As I was clearing out an old flower bed I’ve neglected for years I discovered a blooming Pipsissewa wildflower. I was so surprised! I’ve noticed the striped leaves over the years in the woods surrounding our house, but somehow I’ve never caught one blooming until now.
The little drooping blooms make me think of old fairy tales.
The underside of the nodding flower is very elaborate and beautiful, but can only be truly appreciated if you pull it up or stand on your head 🙂
It’s also commonly called striped wintergreen and spotted wintergreen.
According to the NC State Extension Website the plant was made into a tea and used by Native Americans for stomach issues and rheumatism. The leaves were also used as a poultice for sores and wounds.
A few years ago I discovered a rare Rose Bud Orchid in the edge of our woods. I’ve looked for it every year since, but never seen it again. I hope that’s not what happens with the Pipsissewa.
Last night’s video: The People of Brasstown.
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Tipper, that little streaked-leaf plant you found may be what we used to pick in the woods of East Tennessee. We would boil it in water, add some sugar and maybe just a small shot of ‘shine and use it for cough syrup
That is so pretty! It reminds me a little bit of Lilly of the Valley. I love that is is medicinal too.
Donna N – I’m sorry I am just getting back to you. I actually have been making my own toothpaste for the past ten years. I don’t measure, I just go by sight – I put several (4 or 5) big heaping tablespoonfuls of unrefined coconut oil in a bowl, and add a teaspoon-ish of baking soda. I mix that very well, put a lid on it and that’s all there is to it. When I brush my teeth, I put enough of my homemade paste on a wet toothbrush, and brush away. I buy those little clear plastic disposable tubs/cups that have lids that restaurants use to put condiments in for your order, at Walmart in the paper cup section (if I am in the store or online if I do grocery pickup). I use these little cups to spit in when I am done brushing, (gross sounding, I know, I apologize!). You don’t want to put coconut oil down your sink or in your toilet. I actually prefer the way my mouth feels after using my own toothpaste than when I used the store bought kind. Everyone says my teeth look really white, so I guess it does a good job! I found out from a friend today that Dr Bronner’s makes a couple of non mint toothpastes, I looked them up online, and you can order them through Amazon. I will stay with my homemade toothpaste for now. I am simply use to it! I hope this helps you!
Donna. : )
My Granpa Byers called it Lion’s Tongue. He made a tea or a salve from it. Probably a salve.
I have those all over my yard. Tiny little plant!
I’ve never seen or heard of this plant but it’s so unique and the blooming flower is so pretty!! Reminds me of the sugar flowers folks put on decorated cakes. Thanks for sharing. Have a blessed day everyone!!
Cool flower! I got excited when I found some ghost pipes growing in the woods behind our house a few years ago. I haven’t looked yet to see if they are back this year.
Good Morning,
I discovered your site on Youtube a couple of weeks ago and am hooked. My parents were both born and raised in the Ozarks, then relocated to Colorado after WWII, where Dad work in the mountains in the Timber Industry.
I loved to visit our family in southern Missouri. Our ancestors are from Scotland Ireland and England, migrated to North Carolina, took the southern loop to the Ozarks and kept going west and brought soup beans, corn bread and the language with them. My parents are both gone now, your posts with recipes and languages bring back so many memories. I love your posts, thank you.
Now for the reason I posted here was to share a feature on my iPhone 11. When you take a photo of a plant there is feature that will look up the information for the plant from the photo. When your looking at your saved photo on the bottom of the page there is an icon of a blue circle with stars by it. Tap that and it takes you to a search function. Android may have this also. Comes in handy when hiking those trails. Thanks again Tipper, I love your site and I can tell the love you put into it. Your a busy gal.
I think the Pip is a very beautiful plant. I think I’ve seen it here, but the tiny blooms are the bee’s knees!!! All in all it’s a lovely little thing- especially when one considers its many uses. Tipper, you find the most interesting stuff to see and talk about!!! Have a blessed day all!!!
My Grandma also called it “rat’s vein”, as Clyde said, and she said it was good for the kidneys. It must be good medicine because it is very bitter. If anyone thinks the ” wintergreen” name means winter green flavor they are in for a big surprise.
I have quite a bit of it here. It is slowly increasing by both runners and – I think – seed. I have a foundation planting bed with a river pebble mulch on the west side of the house but in all day shade. In it is quite a number of pipssisawa plants. They are easiest to see there so that’s how I know they are increasing. I’m fine with that because they have several characteristics I like; shade tolerant, small, evergreen, attractive bloom and no pests that I’ve ever noticed. They make a good ground cover.
I have tried to transplant some before and to be such a little plant they have a tremendously long root. I also crumble and scatter the seed heads into the river pebbles so I may have been a means for some of the increase. I wish I had some real winter green (we call it “mountain tea”.) They could look well together. But I have never seen mountain tea growing anywhere near here.
I have lots of wintergreen berries where I live in CNY. They taste so good. They’re easiest found in the spring after the snow melts off. I was lucky. I had a mom that played & practically ‘lived’ in the woods with her 9 siblings. She knew all the names of the wildflowers & woodland plants. She would take us (& my kids, now) on walks & tell us the names and little fables that went with them. Like the story of Queen Anne’s Lace. We picked berries, so we knew all of those as well. The wintergreen has such a wonderful taste, but I don’t know what else you’d do with it other than eat it fresh. There is never a lot in one spot to pick.
Wow! I’m gradually gaining the awareness that it would be very useful to know about all of the natural treatments that grow all around us! These things are really worth looking into! The flowers are beautiful too! They’re saying, “lookie here!”
What a delightful surprise! It’s a lovely gift, for sure, and one I hope that keeps returning.
We have a number of plants in our woods. Ours will disappear some years when we have a drought going then they come back again when the rains return. I think they may go dormant in dry years.
I’ve seen lots of this but never seen it in bloom. Pipsissewa must be the American Indian name.
How beautiful…thank you for sharing.
Miss Cindy, you are so right! There is beauty eveywhere if we take the time to see it
Pipsissewa is very common here on the Cumberland Plateau. It is blooming here too. I love that beautiful little wildflower. I’ve read that it is useful medicinally and that it has been used to successfully treat brown recluse spider bites.
So many sweet surprises await us if we just open our eyes and look for them. I love walking in the woods because that seems to be a place to find many surprises in addition to the garden. If you’re feeling down getting out in nature is a great pick-me-up.
It’s so pretty! I hope you can somehow save the Pipsissewa plant so it will grow back next year and produce more for you. I’ve never heard or seen them to my remembrance. Then I’ve never heard about or seen a Red Rose Orchid either. I can imagine it was beautiful. Thank you for sharing and educating us on flowers and plants that are rare now days. You do truly keep so much about the Appalachia alive. Thank you!
I’ve seen the plant a lot, but I have never seen it bloom. I guess that’s because it’s facing down. It’s a lovely little bloom.
I guess we just don’t know what is around us unless we take the time to look!
My father (Franklin County, VA) called this species rat’s vein. He also said he had used it as a flavoring in his bootleg whiskey from time to time.
This is the first time I have ever seen that plant! It does look like something fairies would have planted, it’s blooms are so tiny. It amazes me how various plants became used for medicinal purposes. How did someone know to use them for a particular ailment? Trial and error, for sure, I understand that. But without modern day record keeping of which plants were given time and again for a certain health issue, well, – – it just amazes me. Definitely the hand of God was involved. I am very grateful for the knowledge God has given us for modern medicine (which I truly believe He allows us to have, discoveries are not just accidentally made by man – God opens the way/mind for those discoveries to be made), and I believe He gave us healing in nature around us that works very well. But because each person’s body is unique, what works for some doesn’t work for all. I personally can’t use remedies that use any form of mint, I am allergic to it, the smell of any kind of mint alone (chewing gum, plants, etc) gives me horrible headaches. But it works wonders for other people. I believe that is why God has given us all that He has in the world of medicine – traditional (synthetic modern ways), and ancient (herbs, etc). And my views/opinions are ever evolving and changing on all of it as I keep learning. All of life is very fascinating, indeed. I really enjoyed this post! Thank you!
Donna. : )
What toothpaste do you use? Almost all of them are mint flavored, which burns my tongue, but I tolerate it anyway. I am especially allergic to Aquafresh. So I definitely don’t use it. Otherwise I have a drawer full of small tubes & switch around as much as I can. Just wondering if you know of any that are “tame”?
I must use toothpaste for sensitive teeth and my favorite (I love sensodyne mint) was not available. I bought a new version and was so surprised at how well it worked for sensitive teeth AND no burning tongue and my teeth felt cleaner, also. It is Sensodyne Extra Protection but I don’t use but a small bit on my toothbrush, not the large amount they recommend. I read the label and didn’t see mint included but the packaging has green which seems to be on all minty packages but it doesn’t taste like mint either. Hope you find relief.
Colgate sells a cinnamon flavored toothpaste, that can usually be found in the Dollar Tree stores (don’t know if you have that store near you). There are other cinnamon ones, too, I think. My mom doesn’t like the mint so I pick her up a tube when I’m in the Dollar Tree, because Walmart doesn’t carry it.
Hi Tipper!
I enjoyed last night’s video with David and the photographic collection. He has done a great service to historians of the future by preserving this photographs and getting them into the hands of museums and archives. Do you know if he contacted the NC Department of Archives and History in Raleigh. It’s been a very long time since I haunted those archives, but I believe that they have a curated photographic collection and might well appreciate those additions, especially with the provenance David can provid.
That’s a lovely little flower. I think I’ve seen it in gardens, but never in the wild.
Robert-I don’t know if he did or not. If he didn’t WCU might have since they added the photos to their archives.
i use fennel flavored ones from the health food store that are mint-free and fluoride-free or else my mouth gets sore anytime i use a mainstream regular brand. i like Desert Essence Tea Tree Oil kind the best. if i forget to pack it on a trip and have to use regular kinds of toothpaste just once i regret it quick and for a week of pain!