On another day, grey and overcast, my husband and I took a short snowshoe at another Wildlife Preserve. The grey sky and snow seem to elucidate the shapes of the skeletal plants and trees.
This is a Sweet Fern plant. A blog viewer recently mentioned Sweet Fern and ironically I had just taken this picture! Sweet Fern is good for more than just a good cup of tea. It is not actually a fern, but has fern-like foliage. It is and has been used for many different purposes. I have one account of it being used by an Iroquois woman as a poultice for a toothache (ca. 1747) along with other accounts of it being a good toothache medicine. Modern science has revealed that Sweet Fern contains a rather large amount of the compound caryophyllene, which is also present in the oil of cloves - used even in the modern day for toothaches.
Sweet Fern is also an astringent and styptic, which means that it contracts blood vessels in soft tissue injuries, helping to stop bleeding. The Native Americans chewed the roots and drank the tea to treat the coughing up of blood. Of course, like most medicinal plants, it was used to treat fever and stomach ills.
Sweet Fern is also an astringent and styptic, which means that it contracts blood vessels in soft tissue injuries, helping to stop bleeding. The Native Americans chewed the roots and drank the tea to treat the coughing up of blood. Of course, like most medicinal plants, it was used to treat fever and stomach ills.
Sweet Fern also contains compounds found in eucalyptus, so it is not surprising that it can be crushed and used as an insect repellent. I found one source stating that making a cigarette of sweet fern and smoking it while fishing is good for keeping the mosquitoes at bay. (By the way, if you ever want to try smoking wild plants, please understand that smoking the wrong ones can kill you - just like eating the wrong ones).
Most interestingly, Sweet Fern is often cited as being a very effective treatment for Poison Ivy. I never knew that anything other than Jewel Weed could be used for Poison Ivy! Hopefully I don't get the chance to test it out this summer.
Lastly, Sweet Fern seems to have some preservative effects, and can be used to line containers holding berries and fruit. There is, no doubt, some chemical component which helps to keep the fruits fresh for extended periods of time.
Lastly, Sweet Fern seems to have some preservative effects, and can be used to line containers holding berries and fruit. There is, no doubt, some chemical component which helps to keep the fruits fresh for extended periods of time.
Pokeweed! Poisonous when mature, Pokeweed shoots are said to be delicious. I will have to post a more detailed account of this plant in the spring when I can try them for myself. The berries are very dark purple and can be used for dying and as ink.
We took another snowshoe out on a beautiful sunny day, where the contrast of the blinding sun on the snow and the dramatic shadows compelled me to stop and take some pictures.
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