Plant Encyclopedia
Dandelion: The Buttoned-Up, All Business Side
Stop! Put down the Round-Up! One of the most amazing things about this world of ours is that the most generous and healing plants are also amongst the most resilient and abundant. It’s one of those things that makes you feel like there is a benevolent Creator/God/Universe out there looking out for us. To be honest, as I dug through research on this plan…
Dandelion: The Woowoo Hippie Side
Welcome back! Have you eaten any dandelions since last we spoke? Today, we get to meet a whole new side of Dandelion, though to be honest, the lines between the medical, mental and emotional, health, and magical uses sometimes blur. For example, Herbalist Susun Weed writes that: "Applied regularly to the entire breast area, glowing golden dandelion flow…
Plantain: The Plant that Followed Every Road to Find Her Lover
Plantain is a plant that’s nearly as ubiquitous as dandelion, but it’s one that most people are much less familiar with. In fact, most of the time when I talk about plantain, people think of the delicious banana-like fruit that is often fried. The plantain I am talking about is, admittedly, less tasty, but contains powerful medicine. In fact, it has bee…
Strong for the Ancestors, Strong for Ourselves, Strong for Those Yet to Come
As you probably surmised, nettle is one of my favorite plants. I love misunderstood plants in all their forms and nettle packs a punch nutritionally, medicinally, and heck, even the sting is medicinal. I first bonded with nettle when I started making nettle tea to try to help with leg cramps. I had returned to running many months after giving birth. I w…
The Sunny Power of St. John's wort
To me, St. John’s wort is the embodiment of the sun, and I’m not the only one, the ancient Celts thought so too. St. John’s wort blends into the background all spring, then suddenly right at the solstice, bright yellow blooms pop up from nowhere. It is another amazingly abundant and bountiful plant, maybe not as abundant and bountiful as dandelion or pl…
The Magic and Medicine of Motherwort: Healer of Wombs, Hearts, and Heads
Motherwort’s scientific name is Leonurus cardiaca. I usually don’t find binomial nomenclature (the two name system used in scientific names) very interesting, but Motherwort is an exception because the name contains the words lion and heart. It is known as the
Mullein: The Stately Grandparent of Protection and Purification
Mullein is literally a stand-out plant. Its fuzzy leaves and tall stalk of cheery yellow flowers attract one’s attention from across a crowded field. In the 1800s it had over 40 different common names in English alone. Most of them have to do either with its fuzziness or tall stature. Some of my favorites are Our Lady’s blanket, Aaron’s rod, hig candlew…
'Let Food Be Thy Medicine': Garlic
This is the first entry in a new series, “Let Food Be Thy Medicine”. In it, we’ll do a deep dive plant profile, similar to my other Plant Encyclopedia entries, but focusing on food you can find at the grocery store. I’ll be starting a Fungus Encyclopedia soon as well. Plant Encyclopedia entries will continue to be monthly. The other two series will occu…
Elderberry: Protector and Fire Starter
Back in April, Lindsay Sudeikis, led a beautiful group about connecting to our plant kin. In it, three plants came forward to me. Elderberry as the plant that can heal me, Hawthorne as the plant that can beautify me, and Echinacea as the plant that can connect me to God. A week or two later, I buried my feet in the soil near my biggest, strongest elder …
Hawthorn: An Open Heart is Not an Unprotected Heart
While hiking into and out of my wilderness fast, I met gorse and hawthorn for the first time. I’m sure my ancestors knew these plants well, but having lived in North America for nearly all of my life, we hadn’t been properly acquainted. I was not sure footed on my trek and I kept falling into her arms. It felt as if she were happy to know me and that I …
Echinacea: Guardian at the Gates
Following the rhythm of the seasons, I’m planning to let my writing rest dormant a bit over the winter. I’ll be putting out 1-2 articles a month instead of the usual 4-5, and to take a break from these plant articles until specific plants are calling to me. I’m wrangling with some ideas about rewilding healthcare, how time pressure decreases our moralit…
Rose: Bringer of Beauty and Protection
My conception of roses has changed a great deal over the past several years. In my mind, roses had been sullied by a commercialized kind of love. That began to shift for me when I read The Way of the Rose, which opened my mind to both roses and rosaries as a means to honor our mother Earth. That shift has been slow and gradual over the past several year…
Red Osier Dogwood: A Bridge Between The Practical and the Transcendent
Red Osier Dogwood is a plant known by many names. In English, it is also known as Red Willow. In fact, Osier is French for Willow because it was mistaken by settlers for willow in the winter. In Dakota, it is called Caᶇŝaŝa (Chan-sha-sha), and in Anishinabe it is known as giniginige (or sometimes kinnickinnick, though this can also mean bearberry or smo…
Lemon Balm Relieves Anxiety, Colic, and More
With its bright cheery scent and ability to soothe those struggling with anxiety and trauma, lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is a gentle plant with a lot to offer. Lemon Balm is native to southern Europe and northern Africa. It was sacred to those who worshiped Artemis and Diana in ancient Greece and Rome, respectively. Lemon balm was considered essent…