February Herbs
Originally published at The Mossy Skull. Please leave any comments there.
Princess Pine, Lycopodium obscurum, so called because it looks like a tiny girl-sized version of King Pine aka Eastern White Pine, so called because its trunk is tall, straight, lightweight, full of pitch, and in the colonial era the king declared they had all been grown by God exclusively as masts for the royal navy. Princess pine is three inches tall, not a pine, and puts out little brown flowers like pipe cleaner tips in the fall. In the 70s it was endangered cause ladies gathered it for Christmas decorations. Now it’s everywhere again.
“King Pine”, Pinus strobus
Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens. Smells delicious when you crinkle it up. Indians dried it for tea. They use it in scented candles. Someday I’ll use it in mead.