WildeHerb is a collection of wild herb and wildflower sightings.
The box huckleberry is either tasteless or sweet like a blueberry depending on what you read. It’s evident that somebody has tasted the wrong berry or misidentified their berry. Blueberries are similar to huckleberries. There are several types of each plant, so one would expect that they don’t all taste the same. It seems that … Read more
A day trip to the Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area in the Tuscarora State Forest was a delight for this first-time visit. Access is about a half-mile down Huckleberry Road from Route 34, just south of New Bloomfield, Perry County, Pennsylvania. Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area in the Tuscarora State Forest, … Read more
Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens, is also called Checkerberry or Teaberry. You might be familiar with Teaberry Gum or Teaberry Ice Cream – well, the flavor comes from wintergreen. It’s a low-growing plant that can be found in woodlands, especially in northern areas of the eastern US and Canada, and in the mountains toward the south. It’s … Read more
It’s always a delight to find a new flowering friend, so I was pleasantly surprised to find one while driving around taking in the sights of Mountain Laurel blooming. As I slowed down before turning onto another country road a different white-flowering plant caught my eye. Its flowers seemed scraggly as if the petals were … Read more
We made an interesting discovery this year in our wooded acres on the mountain ridge. A lot of undergrowth is present near the wood’s edge. That’s not too surprising because the deer population has a lot of choice of what to eat around here in the country. We see them crossing our property as they … Read more
Very few Whorled Pogonia plants flowered in 2010, but of the four individuals that did only two appeared to have been fertilized as noted by the developing seed heads. Whorled pogonia may only spread successfully by their root system, judging by the sparse seed output this year and total lack of flower production in prior … Read more
Early in the day during my walk at the Box Huckleberry Natural Area I was stopped in my tracks by nice sweet smell. It smelled like a spring day and that’s about all I can say to describe the lovely scent. I looked around and the thing was I couldn’t find the source of the … Read more
Image via Wikipedia Lady Slipper Pink Lady Slipper or Moccasin Flower Blooming in Pennsylvania, 30 April 2010. Checking on the huckleberry plants the other week I was pleasantly surprised to see the Pink Lady’s Slipper or Moccasin Flower, Cypripedium acaule. After I saw one I looked for more lady slippers and found a number of … Read more