Spotted Wintergreen (Wild Harvest Tour Special)

 Wild Harvest Tour Special Edition

 

Just to let you all know, the next few blog posts will be covering things that were exclusively seen on the Wild Harvest Tour, these are plants found in the woods of North Carolina. Some of these plants are good, some are bad but they are things you need to know about. I hope you enjoy the focused content folks.

 

https://www.facebook.com/people/Sandhills-Wild-Harvest/61557940700225/?sk=photos

 

 

Spotted Wintergreen looks like a Euonymus that has escaped cultivation, but it is a very potent herb.

 

 

 

Common Name: Spotted Wintergreen

 

Other Common Names: Pipsissewa, Striped Wintergreen, Striped Prince’s Pine, Spotted Pipsissewa, Ratsbane, Rheumatism Root.

 

Botanical Family: Ericaceae (The Heath/Heather Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Chimahila maculata

Synonym Chimaphila maculate var. dasystenna)

 

Description & Habitat:  Spotted Wintergreen is a native evergreen wildflower that spreads by seeds and its rhizome. Some references say it is in the ‘Shinleaf’ family. Its key identification features are the white stripes on the midrib of the leaf and the white to pinkish flowers that are fragrant and emerge in summer in small clusters. It can typically be found in sandy habitats, and in well-drained upland forests, wooded sloped land and oak-pine woods, old growth forests and similar mesic habitats. It is theorized this plant may rely on Mycorrhizal or ericoid mycorrhizal connections to survive. The foliage of this plant is toxic to sheep and is avoided by deer. It may be considered endangered in some states and is considered endangered in Canada. This plant’s genus name is from the Greek words, cheima (“winter”) and philein (“Love”).

 

When & What to Harvest: The name ‘Pipsisikweu’ is from the Creek Indian language and means ‘breaks into small pieces’. This is a reference to its supposed ability to break down gallstones and kidney stones. A tea made from its leaves was used to treat Rhumatism and stomach problems. The leaves of this plant are edible and have a refreshing quality to them. Beyond this the entirety of the plant has medicinal use. I seriously recommend consulting a qualified herbalist before you use this plant internally in any form.

 

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None known.

 

Related Edible Species: Common Name (Latin name).

 

Recipe: Most references suggest making a tea from the leaves and they all seem to have about the same process:

 

Pack a jar with wintergreen leaves and cover with distilled water. Place a lid on the jar and cover with a tea towel. Leave the jar on your counter for about three days or until you see bubbles forming. Strain out the leaves and other debris and warm the liquid to a drinking temperature.

 

It is possible this recipe that is repeated so often only refers to the other wintergreen (Gaultheria), but there is no reason to assume the process needs to be any different.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

 

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/chimaphila-maculata/

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

 

Summer Vegetable Plants (NEW!)

Tomato – Sungold

Tomato – Midnight Snack

Tomato – Sweet 100

Tomato – Chocolate Cherry

Tomato – Lemon Boy

Tomato – Black Krim

Tomato – Paul Robeson

Tomato – Cherokee Purple

Tomato – Brandywine, Suddeth’s Strain

 

Pepper – Ghost

Pepper – Carolina Reaper

Dahlias

 

 

Herbs (New!)

Bee Balm

Garlic

Hairy Balls Milkweed

Lemon Balm

Oregano

Sweet Genovese Basil

 

Garden Plants

Daylilies

Walking Iris

 

Coming Soon:

American Aloe

Yucca

Lamb’s Ear

Spineless Prickly Pear

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (2): English Violet, Pink Celery Bolting Part 1, Pink Celery Bolting Part 2.

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is May 10^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.