Green Earth Zine 01 | Page 12

Medicinal Herbs That Can Be Found Around Montreal

Yarrow

Red Clover

Also known as the old man’s

pepper, yarrow grows all over

Montreal, found along roadrailroads, vacant lots,

parks, lawns, and forests. The leaves are best con-

sumed when young and can be used as vegetable

in salads or soups, or dried up for a tea infusion!

The leaves can even be used as a hop-substitute for flavoring and as a preservative for beer. Yarrow was used in traditional Native American herbal medicine all over the con-tinent, helping toothaches when chewed, headaches when inhaled, or earaches when poured as an infusion.

A short-lived perennial plant that can be found in meadows, pastures, and other grassy places in Montreal. The leaves can

be eaten raw or cooked! On their own they can be used as a a vegetable, cooked like spinach or you can use it in salads or soups.

The leaves can also be dried and sprinkled on foods or used in baked goods, bringing about a

vanilla flavor! The Algonquin made an infusion of

red clover to treat whooping cough and alleviate fevers while the Iroquois made a decoction of the flowers to be taken as a blood medicine.