The modern English name "pine" derives from Latin pinus, which some have traced to the Indo-European base pit- ‘resin’ (source of English pituitary). The spiral growth of branches, needles, and cone scales may be arranged in Fibonacci number ratios.

Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees native to the Northern Hemisphere. It's sap has many functional and medicinal properties, such as pine needle tea, or tallstrunt as the Swedes call it. Chinese medicine applies it for burns, wounds, and other skin care. In folk medicine it is used to treat respiratory illness, and recent studies show it treats neurodegenerative disorders, brain fog and depression.

How to make pine needle tea

Harvest a branch of pine and pluck off the pine needles from the branch.

Snip the needles into 1/2 inch pieces (excluding the stem) and add them to boiling water. Lightly simmer with a bit of honey for 10 minutes. Be careful, the resin is glue! Serve and enjoy this winter.

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Alternative medicine in my family history

My mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother was Tryphena Malcolm, born in 1786 in what would later be Eastern Canada. Along with her mother and sisters, she was taught traditional indigenous medicine practices, including the making and use of pine needle extractions.

The Malcolms were Scottish settlers and friends with many Mohawk people, who taught them several plant-based remedies. Tryphena, her sisters, and the next generation of women were so skilled at plant-based healing, they are credited with holding off the advance of Western medicine in the Southern Ontario region until 1900.

Tryphena's great-grandparents were both tried as witches during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Her great grandfather Samuel was hanged, while her great grandmother Sarah was imprisoned and tortured, but eventually released. Their children were scattered to local homes. Their crimes included "detestable arts", herbalism, sorcery, and "convening with the devil". Samuel's final words as the noose was tightened were that he was guilty of no crime. Some years later a court would rule the family had been wrongly accused.