

2007 July 13

2007 July 13

The wild strawberry is so small but tastes SO good.

The First Nation peoples ate these berries raw and sometimes mashed and dried them into cakes for winter stores. A tea was made of the leaves to ease diarrhea or to sooth sore throats.

Saskatoon

"Saskatoon, Service Berry or June Berry" (Amelanchier alnifolia)

2008 April 13

2008 May 5

2008 May 16

2008 May 18

2007 May 24

2007 June 17

2007 June 19

2007 July 20

2007 July 20

These add a really nice flavor to blueberry pie ... kind of perks up the blandness of blueberries. When I was a VERY young 'un and lived up in Taylor flats ... we not only had to pick buckets full of these berries in the summer but we practically lived on them through the winter. They were our fruit, but I can't call them my favorite food. I'm sure they are VERY good for you.

Hoofed animals browse on the Saskatoon bush in winter/spring and birds eat the berries. Native peoples ate these berries fresh, dried in cakes or dried like raisins. The plants can get as high as 4 meters tall! Sampling berries as I walked around the lakes in 2007, I noticed quite a difference in flavors, depending on where they were growing. The juice has a mild laxative affect.

Rose

There are various wild roses in our area. I'm only getting into this so didn't know to take the time and individually photograph them. Come spring 2008, I'll try to watch out for the various species more carefully. With help, these have been identified as:

"Clustered Wild Rose" or "Peafruit Rose" (Rosa pisocarpa)

2007 June 7

2007 June 7

2007 June 12

Rose Hips are very high in Vitamin C as well as other good things. When my Mom heard this, I was about 8, she had us all go out and collect buckets of these things. She proceeded to make jam. All I can remember thinking was, "Yuk"! If you do want to sample, just eat the outer part, not the seeds. The seeds can be pressed for the oil they contain, which is used in the cosmetic/spa world as a regenerative for the skin. Critters such as coyotes and bears also eat rose hips.

The wild rose is very difficult to get rid of from your garden as it has a very well developed root system that travels for ever! Tell me about it ... I have pulled out any suspicious root or piece of root in my vegetable garden ... and a rose still, occasionally, pops up. But in the back yard, which has been left wild, they can grow all they like.

Rose petals may be eaten (a pretty addition to salads) and leaves can also be used for and in tonics.

Raspberries

"Wild Red Raspberries" (Rubus idaeus)

2008 May 21

2008 May 29

2008 June 14

2008 June 14

2008 June 23

2007 July 25

2007 July 25

These berries are smaller but as tasty as the cultivated kind. I found these bushes growing closer to the lake ... more to the shadier side of the lake.

This site deals with some medicinal uses for the leaves.

I have also found another type of raspberry growing in this area ... along a woodland trail ...

"Trailing Raspberry" (Rubus pubescens)

2007 July 17

These are also edible if one can find them.

Old Man's Whiskers

"Old Man's Whiskers" (Geum triflorum):

2007 June 19

2007 June 19

2007 June 19

2007 June 18

Bad Hair Day!

2007 June 19

2008 July 4
Going Bald

2008 July 4
Gone to Seed

2008 July 4

2007 June 22
This particular plant was interesting in that it had both plain and variegated leaves. I only found the variegated leaves in this little grouping of plants. The plants with the variegated leaves seemed to only produce wizened little flowers.

2007 June 19

A plant that is more interesting close up than from afar!

It seems this was a "lady's" plant, being used by the women to treat yeast infections and as a love potion! The roots may be made into a tea. For more ways this plant was or can be used, see this site.