Labrador Tea
Ledum groenlandicum
Heath Family
This low, boreal evergreen shrub is found in cool, peaty habitats. The woolly leaves make excellent tea leaves, dried or fresh. Muddle (bruise) two or three leaves in a mug, cover with boiling water and steep for ten minutes, covered. This aromatic tea is quite invigorating.
Maple-Leaved Viburnum
Viburnum acerifolium
Honeysuckle Family
This splendor, branched shrub reaches two meters (over six feet) high. Its creamy white, Spring blossoms mature to drooping purple-black berries, each containing one large flat seed (much like nannyberries). Its Autumnal foliage turns from shades of pink to purple, and after early frost its rather dry berries provide excellent trail nibbles. Amerindians made decoctions of the inner bark to treat colic and indigestion. These shrubs are also known as Arrow-Wood.
Nannyberry
Viburnum lentago
Honeysuckle Family
This Spring-blossoming native shrub is sometimes a small tree, attaining heights to ten meters (about 32 feet). Found in woodland borders, and widely distributed, the Nannyberry is so beautiful it is worthy of extensive cultivation. Its white blossom clusters give way to flat clusters of oval, green summer berries, which ripen to become rosy and finally blue-black on corel-red stems. The drooping fruits contain a solitary flat seed, and are sweetened by early frost. These fruits are responsible for the shrub's other name, Wild Raisin. |
