Labrador Tea in the Gigantic Broccoli Forest
We just got back yesterday from a trip to the West Coast of Vancouver Island.
We stayed near Tofino and walked the beaches and trails of Pacific Rim National Park.
When I walk trails I like to look for herbs that grow naturally in the environment. One of the herbs I was familiar with from previous trips to the area is known as Labrador Tea.
This herb can be seen when walking the Shorepine Bog Trail near the Wickannish Interpretive Centre of the national park.
I find this trail, all on boardwalk, particularly interesting as the plants that grow there are plants that have adapted to growing in a bog.
The forest that grows in the bog of this temperate rainforest is unlike any other forest you have seen. It’s been dubbed the Gigantic Broccoli Forest, which brings to mind some strange sort of horror film.
“I’m being attacked by gigantic broccoli because I didn’t eat them for dinner, ahhh.”
But, I digress. The forest has been named this because the trees that grow there are gnarled and stunted with twisted limbs pointing skyward.
That’s because the roots are struggling to absorb the few nutrients and minerals available in the acidic, waterlogged soil.
But underneath and near these trees, on the bottom of the bog, is a little shrub with slender leaves known as Labrador Tea. It looks like a small rhododendron, with slender leaves covered with a rust-colored fuzz underneath.
The leaves of this plant were used by the First Nations people to make a tea or mixed it with their own limited supplies of tea to make a combination tea.
The plant can also be identified by the cluster of tiny, white flowers at the top of the stem.
The tea has a fir or jasmine-like taste and is reputed to have sedative properties. The tea is also known as Indian Tea, Bog Labrador Tea, James Tea, Marsh Tea or Swamp Tea.
Warning: Labrador tea looks a lot like Sheep Laurel, a toxic species. Labrador tea can be identified by the downy underside of its leaves.
Marilyn Zink is the publisher.editor of The Herbal Collective magazine, www.herbalcollective.ca
