https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/241043792
Today was a really nice day out and I wanted to get outside so I decided to harvest this beautiful plant. I have only ever known it by its Inupiaq name which is ayuu but it also has a Lingit name which is s’ikshaldeen. I have also heard it be called Hudson Bay tea or Labrador tea. I found it on the path behind housing here in Juneau.
This plant has dark green colored leathery, narrow leaves that tuck under at the edges. It also has dense orangish- brown hairs on the underside of the leaves. During the late spring and early summer, it has clusters of white flowers at the very top of the plant. It also has a very distinct, pleasant scent to it. Ayuu can be found in tundras, muskegs, bogs, peatlands and is an indicator of wet and very acidic soil. It is distributed all across the northern parts of North America and in Greenland.
Ayuu is most popularly known to be used for tea but it also has been used for medicinal purposes. It is packed with Vitamin C so it has been used for anti-inflammatory purposes. As a tea, it can be used to help with healing the inner lining of your gut and it also relaxes your muscles. If used as a tea, it should be taken in small amounts as taking it in large amounts can be harmful. It has also been used to treat colds, pneumonia, diarrhea, arthritis, migraines, and the list goes on and on.
Sites used:
https://plantwatch.naturealberta.ca/choose-your-plants/labrador-tea/index.html
https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/cs_legr.pdf
https://floem.ca/en/blogs/blogue/quels-sont-les-bienfaits-du-the-du-labrador#:~:text=Through%20Time%3A%20The%20Benefits%20of%20Labrador%20Tea&text=Indeed%2C%20he%20was%20attributed%20many,Owen%20%26%20Johns%2C%201999).
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-539/bog-labrador-tea
Comments
Seeing your photo of this plant brought back so many memories of my dad and I going out to harvest their leaves on cold rainy days. Ive always known it to be called Labrador tea so it's interesting to now know it by their Inupiq and Linget names. Also really cool to learn more about its medicinal purposes. If not brewed as a tea how else can it be used? I've been away from Alaska for too long and I forgot activities like walking through the marches to pick Labrador tea. I hope to get out soon and pick some for myself!
Thanks for sharing this information! I had known that you could harvest this plant to make tea but I didn't know about the all the benefits it had. It was also interesting to me that it is better to have in small amounts because the effects it has can be very intense. I also thought that it was interesting it could grow in so many different environments and that it was an indicator of wet and acidic soil. It makes me think about what the implications of this could be in a changing ecosystem due to climate change. I enjoyed the photo you posted too!
Hi Markayla,
It is so cool to hear what it is called, and then also learn about its Linget name. I got to help a friend pick some of these leaves for some tea, but I never got to try any of it. I didn't know about its medicinal purposes of how it could help with colds, migraines, and many others! That is so cool! I also didn’t know about how large amounts of it can be harmful, why is that? Can you use it for anything else besides tea? Are there other types of plants around here that you could make tea out of? I hope I get to try it myself soon!
Nice entry, Markayla, and thank you for providing a variety of photos, which helps with identification. For those who are not familiar with this plant and haven't ever harvested it before, it can be easy to confuse it with the poisonous western bog laurel, or kalmia microphylla. Your providing an image particularly of the underside of the leaves was key.
Thanks for sharing this species and some information about it with us, Markayla! And for anyone excited about harvesting this species, be sure to first do it with someone who has done it before and can show you how to differentiate it from kalmia microphylla.
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