Medicine Wheel Garden Resources
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A perennial plant or simply perennial ( Latin per , "through", annus , "year") is a plant that lives for more than two years. [ 1 ] The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials . The term is also widely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials. [ 2 ] Perennials, especially small flowering plants , that grow and bloom over the spring and summer, die back every autumn and winter, and then return in the spring from their root-stock , are known as herbaceous perennials .
Perennial plant
Herbaceous plant
Trientalis latifolia (Broadleaf Starflower) is a perennial herbaceous plant of the ground layer of forests in western North America. A herbaceous plant (in American botanical use simply herb ) is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground. [ 1 ] Herbaceous plants may be annuals , biennials or perennials . [ 2 ] Annual herbaceous plants die completely at the end of the growing season or when they have flowered and fruited, and they then grow again from seed. [ 3 ] Herbaceous perennial and biennial plants have stems that die at the end of the growing season, but parts of the plant survive under or close to the ground from season to season (for biennials, until the next growing season, when they flower and die).Wormwood
As Medicine: The wormwood plant is used to treat a congested chest and to clear a stuffy head or stuffy nose. The plant is very aromatic. For steaming purposes, the whole above ground wormwood plant is crushed and put into a pot of water to boil. Once the water starts to steam the pot is taken off the stove and set aside to cool. Ruth said,
In botany , a tree is a plant with an elongated stem, or trunk , supporting leaves or branches. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants, only plants that are usable as lumber , only plants above a specified height or only perennial species. At its broadest, trees include the taller palms , the tree ferns , bananas and bamboo .
Trees & Shrubs
Shepherdia canadensis
The Canada buffaloberry ( Shepherdia canadensis ), also known as russet buffaloberry , soopolallie , soapberry , or foamberry ( Ktunaxa : kupaʔtiǂ [ 1 ] ), is one of a small number of shrubs of the genus Shepherdia bearing edible red berries . One recognized form however bears yellow fruits . The berries have an extremely bitter taste. The plant is a deciduous shrub found in open forests and thickets all over North America . Its northern limit is around the Arctic Circle .
Mooseberry (soapberry)
As food. The red berries are edible. Annie B. Robert (COPE) said that the boiled berries can be eaten like any other cooked berry and that it helps to increase one’s appetite.
Viburnum trilobum ( American Cranberrybush Viburnum , American Cranberrybush , Kalyna or Highbush or High Bush Cranberry ) is a species of Viburnum native to northern North America , from Newfoundland west to British Columbia , south to Washington state and east to northern Virginia , with an isolated population in New Mexico . [ 1 ] It is very closely related to the European and Asian Viburnum opulus , and is often treated as a variety of it, as Viburnum opulus L. var. americanum Ait. , or as a subspecies , Viburnum opulus subsp. trilobum (Marshall) Clausen. Detail of the inflorescence [ edit ] Description It is a deciduous shrub growing to 4 m tall.
Highbush Cranberry - Viburnum trilobum
Populus Genus
Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae , native to most of the Northern Hemisphere . English names variously applied to different species include poplar ( / ˈ p ɒ p . l ər / ), aspen , and cottonwood . In the September 2006 issue of Science , it was announced that the Western Balsam Poplar ( P. trichocarpa ) was the first tree to have its full DNA code sequenced . [ 2 ] [ edit ] Description
Willow Genus
Willows , sallows , and osiers form the genus Salix , around 400 species [ 2 ] of deciduous trees and shrubs , found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere . Most species are known as willow, but some narrow-leaved shrub species are called osier , and some broader-leaved species are referred to as sallow (from Old English sealh , related to the Latin word salix , willow). Some willows (particularly arctic and alpine species) are low-growing or creeping shrubs; for example, the dwarf willow ( Salix herbacea ) rarely exceeds 6 cm (2 in) in height, though it spreads widely across the ground. [ edit ] Description
As food. Annie Benoit of Aklavik says that scraping off the dark outer covering of the bark is an option before eating or boiling it. Medicine from red willow is considered as valuable as spruce gum tea. The bark can be collected year round from any size of red willow. A solution for skin conditions is made by peeling the bark off the stem and boiling it slowly until the liquid turns orange. Two minutes of boiling will produce a weak solution, and five minutes a strong one.
Red willow (alder)
Birch
As food. Birch syrup (k’ii chų’ (G), k’ii chuu (T)) can be collected for one to two weeks in mid-June. The syrup, which is used as a topping for pancakes and other foods, is made by boiling down the sap until it thickens. A lot of sap must be collected to make a small amount of syrup. As medicine.As medicine. The buds, which are very sticky, are collected in the spring before they open and then boiled. Drinking the tea relieves cold symptoms.
Poplar
As Medicine: The horsetail plant is used to make a medicinal tea to treat kidney problems, bladder infections or urinary track problems. To treat a bladder infection, a tea is made with the horsetail plant and large amounts of the tea are taken to clear the condition.
Horsetail
Moss (sphagnum moss)
As diapers. Gwich’in women used to hang wet moss in branches of willows to dry and get rid of bugs. (The bugs crawl out or drop from the drying moss.) The dry moss was stuff and sewn into cloth sugar bags for use as diapers.This lichen grows in large mats in spruce forests, where it is often eaten by caribou. According to Alfred Semple, Lazarus Sittichinli said it takes a long time to grow. He also told Alfred that if you eat animals that eat willow, like moose, you will get hungry more quickly than eating animals that eat lichen, like caribou. William Teya said, as children, they were taught to respect the lichen. Children were not supposed to play on it and if you took some you were to pay for it. As medicine.