All habitats are of interest to me but I love to explore a rich lush bog. Bogs are typically areas where organic matter has accumulated under acid conditions. Both impeded drainage and low temperature contribute to this accumulation, so that bog conditions extend through much of the northern boreal forest, but are increasingly restricted toward the south. In Canada bogs occur only in rare pockets of poor drainage in the southern areas.

Black spruce trees are usually found at the periphery of bogs, dwindling in size as they close in on the bog. Bog vegetation glow in rich greens and browns through the widening spaces between the trees. As you pass the shoulder-high trees, you can hear the squelch of water somewhere in the thick moss, with each step you take. The bog mat is strong, sewn together by the tough roots of leathery-leafed heaths, and compressed by the weight of centuries of water-filled sphagnum growth.

The softly blended pinks, lemon yellows, rusts and reds of the bog plants blend with the pale, olive and bright green of leaves weaving a tapestry to cover the Earth. The mosses drag at your feet like deep snow and you lift your legs higher with each step.

Eventually all vegetation is no higher than your knees - even the stunted, sprawling delicately needled tamaracks with gnarled trunks perhaps half a century old. At each step water seeps from the moss into a pool around your boots. One false move and your boots are filled with water and you are sunk into a hole between the roots. For this reason alone it is advisable to have a walking partner along to help heave you out of the abyss.

Once you are clear of the trees, stop to look down onto the moss and you will see the beautiful Bog-bean (Menyanthes trifoliata) sometimes called marsh-clover because of its three large leaves that resemble those of the clover.

Bog-bean has a beautiful white flower with a fuzzy beard that gives it a delicately exotic appearance. Unfortunately like all beautiful flowers, humans feel that it is their right to possess and pick them to take into their homes, as a result, this plant suffers from over picking in many parts of Canada.

Bog-bean is a unique member of the Gentian family, a family well known for producing a bitter chemical (glycoside) in their leaves and roots. The bitter chemical in bog-bean called menyanthine works as a stomach tonic by stimulating the stomach's gastric juices aiding digestion.

The leaves of bog-bean have been used for centuries by European herbalists as an anti-inflammatory to reduce inflammation in the body such as arthritis, colitis and renal inflammation.

The sphagnum bogs, home to many unique plants and animals, are in danger because the commercial harvesting of the mosses and other plants used in industry. The commercial harvesting of these plants puts unnecessary stress on the whole of this fragile eco-system a stress that it is not reversible. So tread carefully in this special place while enjoying all the healing energy that nature provides to all humans.    

Bog-bean - Menyanthes trifoliata