Everwilde Farms - 1 lb Wild Ginger Native Wildflower Seeds - Gold Vault Bulk Seed Packet

While the reddish-brown flowers are often overlooked, this pretty plant is valued for its decorative foliage. It also makes an excellent low ground cover for shaded areas. This native woodland plant was formally published in Carl Linnaeus' 1753 publication, Species Plantarum, with the note that it grew in Canada. Its low flowers nestle below the leaves at ground level, and attract pollinating insects with their slight odor. European herb gardens often included this plant, and herbal remedies of the 17th century sometimes used the root for various digestive complaints. Upon discovering this plant, early settlers of North America named it after the ginger plant that they knew from their homeland; wild ginger, however, comes from a different plant family than culinary ginger. Because of its similarity in taste, wild ginger became useful as a spice; settlers often candied or dried the root, making sweet syrup or confections from it. Modern science has found, however, that wild ginger contains potentially poisonous substances and should not be used internally.