Local plants and Medicine

So, I've been reading Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searching for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest by Mark J. Plotkin. It describes various plant based medicinal practices, usually involving brewing teas, collecting oils and resin from trees, and making various pastes, ointments, powders, etc. The information is useful, but not many of the species of plants grow near me. The book details quick fixes like using tree bark ground into a pastelike substance in order to treat bee stings, and I think that kind of stuff could be useful in general, but especially for those of us who like hiking.

There are a lot of resources out there, but I was hoping that some Jedi would be able to talk about their own local plants. I think that can help us each get a better understanding of our regional plantlife (and wildlife!). For those of us in the US, Winter is here -- so now is a good time to stock up on information about what will be growing in Spring!

I'll update this thread with useful links I find about the plants in my area (Midwest US). Unfortunately many of the sources I can find on my local plants don't give much medicinal information, but here's one page I've been looking over:

http://www.plantnative.org/rpl-mimnwi.htm

Here in the US, many states have an Extension Agency that provides inexpensive programs such as Master Naturalist certification, which are great introductions to local ecology or the basic foundation for wildcrafting. They will often cover what's endangered, so that people know how to not further damage wild populations with improper or over harvesting, and I've seen many offer classes in the basic herbal medicines. I'll be working on getting reacquainted with my region this year, so I'll contribute what I can.