My first sip of this tea was a revelation.

In my childhood home of Connecticut, I learned about Russian Olive, and its close relative the Autumn Olive, as being an invasive species, not exactly evil, but definitely undesirable. These thorny, dense shrubs/trees would take over areas that had been disturbed, completely pushing out and keeping out native species of all kinds.

It was a colder than usual March day, and I was teaching a plant walk at the edge of a farm. We had just had 10 inches of snow, and whilst digging through a drift to get at some burdock, several students suddenly stepped back with a squelch and a chorus of “ewwwwws!!!”. They had found the storm broken branches of Siberian elm. The cracked bark, when meeting the melting snow, had begun to ooze mucilage onto their boots, leaving 8-inch strings of slime as they lifted their feet. At the time I remember thinking, Now that’s a moistening herb.