When people clean pots and pans, they probably use scratchy pads of steel wool or plastic. But long ago, people cleaned pots with plants called horsetails. Horsetails, also called rushes, are short,...
Cossack asparagus
Cattails grow in marshes, on riverbanks, and near water-filled ditches. Their flowers become fuzzy, brown rods that look and feel like the tip of a cat's tail. Cattail roots are good to eat. The...
The day’s eye and a cup of butter
Did you ever wonder how some wild flowers got their names? The daisy looks somewhat like an eye. And, like an eye, it opens up at the beginning of each day. So, long ago in England, people named it...
Fairies, sneezes, and piles of gold
that ragweed was the favorite plant of the fairies. But it seems strange that the fairies would like a plant that makes many people feel sick. In most flowers there are tiny grains called pollen....
Elves’ umbrellas and toads’ stools
Fungi are strange little plants. They have no roots, stems, or leaves. They look like umbrellas, or balls, or sponges, or horns, or even birds' nests! They are white, or yellow, or orange, or purple,...
An Indian medicine plant
When you're sick, your mother or father calls a doctor. Long ago, when Indian children became sick, their mothers or fathers called a medicine man. The medicine man didn't have pills or shots, but...
Indian potatoes
When the Pilgrims came to America they didn't have much food. But friendly Indians showed them how to grow corn, beans, and squash. And the Indians showed the Pilgrims where to find wild plants to...
A plant that bandages itself
> milkweed There are lots of things to know about the plant called milkweed. Milkweed gets its name from the white juice, which looks like milk, that oozes out when the plant is cut. This rubbery...
The perfume plant
> calamus Do you think it would be fun to have leaves on the floor of your house instead of a rug? Long ago, people in Europe and early settlers in America would gather leaves of the calamus...
Arrowhead
> Indians liked to eat arrowhead roots. They pulled the plants out of > the mud with their toes. If you were an Indian long ago, you might have gone wading to get some of your food. Arrowhead is...
