By Peter Wurst - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42012778
Labrador Tea Plant
This evergreen plant is a child of the north, growing from Pennsylvania into New England and the northern U.S., then through much of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. Known by various names—Labrador tea, marsh tea, tundra tea, and many indigenous names including s’lkshaldéen in Lingít (pronounced sick-shul-dean)—it can be a small shrub of 3 feet or a low carpet of 4 inches.
A relative of rhododendrons and azaleas, Labrador tea is extraordinarily resilient, growing in acidic bogs, wet evergreen forests, and upland landscapes between boreal forest and the alpine zone, with roots and rhizomes down to two feet, helping it bounce back from fires.
As the name suggests, for millennia it has been used as a medicinal tea to soothe throats and a poultice for skin issues. Some First Nations people also call it “story telling tea.” A plant for body, mind, and soul!
See an amazing rendition of Denali National Park's ecology in quilt form, including Labrador Tea. https://www.nps.gov/articles/aps-v6-i2-c10.htm and https://www.nps.gov/articles/upload/Key-Seasons-Of-Denali-Quilt.pdf.
Plus a fun article from the Juneau Empire newspaper.
What do you love about this particular creature?
What do they reveal to you about God and our faith?
Can plants touch us with divine energy? As a child, did you wander the woods, fields, or streams and see blossoms or leaves whose memory stays with you even now? Maybe skunk cabbage or marsh marigold or mountain laurel? Have you had personal epiphanies because plants called to you?
Fifty years ago, there was a long-lost government program, the Youth Conservation Corps. There we were, city kids and country kids, different backgrounds, faiths, and languages, standing along a bog in the Berkshires with Labrador Tea, our souls touched by a wondrous, mysterious world.
Fast forward 40 years to Denali National Park in Alaska, a hilltop deep in the park, massive mountains in the background, a place of BIG vistas, and there is an equally extraordinary world by my feet—small, exquisite plants that survive the harshest conditions.
Labrador Tea again! Lord, thank you for connecting all of us.
Author - Karen Root Watkins
Karen Root Watkins, a member of Church of the Good Shepherd (Acton, MA), is a retired bilingual elementary school teacher whose students taught her to see the wonder of beans and blossoms and MILKWEED!
Infinite Creator God, thank you for all the living things you have made. You delight in giving humanity gift upon gift from your imagination and love. Help us to learn wise ways to protect and celebrate your creatures, human, tamed, and wild; that we may share peacefully and completely in your kindness and agape love with all creation. May we be a blessing to all that you have created as we glorify you. Amen.
Prayer by the Rev. Diana Rogers