Coralroot

My neighbour came over to say she found a neat plant back in the bush and wanted me to come see. As we walked she described it to me. I said it sounds like coralroot and it was. I have had them grow in one general area of my front yard over the years we've been here. This year I have only one shoot. I went to email her the link to my site regarding Coralroot only to find I've never written anything up on it. So I'm about to rectify that!

Coralroots cannot be cultivated as they are parasitic and grow in a symbiotic relationship with soil fungi. As a result, they can be found in a place one year and not the next. I notice the one growing in my yard this year isn't in quite the same place as in other years. The coralroot growing in my yard is the Ozette Coralroot but I have also found Spotted Oralroot growing in the woods not far away.

Ozette Coralroot (awaiting confirmation on this)

Corallorhiza maculata var. ozettensis

2009 June 7

2008 June 11

2008 June 14

2008 June 12

2008 July 2

Spotted Coralroot

Corallorhiza maculata var. maculata

2010 June 14

Link: http://www.wanativeorchids.com/Corallorhiza/index.html

Gooseberry: Northern

Northern Gooseberry (Ribes oxyacanthoides)

2008 May 23

2008 May 27

2008 July 4

2008 July 28

2009 August 10

Notice, no bristles on the berries.

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".

Yarrow

"Yarrow" (Achillea millefolium)

2007 June 19

2007 August 5

2007 August 5

2007 September 18
A pretty pink version

2007 September 18

On the Wane

2008 April 3

What remains as spring starts to emerge.

Yarrow is widely used in herbal remedies. I spent big bucks on a tiny vial of pure yarrow essential oil. In aromatherapy this blue oil is used as an anti-inflammatory, to ease cramps, for constipation, to help circulation, and as an astringent, its qualities being very similar to chamomile.

First Nation peoples burned the plant to ward off mosquitoes, crushed the roots to ease toothaches, and people eased their rheumatism by bathing in an infusion made from leaves and stems.

Wapato

Wapato (Sagittaria latifolia)

2009 July 22

2009 July 22

2009 July 22

2009 July 22

I saw this plant while camping in the Quesnel area of the Cariboo.  I have not ound it within walking are of our home but did find some out at Lake Timothy ... within a reasonable range of our area but already in a slightly different weather belt.

Ducks and muskrats eat the starchy tubers of this plant. The tubers are also edible to humans and are also called "lower valley potato" or "swamp potato". Baked, the tubers and are said to taste somewhat like chestnuts.

Wapato means "arrowhead".

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.

Rayless Alkali Aster

"Rayless Alkali Aster" (Symphyotrichum ciliatum)

2007 September 1

2007 September 1

2007 September 17

2007 September 17

2007 September 19

2007 October 9

2007 October 9

We found these plants right on the lake shore ... growing where the lake use to be (it has receded so much, this year, 2007, especially)! I can't seem to find a whole lot of information on this plant. A winter project.

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.