SHINLEAF IS BLOOMING

SHINLEAF PLANT...

...BASAL LEAVES...

...TINY BELL-SHAPED FLOWERS TYPICAL OF THE HEATH FAMILY

Thursday,  7:30 AM. Sixty degrees F at the ferry dock, 54 on the back porch.  Wind SW, calm to light with occasional gusts.  The sky is partly cloudy with some high overcast.  The humidity is 79% and the barometer is beginning to fall, now standing at 30.4". It will probably clear some later as the sun is beginning to poke through the clouds at present.
   Hwy. 13 between Washburn and US Hwy. 2 is being resurfaced and it has been a real hassle to go between Washburn and Ashland, with a lot of delays and inconvenience, but it looks like the majority of the work will be done and traffic pretty much back to normal for the Fourth of July.
   Shinleaf is a very small plant that one might easily mistake for Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense), in the Lily Family,  except that it's spike of minute flowers blooms much later, and the plants grow more individually.  There are a number of shinleaf species indigenous to Wisconsin, the one pictured probably being Pyrola elliptica, in the Heath (Ericaceae) family.  I will leave more positive identification to a better botanist (certainly one with better eyesight).  The tiny, bell-shaped shinleaf flower, upon close examination, is obviously a typical heath flower.  These spring flowering understory plants are inhabitants of northerly, dry woods and forests.  The genus name refers to the leaves resembling those of the pear (Pyrus) and the species names in general refer to the shape of the leaf.
   The common name refers to the traditional use, by both Europeans and Native Americans, of the leaves of these plants as a poultice for cuts, abrasions and strains, much as one might use the leaves of the closely related wintergreen plant in the same family. A decoction of the leaves was  used to treat various internal bleeding problems as well.
   European folk and herbal medicine and American Indian uses of plants for medicinal purposes were often much the same, according to the references I use for each.  I think we can assume that much of the American Indian information has been lost, since it was not written down until relatively recently, whereas European medicinal uses of plants has been recorded in written form since the time of ancient Greece.