Botanical atlas

Entire-leaved Mountain Avens

Dryas integrifolia

Long before botanists gave it a Latin name, Dryas integrifolia was simply part of life on the tundra, its low evergreen mats carpeting the ground within reach of nearly every northern camp. Inuit and other Arctic peoples gathered its leaves to brew a warming tea, a welcome comfort through the long cold season when few other green things grew. Caribou herds are drawn to it too, and hunters and travelers learned to read its presence as a sign of good grazing ground. Today it still holds a place of honor as the territorial flower of Canada's Northwest Territories, a small but tenacious plant standing in for an entire landscape.

Safety.

Entire-leaved mountain avens shows no documented toxicity and has a modest history of use as a folk beverage, though it hasn't been studied for safety in pregnancy or alongside medication.