Visit Anne McCaffrey's officaial website!
Visit Anne McCaffrey's officaial website!
Updated October 2000
This is a complete list (minus any I might have overlooked by mistake) of all
the plants that exist on Pern. Information was taken from all the novels (up
to and including The Masterharper), as well as the short stories (up to the publication of The Runner of Pern) and the
Dragonlover's Guide to Pern (which seems to be regarded as mainly canon. Any
conflicts between the novels and the Guide are listed.) This list was mainly
compiled for use in RPing, though anyone interested in plants might like to
read through this list. All plants, such as grapes, asparagus, mint, etc.
that have recognizable Terran names are assumed to be of Terran or
bio-engineered Terran form, and have the same growth forms, habitat, and uses
that they do on Earth.
Moriel, apprentice weaver on Dragonsfire MOO, has developed a list of plants that can be used as dyes, and has more in-depth info on what plants yield which dyes than listed here. You can find her site at www.geocities.com/anglinsbees/dye.html
If you spot a plant in a book I do not have listed, or any other info on plants
that I might have missed, please e-mail me so I can update the list. Thanks to Elena, Tephra, and Elrhan for info that helped me make this page more accurate!
I have recently added outside information, mainly medical uses of many of the
imported plants. Please use common sence and don't try any remedies listed here
without consulting a physician. While drinking peppermint tea to quell an uneasy
stomach may not be dangerous at all, many plants are more potent, and there is
a fine line between dose and overdose. While the same information could be found in several different books on herbs and/or herbal healing, I used Lesley Bremness' 'Eyewitness Handbook: Herbs' and 'the Complete Book of Herbs' for the bulk of this information. The rest is
mainly personal knowledge. It is quite possible that the plants the colonsists brought
with them were genetically alterd before and/or after they arrived on Pern to produce
a reliable level of the chemicals that are medically benificial, since they knew that
sooner or later their conventional medicines would run out. It is also possible that
some indiginious species were altered as well to be a reliable source of medicines.
However, even with genetic altering, the potency of a particular crop depends on location
and the weather conditions it was grown in. Therefore, it's my opinion that there is
probably a masterhealer or 2 that analyze the harvested herbs for potency when applicable.
Enjoy!
Meani
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All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are copyright© Anne McCaffrey 1967,2000, all rights reserved, and used by permission of the author.
The Dragonriders of Pern® is registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, by Anne McCaffrey, used here with permission. Use or reproduction without a license is strictly prohibited
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Converted to HTML by Shaddack, 11th April 1997.
Key:
H=this plant is listed only in a historic manner, and may or may not currently
exist on Pern. It can probably be safely assumed it still exists somewhere.
I=This plant is a known import to Pern from Earth
N=This plant is a known native to Pern
?=I was uncertain of the information, and made an educated guess.
Uses: used like salad, served with dressing.
Uses: fruit
Known location: Lemos, Igen
Uses: rarely, used to make small quantities of lye soap
Misc.: all hardwoods are imported
Uses: rope
Uses: medicinal herb, used for coughs. It is said that a winecupfull a day
keeps off respitory problems, such as croup.
Uses: medicinal herb, anaodyne
Misc.: obnoxious weed
Uses: fruit
Misc.: genetically altered form of Kiwi.
Known locations: near Half-Circle seahold, Benden Hold
Uses: Bark is brewed to produce a coffee-like substance, tastes like a cross
between coffee and chocolate, with a spicy aftertaste. The bark is also used
as a spice.
Known location: Fort Hold, Ruatha
Uses: edible, added to savory dishes to thicken them up
Uses: edible
Uses: medicinal herb used for coughs
Known location: Southern Hold
Uses: a segment of the trunk was used for message drums in Southern.
General habitat: 'higher reaches' (dragonlovers guide)-hills/higher ground over
the flat plains(?)
Uses: ash bark used medicinally, as a diuretic and febrifuge.
Outside Info: Because of the variety of trees called 'ash', it is difficult t
Known locations: Nerat Hold, Southern Hold
General habitat: marshy land
Uses: Nerat: braid and twisted like wicker, used for furniture.
Southern: used as food
Misc.: light and strong. Southern:"...grow so swiftly that in the afternoon
a kitchen auntie has to cut down stalks she planted in the morning, or
they will be too tough to eat at dinner." (Dragonlovers)
Uses: edible, can be made into jam. Berry wax can be made into candles.
Misc.: Berries are often talked about, but sometimes not noted which type they
are.
Known location: Igen/Lemos forests
Growth form: Earth blackberry bush
Known locations: High Reaches Hold
Uses: fruit, made into brandy
Uses: edible, large quantities could be pressed for oil
misc. info: Has fragrant pink blossoms tangling in clusters. Blooms in 'winter'. possibly
year round.
Uses: fruit, most popular for bubbly pies
Uses: medicinal and/or cooking herb, used for coughs
Uses: edible, large quantities can be made into bread.
Misc.: The acid from teh nut kills other undergrowth.
Uses: fruit (contains vitamin C). Used by Moreta as a hopeful preventitive.
Outside Info: Info on Citron can be found at
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/citron.html
Uses: medicinal herb, used for burns, coughs
Uses: medicinal and/or cooking herb
Known locations: Paradise River Hold
Known location: Fort Hold, Boll, Southern
General habitat: sand+clay soil
Uses: made into thread, cotton velvet material, other materials
General habitat: open plains
Uses: Used by the colonists to break ground and provide shelter for oak and
pine seedlings.
General habitat: grows from borders of grain field
Misc.: strangles crops. (wheat)
General habitat: streams by ocean where water freshens
Uses: edible, sweet with a tangy aftertaste.
Known location: Lemos
Misc.: grows quickly.
Uses: for burns
Uses: medicinal herb, diaphoretic. Used for coughs.
Known location:Fort Hold, Southern
Uses: to relieve fever, used in tonic. Also used on runners.
Flowers: fragrant, pink(DragonQuest) yellow(DragonLovers Guide) clustered blooms
with pointed petals. Has clusters of berry-like fruit.
Fruit: Fellis juice made from the fruit, which has though skins.
Known locations: Southern Weyr area, Nerat, Telgar Hold, Fort Hold, Paradise
River Hold (wild), Ruatha
Uses: dye (dyes wherhide a deep green), narcotic painkiller that can be
addictive. Wood is used to carve furniture.
Misc.: At Paradise river, Fellis trunks grow larger than 3 men could span with
fingers touching. Large enough amounts can be lethal. (Nerkila)
Known location: Southern Weyr
General habitat: tropical regions
Uses: improvised bedding
Uses: edible
Known location: Boll
Uses: fiber for weaving
Uses: edible, medicinal, used for high blood pressure, as a cold remedy,
used by Moreta as a pallative
Known location: Ista
Uses: Fronds can be used as improvised forrest bedding. The fronds make handy
needlethorn packages, as the sap from the cut edges of leavs forms its own
glue. Leaf sap will also seal puncture wounds. In _Moreta_, it was stated
that softnuts (which are edible) were 'on all the trees', so it could be
assumed that they are ging softnuts.
Misc.: Moreta described the ging forrest in the fall as "a green face with a
thousand black-rimmed eyes." Needlethorn is always found in the prescence of
ging trees.
General habitat: open plains
Uses: Colonists used Ginkgo to break ground and provide shelter for oak and
pine seedlings.
Uses: edible
Misc.: most of grain consumed in north grown by Telgar. Telgar also has
best beer in Pern
Known locations: Benden, Fort(H), Tillek, Nabol, Lemos, Nerat
Uses: fruit, wine.
Uses: Tufts contain theraputic seeds, branches can be bundled and used as a
temporary raft(eventually they'll absorb too much water), the heart (just above
the root ball) can be dried and ground into a powder that is good for fever,
esp. Firehead. The shoots are edible.
Uses: bedding
Known location: Southern, Cove Hold, Ista(Citrus)
Known location:Tillek
Misc. Info Sends runnerbeasts (and possibly other animals) into convulsions. Typically, runnerbeasts don't
eat lur-weed.
Flower: yellow
General habitat: low marsh valleys
Known location: near Half-circle seahold
Known location: Half-Circle seahold, by coast
General habitat: in bogs
Uses: canes can be made into reed pipes.
Uses: analgesic herb
Uses: seasoning(?). Mint sticks rubbed over teeth as a toothbrush/mouthwash
Fruit: orange-red fruit
Known locations: Southern, Nerat
Uses: for drinking as a tea, dressing wounds against infection.
Known location: Ista, Nerat
Uses: needles used as syringe for injections and to draw blood.
Misc.: Needlethorn is omnivorus and shoots its thorns at anything that disturbs
it during its growing season. It falls into a dormant stage when the flowers
of the ging tree (ginkgo?) open. These plants are always found together. The
spines are poisonous through spring and summer. "The vine grows during the
winter and has to shed its old corona or leave too many unprotected gaps. I
understand the flesh is tasty.""During the spring and summer the bush has an
odor to attract snakes and insects. The hollow spines suck essential juices
from the creature the plant impales, and also rainwater."(Moreta) Needlethorns are also used for transfusions. (Masterharper)
Known location: Ruathan fields.
Uses: medicinal, used in a tonic
Known location: Nerat, Southern
General habitat: jungle areas
Uses: 'raw' or made into a salve, it numbs skin to pain.
Misc.: too much numbweed will cause bleeding and scarring. To prepare the
salve, it requires 3 days of stewing, then 1 day to strain it, and the juice
skimmed to the right consistency for the salve (Southern). Runners carry an oiled packet that has a cloth soaked in numweed to cleanse and ease scratches.
Uses: cooking herb
Known location:Bitra
Uses: used for cooking fires. In Igen, pockets of bread were cooked on metal
sheets over an oilbrush fire.
Known locations: (H)wild near Fort Hold, wild in Lemos/Igen forrest.
Known location: Southern Hold/Weyr, Cove Hold, Ista
Misc.: the trees are thorny.
Uses: has an edible heart. 'crispy, cool, and crunchy' (Moreta)
Known location: Fort Hold
Uses: edible
Uses: Leavs boil to make the finest red for paints.
Uses: fruit
Outside Info: Seed oil is used in cosmetics and medicines. The tree has solitary,
pink spring flowers.
Known locations: Fort Hold
Uses: edible, used in several dishes
Outside Info: Used as a cooking oil, some people are allergic to peanuts.
Known location: High Reaches Hold, Nerat
Uses: fruit, made into brandy
Known location: Nerat
Uses: edible nut
Uses: edible
Outside Info: It is probable that Pern has several varieties of peppers, from bell to
chili to hot, all of which have different culinary and medicinal uses. They usually have yellow
or green flowers. The pungent capsaicin of chilis stimulates circulation and sensory nerves, and
eases sore throats. Infused chili oil gives a warming massage for rheumatism, cold limbs, and
neuralgia.
Uses: In 'sweet sticks' (hard candy).
Outside Info: Flav,ors sauces, vinegar, vegatables, desserts, used in teas, and candies.
Peppermint oil has a mild antiseptic action. Mints are stimulant, aid digestion, reduce flatulence.
Peppermint is antiseptic, antiparasitic, and antiviral. Peppermint is included in ointments and
cold remedies and given for headaches and other aches and pains. The scent of the essential oil
is inhaled to treat shock and nausea and improves concentration. The essential oil is also used
for fatigue, digestion, travel sickness, headaches, toothache, and skin irratations.
Known locations: Nabol, Lemos
Misc.: grow quickly
Uses: medicinal, for bellyache.
Uses: fruit
Misc.: genetically alterd form of pineapple
Outside Info: New shoots are added to curries. Waste is made into vinegar or fed to
livestock. Fruit helps menstural, urinary, and digestive problems. Plant enzymes reduce swelling,
intensify antibiotics, and break down the fibrin protein that causes heart attacks and strokes.
Uses: fruit
Outside Info: Eaten fresh, dried, or as a jam. The tree has white 5 petaled spring flowers.
Dried plumbs are given for their laxative effect.
Growth form: grass
Uses: Purple Grass seed was used by Menolly's sister to flavor seaweed balls to keep Old Uncle quiet.
Uses: fruit
Outside Info: Shrub grows to 1.5m. It has small pink or white flowers, and the fruit yields
a red dye. Is used to reduce anemia. Used in China for kidney problems and bedwetting. Dried
leavs contain tannin. Leaf tea is used in late pregnancy to tone uterine and pelvic muscles.
Tea reduces mentrural pain.
Known locations: Southern, Nerat, High Reaches Hold, Nabol, Igen
Uses: edible, made into cider and brandy. Trees are also used for their wood.
Misc.: A native red fruit was listed in Dragonsdawn. According to Anne in the Kitchen Table forum, that redfruits are like a juicy plumb. There is probably a similar taste/appearance to Terran apples, since Sorka thought of apples when she ate one.
Uses: edible
Uses: as a scrubbing/cleansing agent (disinfectant?) and also for infection.
Misc.: leaves a red stain on hands, has nasty stench (Nirelka), clean-smelling
herb (Dragonlovers) used as an antiseptic wash and protects skin from being
affected by numbweed.
Known location: Southern, Cove Hold. Near Half-Circle seahold
Uses: can be used as straws for drinking, succulent reeds are edible. Can be
used as fishing poles and splints for threadscored dragon wings. Reeds are
also made into baskets. Used to make writing material. It's a 'local product' obtained by Petrion somwhere
between Harper Hall and Pierie Hold. The writing material has a tendency to absorb ink, so
it is a bit 'blotchy'.
Misc.: Both freshwater and sea water exist
Outside Info: Grows to 180cm. Rice is easily digested. Rice porridge counters heavy feasting
and is a cooling dish with medicinal uses. Can be fermented into Sake (rice wine). Roots treat
fever sweating, sprouts relieve indigestion, strengthen stomach and spleen. The straw is made
into hats. Ripe stems yield rich oil.
General habitat: 'higher reaches' (dragonlovers guide)-hills/higher ground over
the flat plains(?)
Outside Info: Otherwise known as European Mountain Ash. It has clusters of cream colored
spring flowers, and dense clusters of red berries. Berries are rich in vitamin C, and can be
made into jelly, ground into flower, and fermented into wine. Seeds contain hydrocyanic acid and
should be removed before berries are used. Berries can be made into a sore throat gargle. Bark
and leavs are used in a gargle for thrush.
Uses: medicinal and/or cooking herb
Outside Info: Dense, evergreen aromatic shrub with blue spring flowers. Grows to 2m.
There are many varieties of rosemary. It goes well with pastas, shellfish, pork and lamb. It's
antiseptic, antioxidant leavs help preserve food. They aid in the digestion of fat. Leavs used
in conditioning rinses for dark hair and for dandruff shampoos. Stimulates circulation and eases
aching joints by increasing blood supply. The essential oil is invigorating, antibacterial, and
antifungal. Stimulates central nervous system and blood circulation, and releavs muscle pain.
Dried stems can be burned on a fire for their aroma. Boil a handfull of rosemary in 2 cups of
water for 10 minutes for an antiseptic solution for washig bathroom fixtures. Put leavs into bath
to stimulate blood circulation. Rosemary is good as a mouthwash.
Uses: Bedding.
Uses:roots produce a yellow for paints.
Outside Info: Evergreen, grows to 80cm. Has mauve-blue flowers in summer. There are
many varieties of sage. Sage is used to aid in the digestion of fatty meats, and is popular in
poultry stuffings. Leaf tea is an antiseptic nerve and blood tonic. Contains hormone precursors
that help irregular mensturation and menopause symptoms. Avoid large doses during pregnancy.
Burn on embers or boil in water to disenfect a room. Sage smoke deoderizes animal and cooking
smell. Rub fresh leaf on teeth to whiten them, or use in a mouthwash. Clary sage seed infused
in water may be used to remove foreign matter from eyes painlessly. The leaf of sage helps combat
diarrhea. The tea reduces sweating, sooths coughs and colds. Sage should not be taken in large doses
over long periods.
Misc.: obnoxious weed
General habitat: 'higher reaches' (dragonlovers guide)-hills/higher ground over
the flat plains(?)
Flowers: Pink blossoms
General habitat: low marsh valleys
Known location: beaches by Half-Circle Seahold.
Misc.: a few early sour plums available in spring
Known location: near Half-Circle seahold
Uses: produces an oily seed-pod in fall
Known location: beaches by Half-Circle Seahold.
Misc.: aromatic
Uses: used braided by Menolly to join sections of her multiple pipes
General habitat: near shore.
Known location(s): beaches by Half-Circle seahold.
Uses: Boiled for the thick juice in the stalk, which is used as a preventitive
for many sicknesses and bone ailments. Also used to make balls of a sweet that
can be chewed for hours, keeping mouth fresh and moist. Purple grass seed
(unknown whether grass or seed is 'purple') used to flavor the balls. Leaves
can be wrapped around meat to allow it to slow-cook.
Known locations: Southern
Misc.: inimical to fire, tend to rot in center, to form shells of trees
Known location: near Half-Circle seahold
Known location:Southern Continent 2nd pass
Uses: gives off rich pungent odor when bruised
Uses: spun into thread
Known locations: Lemos. Skybroon trees begin at the northern Lemos end of the Keroon Plains.
Uses: construction
Misc.: the wood is difficult to work, but highly prized in the WoodcraftHall. Used for some harps, possibly other instruments. Highest quality of material for
a painter's 'canvas' in the 2nd Pass.
Known location:Lemos
Uses: used to make furniture
Known locations: Fort Hold
Uses: edible, used in several dishes.
Outside Info: Grows to 2m. White or voilet flowers, hairy seed pods. Foliage is good stock
food and fertilizer. It helps prevent heart disease and is valuable for diabetics since their
sugars remain unabsorbed. Beans are made into soy sauce, tofu, soy 'milk', are sprouted for their
shoots. Soya is ground into flour. The beans yield cooking oil, and lubricant. The plant stimulates
blood circulation, detoxifies, lowers fevers and treats food poisoning.
Uses: edible medicinal, febrifuge. Used by Moreta as a hopeful preventitive
for the plague.
Misc.: grow quickly
Known Location:by trace to Fort Hold
Uses: Berries are used for preserves.
Misc.:Dried leavs and twigs have bitter, acrid, drying taste. In early spring there are
no leavs to hide the hairlike, nearly invisible thorns that cover twig and branch. Sap rises in early spring, and it is the
worst time to get caught in the bush. Stickle slivers can work their way through flesh into the
blood. If a sliver reaches your heart, you could die from it. Most slivers can be pulled out by
hand or tweezer, but some need poulticing to draw out the sliver.
Uses: bedding, in Igen used as insulation for straw-padded boxes
containing pitchers of cold drinks.
Uses: fronds woven into matting
Known locations: Fort Hold,several northern Holds
Uses: used for sweetining
Flowers: simiar to Earth's strawflower or windflower
Known location: Southern Weyr
Uses: edible
Known locations:Nerat, Boll, Ista
Uses: made into sweetening
Outside Info: Grows up to 6m. Clump-forming rhizomes, perennial grass. The peeled
cane is added to Thai fish stews. Cane juice yields brown and white sugars. Byproducts are
made into molasses, syrup, and rum. Cane sugar sweetend, flavors and preserves foods by
inhibiting microorganisims. Cane juice soothes symptoms of asthma and is given as an expectorant.
In Asia, it is applied to wounds and boils. The root is a diuretic. Stem residue can be made
into a wax for polish.
Uses: can be eaten uncooked. Used to relieve/sweat out fever (febrifuge) and
for headache(?).
Misc.: taken in crystal-like form.
Outside Info: Grows to 120cm, with clusters of flat, mustard yellow flower heads in summer.
It is a powerful insect repellant. Aerial parts are a poultice for bruises, rheumatism, and
vericose veins. It may cause poisoning if taken internally. Rub leavs on meat to flavor. Boil
flower for a golden yellow dye, boil the leaf for a yellow green woolen dye. Use in stimulating
and astrigent baths for mature and sallow skin. Avoid if you have sensitive skin. Do not use during
pregnancy.
Uses: medicinal and/or cooking herb
Outside Info: Grows to 1m, greenish flowers. Flavors savory foods. Leaf tea stimulates
the appetite, is a digestive, and a good tonic. Chewing leavs numbs taste buds before taking
bitter medicine. The root reduced tooth ache. 2 main varieties exist- French, with a more refined
flavor but the plant needs protection in the winter, and Russian, which is hartier. Add leaf
to mayo for fish dishes, salad dressings, light soups. Goes well with poultry.
Known location: nerat
Known location: near Fort Hold
Uses: medidcinal herb, for coughs. Used on runners as well as humans.
Outside Info: There are many varieties, most grow to about 38cm. Lillac colored summer
flowers. Thyme aids digestion of fatty foods. It is ideal for long, slow cooking of soups and
stews. The essential oil is a stimulant and antisceptic- a nerve tonic used externally to treat
depression, colds, muscular pain, and respitory problems. The essential oil is added to acne lotions,
soaps, toothpastes and mouthwashes. Thyme strenghtens the immune system. It suits food cooked slowly in
wine, especially poultry, fish, hot vegetables, fruit salads, and jams. It is also used to flavor
beer. Make a strong decoction to serve as a household disenfectant. Infuse with rosemary as a hair
rinse to deter dandruff. The tea is a digestive tonic for hangovers, and may also relieve insomnia,
poor capilarry circulation, muscular pain, and stimulate production of white blood cells to resist
infection.
Known Location:on any runner trace in the Northern Continent.
Uses: to provide a firm but springy surface for runners
Misc: A runner can tell if he or she strays from a trace by the feel of the trace moss.
The legendary 'Lopers' originally planted the moss, and it has been maintained since. The moss dosen't
do as well in the heat of Boll as it does in the North. The moss doesn't stain runner shoes.
Known location: Half-circle seahold, Ista, Southern, Southern Boll
Uses: edible
Misc.: Can be baked in mud in a cookout fire. (other foods including fish can
also be baked in this manner.) White tubers (white roots?) found in Southern.
Known locations: Fort Hold, northern farms under Benden Weyr
Uses: edible
Outside Info: Grows to 30cm. The plant is commonly known as colt's foot, tussilago is
the Genus name. It is a perennial with creeping rhyzomes, dull yellow flowers in early spring that
turn into a dandelion-like seed head. Tender leavs are eaten n soups and salads. Used to treat
coughs, skin ulcers, and sores. Flowers reduce phlegm, inflammation, and stimulate immune cells.
Use with caution externially- it contains small amounts of potentially damaging alkaloids, which
research suggests sre destroyed when the plant is boiled. All parts of plant contain mucilage, good
for coughs and bronchitis. Decoct leavs for colds, flu, and asthma.
Outside Info: Lemon Verbena grows to 3m. Tiny, pale summer flowers. Leavs used to flavor drinks, fruit,
sweet dishes, and to make herb tea. The tea is refreshing and mildly sedative- it soothes bronchial
and nasal congestion and eases indigestion nausea, flatulance, stomach cramps, and palpitations.
Leavs yield a green coloring. Leaf infusion sooths puffy eyes. Long term use of large amounts may
irritate the stomach.
Known locations: Ista
Uses: When its leavs are bruised, it releases a sap that will neutralize
insect stings.
Flowers: many-petaled ivory flowers that bloom late winter/early spring.
Known location: Nerat
Known location: Benden Hold
Uses: edible nut
Outside Info: Grows up to 30m. In China, nuts were used to treat wheezing, back and leg
pains, and constipation. Walnut oil is used in soapmaking, and as a cooking oil. The bark, leavs,
and husks yield a brown dye. Crushed leavs treat skin eruptions.
Known locations: bowl lake of bended Weyr
Uses: roots are edible
Fruit: pink-fleshed interior, with a green rind.
Uses: edible fruit
Uses: edible nut
Known locations: Ruatha
Outsie Info: Wheat is used used instead of barley in some beers. These tend to be heavier in alchol content than your average ale. Wheat brews are considered summer brews, and is drunk mainly in the warmer weather. In the warmer parts of Pern, this might be made nearly year-round.
Uses: edible
Known location: Nabol
General habitat: wet riverbanks
Uses: willow herb (same plant?) as a tea to keep arthritis under control.
Used in combination with sage and wintergreen as a tea for headaches.
Willowsalic used for headache, taken in crystal-like form.
Outside Info: Grows to 25m. Stem bark is a painkiller, fever reducer, and as a source of
salicylic acid for asprin. Various bark extracts used as a sore throat gargle, to treat heartburn,
stomach problems, food poisoning, relieve arthritic pain, and to remove corns. Infused leavs
make a tea for nervous insomnia, and added to baths to ease rheumatism. Willows provide the best
quality artist's charcoal, branches are used for weaving.
Outside Info: Grows to 15cm, flowers in summer. Wintergreen oil is used to flavor candy
and toothpaste. The oil contains menthyl salicylate, related to asprin. Oil is easily absorbed
through skin, is astrigent, diuretic, and a stimulant. Used externially for muscle aches, especially
in foot balms and treatments for rheumatism. In the Inuit of Labrador, the leavs are brewed for a tes
to treat paralysis, headaches, aching muscles, and sore throats. The oil can irritate the skin, and
must be used only under close medical supervision if it is to be taken internially. Wintergreen should
be avoided or used with caution when pregnant.
Outside Info: A shrub with fragrant winter flowers that grows to 5m. A distillation
from leavs and flower-bearing twigs is included in skin products for its disenfectant and astrigent
properties, Used on chapped skin, bruisesm swelling, rashes, to help stop bleeding, reduce hemmoroids,
and vericose veins. Seeds are edible, and the leavs can be brewed for a warming tea.
Known locations: Ruatha (Plateau Hold)
General habitat: near rivers
Uses: made into baskets
Outside Info: Sweet woodruff grows to 45cm. Small clusters of brilliant white flowers in late
spring. The leaf tea is a diuretic liver tonic and gentile sedative for children and the elderly.
Bruised fresh leavs are an anti-congestant for wounds. Dry leavs scent linnen. The rhyzomes
yild a red dye.
Outside Info: Grows to 1m, dense flat white or pink flower heads from summer to fall.
The peppery leaf is finely chopped into salads. Flowering tops are a digestive and cleaning tonic
a diuretic, and used to reduce high blood pressure. Fresh leavs arrest bleeding and are applied
as a poultice to wounds or are placed on shaving cuts. Flowers threat eczema, catarrh from allergies.
The flower essential oil treats colds, flu, and inflammed joints. Native Americans used root
decoction to strengthen muscles. Avoid during pregnancy. Overdose can make skin sensitive to
sunlight. Add 1 finely chopped fresh leaf to each wheelbarrowfull to speed composting. Chew fresh
leavs to aid toothache. The tea aids digestive problems, regulates menstrual flow, induces
perspiration, cleanses the system, and as a cure for colds. Use as a mouthwash for inflammed gums.
Known locations: Southern, Ista(citrus fruit)
Uses: fruit
Known locations: near Half-Circle seahold
Uses: 'salad' greens
Misc.: available in early spring