Can
you identify what's in this photo?
Each Wednesday morning
on Camp Lutherlyn's Facebook page
the Lutherlyn Environmental
Education Program posts a photo.
Readers
have all morning and afternoon
to
make their best guess about what the photo is.
Around
6 pm LEEP provides the answer and a brief explanation.
Each
week's What is it Wednesday post
will
also be posted on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog,
the
day after it is posted on Facebook,
sometimes
with additional bonus information.
This
photo was posted as a What is it Wednesday on January 16, 2019.
And
the answer is....
These are the leaves of teaberry (sharing the scene with
moss, lichen, dead leaves, tree bark, and snow).
Teaberry is a small plant that grows close the ground with oval shaped leaves that are a shiny dark green on
top all year round, and duller light green underneath. It also produces small
white flowers followed by a few dark red berries. Teaberry is also known as
wintergreen – the leaves and berries are edible and taste like wintergreen mint.
Their best use is in making a minty tea.
There are a few small plants that look similar to
teaberry/wintergreen – if you aren’t sure if you’ve found teaberry, break a
leaf and smell it. If it smells like mint, it’s teaberry!
One of the delightful
things about teaberry is that its refreshing flavor is available all year
round! It is most often found on the forest floor near hemlock trees, though it
sometimes shows up other places as well.
To find out how you can learn more with LEEP about the
refreshing things all around us in nature, check out www.Lutherlyn.com/ee.
Like and follow Camp Lutherlyn on
Facebook, to see What is it Wednesday posts when they come out and have
the opportunity to share your guesses in the comments!
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