Bartram’s Chuckley Pear
This low shrub grows in mountainous, rocky areas and provides attractive, white flowers in the spring. As the year goes on the Chuckley Pear produces deep purple berries that have a sweet taste almost like a plum. While not growing abundantly in most places small patches can sometimes be found to give a welcome fruit source.
Pineapple Weed
This little plant can sometimes be seen growing through the crack in a sidewalk or scattered on disturbed ground. Pineapple weed is in the chamomile family and it purported to have similar medicinal effects. The pineapple-scented flower tops can be brewed as a tea and drunken as a stress reliever.
Stinging Nettle
Nettle is an intimidating plant with sharp spikes protecting its edible leaves. Upon boiling the plant loses it’s string and one can enjoy this nutrient-rich green. It has a flavor much like spinach and is every bit as healthy. The plant is even edible raw if one handles the leaves correctly but prepare to get stung in the process. Stinging nettle has anti-inflammatory qualities which make it valued medicinally.
Birch
The Birch tree is arguably the most important tree in the northern forest due to it’s many uses. The first nutrition of the spring comes from tapping a mature tree to collect it’s lightly sugared sap. The sap can be then boiled down to make syrup. Later it’s buds can be used in a salad or it’s soft inner bark chewed. The outer bark is used to make many items including the iconic canoe.
Lupin
The colour and abundance of this plant makes it easy to recognize. Lupins grow in great swathes near roadways and in fields. The plant carries pods which contain edible seeds. These seeds are high in protein but must be soaked first to remove any present toxins.
Dandelion
This introduced plant is prized for it’s nutritional value and abundance. The young leaves can be eaten in a salad or older leaves can be bolled to remove the bitter taste. The roots can be dried and used as a coffee substitute while the flower heads can be used to make wine.
Psilocybin Mushrooms
These mushrooms are found in pastureland and appear with the morning dew. Sometimes called Liberty Caps, these tiny mushrooms contain psychedelic properties and have been used by various cultures in ritual. It is believed that these mushrooms may have been the manna spoke of in the Christian Bible based on the physical description of this divine food.
Fly Agaric
While certainly not a plant, the Fly Agaric mushroom or Amainita Muscaria has been central in shamanistic practice for thousands of years. The mushroom contains psychedelic compounds that produce a euphoric state in it’s user. It grows beneath coniferous trees in boreal regions of the northern hemisphere and is thought to be a source of modern Christmas traditions ingrained in popular culture.
Fiddleheads
Early in the spring the spirals of the Ostrich Fern break through the floor cover and give this delicate plant it’s name. The fronds can be boiled and eaten as a green vegetable to provide some of the earliest nutrition available in the northern hemisphere. These plants are considered a delicacy in parts of the world and are most palatable when the the plant is still tender.
Cattail
Cattails grow in marshy areas and are easily recognizeable by their elongated flower heads. All parts of the plant are edible although more fibrous as the year goes on. The rhizomes provide a starch when ground from the root and the collected pollen can be added to a flour. The down collected from the flower can be used as insulation.
Monkshood
Mookshood is a tall perennial plant with showy blue or purple flowers which grow in meadows of the northern hemisphere. It is fatal if ingested. With roots that resemble horseradish this plant is thought to be responsible for the death of actor André Noble in 2004. Cultures from around the world have used aconitine posion in warfare and hunting. There is great myth built up around this plant because of it’s lethal qualities.
Reed Canary Grass
Reed Canary grass or Phalaris arundinacea grows along river banks and roadsides or in clumps in open fields. This unassuming tall grass contains the powerful psychedelic DMT and related compounds. Through an extraction process this DMT is taken from the grass. DMT is also produced naturally in the body in the pineal gland.
Indian Pipe
The Indian Pipe plant or Ghost plant is a forest floor dwelling plant that feeds upon a parasitic fungus which in turn feeds off the roots of a spruce tree. This interrelationship gives the Ghost Plant some interesting qualities. It contains no chlorophyll and appears translucent in sunlight. Once plucked the plant immediately starts to wither or melt in your hand and necrosis occurs in minutes. The prepared roots of the plant are rumored to have an opiate quality and have been used in the suppression of pain during surgery.
Pitcher Plant
This carnivorous plant grows in peat bogs throughout the northern hemisphere. Its also know as soldiers drinking cup because of it’s water bearing leaves. These leaves act as a drowning pool for any insects that land on it’s slippery surface so taking a drink of this digestive enzyme mixture may not be advisable.
Creeping Snowberry
Creeping Snowberry plants lie in rugs on the forest floor. Their many tiny, broad leaves contain a special treat hidden within. The plant produces a small berry-like fruit with a taste of citrus and spearmint. The fruit resembles an ant’s egg and is nearly as small so collecting large amounts is difficult. They do however provide a welcome vitamin-rich foodsource upon discovery.
Yarrow
As one of the most common plants in the summertime greenery, Yarrow is often overlooked. Sometimes called Soldier’s woundwort, it’s genus name is Achillea millefolium named after Achilles who carried it into battle. While the leaves can be applied to a wound to stop bleeding and promote healing, the flowering tops are the most medicinally active parts of the plant. They are purported to have a mild stimulant effect when drunken as a tea or used as a snuff.
Dawnbringer 