This Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury project will put trilingual plant ID markers (made from repurposed scrap wood) along community trails, to encourage people to explore their neighbourhood trails and get to know the plants that live there.

Find out more about walks, workshops and other activities:

The plants

Goldenrod (Solidaga spp), Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense), Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum), Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), Red oak (Quercus rubra)

Names

Anishinaabemowin

Ajidamoowaanow
Agongosimin
Mashkiikaang niibish
Baashknjibgwaan
Mitigomizh-miskozi

English

Goldenrod
Mayflower
Labrador tea
Trillium
Red oak

French

Verge d’or
Maïanthème du Canada
Thé du Labrador
Trille blanc
Chêne rouge

Anishinaabemowin names shared by Eugenia Eshkawkogan from Wiikwemikoong.

Plant marker artist: Jayden Daoust is a multidisciplinary artist based in N’Swakamok / Sudbury. She has an online store selling beadwork, stickers, prints and patches. You can read more about her at www.divingloon.ca/about

Plant stories (gathered by Violet Lanthier)

Goldenrod (Solidago)

This is a keystone plant for pollinators and has various uses for people from dye to lucky charms.

A folktale explains that the plant got its lovely golden flowers and name because of its kindness.

You see once an old woman was making her way through the woods. She asked the trees for a walking stick, but they all refused. She found a stick on the ground and asked it for help. It agreed and she leaned on it to make her way.

When she reached the edge of the forest, she turned into a fairy and sprinkled gold dust on the stick turning it into the goldenrod we see today.

Source: Folklore Thursday: Floral Folklore Goldenrod. Posted by Emily https://groweatgift.com/2017/08/24/folklore-thursday-floral-folklore-goldenrod/ 

Trillium (Trillium Grandiflorum)

Our provincial flower grows in close drifts because its seeds are not distributed by birds, or bees, or wind but by ants. Each flower produces only one large seed coated by a sticky substance, which attract them. They carry the seed underground, eat the yummy coating and leave the seed to germinate in spring.

Source: American meadows: All about Trillium https://www.americanmeadows.com/perennials/woodland-wildflowers/all-about-trillium

Canada Mayflower/Wild Lily of the Valley (Maianthemum Canadense)

Canada Mayflower forms carpet like colonies but politely grows around other plants rather than competing with them.

Its name in Ojibwe is Agonosi minun meaning Chipmunk Berry. Chipmunks, birds, rabbit and mice feed on the berries. One source says frogs eat them too but that’s pretty hard to believe.

Source: Song of the Woods Rachel Lower http://creatorsgarden.blogspot.com/ 

Labrador Tea/Mshkiigabag (Ledum groenlandicum)

Hummingbirds are known to use the rust coloured fluff on the underside of the leaf to line their nests. The fluff deters mites and has been credited with reviving the hummingbird population after 50% of hatchlings died due to a mite infestation.

Source: Joseph Petawanakwat Creator’s Garden http://creatorsgarden.blogspot.com/ 

Red Oak (Quercas Rubra)

“Zhelevo” is the Macedonian Greek word for roots. That is the name given to a heritage red oak in Toronto that stands 24 meters tall and is just shy of 5 meters in circumference. Said to be approaching 300 years old, the property where it stands was bought by the city of Toronto to be turned into a public park after 14 years of citizen activism to save it.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_rubra  

Within the Greater City of Sudbury limits are red oak about half the age of Zhelevo, according to biology Professor Emeritus Peter Beckett, Laurentian University.

Red Oak is native to Canada. Unlike other deciduous trees it may hold onto its dead leaves until spring, a process called marcescence. We don’t know for sure why, but we know the dry leaves speak beautifully in the winter wind.

Source: https://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/pal/pal-question-774