Search: CHICKWEED

Dry Maria, White Snow, Drymaria, Drymaria cordata. Photo by Green Deane

Drymaria cordata: Kissing cousin chickweed

Drymaria cordata is one of those plants that confounds the mind. You know what it resembles: Chickweed. It has one of the main characteristic of chickweed, an elastic inner core. However it ain’t your usual chickweed, but it is a kissing cousin. It reminds you that plants are in families for a reason and they do look alike as many family members do.

D. cordata’s growth habit closely resembles chickweed (Stellaria) but the leaves are wrong, there is no fine line of hair on the stem, and the leaves do not taste like raw corn. Nonetheless. your mind, that great pattern finder, says this is chickweed.

West Indian Chickweed can indeed look like snow.

Were it not for the fact it surrounded my tangerine tree years ago I would have never paid much attention to it. Drymaria cordata (dry-MAIR-ri-ah core-DAY-ta) is one of the few edibles that is not mentioned in virtually any of my 100-plus books on foraging. There is also the issue of what to call it: Drymary, Heartleaf Drymary, Whitesnow, Tropical Chickweed, West Indian Chickweed. It also has a second scientific name Drymaria diandra, though some list that as a subspecies or a variety and it has many herbal uses. And the genus name is no help. Drymaria comes from the Greek word drymos (dreeMOS)  meaning forest. The D. cordata does not grow in the forest, but apparently some relative did thus the name. Cordata helps. The leaves are roughly heart shaped.  Diandra is Greek and means twice the man, or two men. It does not mean “Diana” as a lot of baby name books say. There is no linguistic justification for that. To say Diandra is Greek for Diana is to ignore that the Greek name for Diana is Artemis, and that diandra literally does mean two men. To go from two men to a goddess is a bit of a leap.  However what diandra means referring to the plant is a good guess.  In botany diandra usually means two stamens. The cordata has three stamens.

Unlike its relative chickweed, Stellaria, only the leaves and young shoots of the D. cordata are eaten. They are also ground, boiled, then the water filtered and the water used for a variety of medicinal issues. Science has confirmed it has some interesting properties. See the Herb Blurb below. Drymaria cordata also invades 31 commercial crops in 45 countries.

Mild in flavor, raw leaves can be added to salad or other dishes. You can also cook them. As they are used in several herbal applications I suggest you don’t over do them in one meal, particularly raw. Also, Drymaria gracilis is edible as well but…

Inkweed, Drymaria pachyphylla is toxic. Photo by New Mexico State University.

One other thing: It has a relative, Drymaria pachyphylla (dry-MAiR-ee-a pak-ee-FIL-uh) also called the Thick Leaf Drymaria. It is poisonous. Fortunately it looks a lot different, usually growing in a small rosette just a few inches across. It’s native range is Texas through the southwest. It often poisons livestock. Avoid it.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: D. cordata: Annual herb with slender, smooth stems to about a foot long, frequently rooting at the nodes. Leaves roughly heart shaped, opposite, very short stems. Veins in leaf palmate from the base (the veins go out like five fingers from the bottom end of the leaf, clearly seen on the underside.) Flowers on long stalks; 5 sepals, petal 5, deeply 2-lobed, shorter than the sepal, white; 3 stamen, style divided into three below the middle.  Does NOT have milky sap. If you have a plant you think is chickweed and it has milky sap you have the wrong plant

TIME OF YEAR: During the cool weather in warm climates, spring and summer in more temperate climates. Far more distributed around the world them most official maps show, Florida to Nepal to Africa.

ENVIRONMENT: Likes sun and moist soil, a pesky weed to cultivated areas and lawns around the world.

METHOD OF PREPARATION:Leaves usually used raw in salads.  Has a tender, mild flavor. As it is also an herbal medication, don’t eat a truck load at a time.  (Also see chickweed elsewhere on this site.)

HERB BLURB

Abstract:

Different extracts of Drymaria cordata Willd (aerial parts) were tested for antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29737, Escherichia coli ATCC 10536, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Bacillus pumilis ATCC 14884 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 25619. The effects produced by the extracts were found to have significant activities against all the organisms being tested and the effects so produced were compared with those of chloramphenicol. The methanol extract was found to be the most effective.

Abstract:

The methanol extract of Drymaria cordata Willd, was investigated for its effect on a cough model induced by sulfur dioxide gas in mice. It exhibited significant antitussive activity when compared with the control in a dose-dependent manner. The antitussive activity of the extract was comparable to that of codeine phosphate, a prototype antitussive agent. The D. cordata extract (100, 200, 400 mg/kg) showed 11.6%, 31.6% and 51.5% inhibition of cough with respect to the control group.

Abstract

A novel anti-HIV alkaloid, drymaritin (1), and a new C-glycoside flavonoid, diandraflavone (2), along with eight known compounds, torosaflavone A, isovitexin, spinasterol β-D-glycoside, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, cis-p-coumarate, methyl 5-hydroxy-4-oxopentanoate, and glycerol-α-lignocerate, were isolated from Drymaria diandra. Drymaritin (1) exhibited anti-HIV effects in H9 lymphocytes with an EC50 value of 0.699 μg/mL and a TI of 20.6. Compound 2 showed significantly selective inhibition on superoxide anion generation from human neutrophils stimulated by fMLP/CB with an IC50 value of 10.0 μg/mL.

Stinging Nettles Urtica chamaedryoides, (Surrounded here by cucumber weed) are making their seasonal debut. Photo by Green Deane

Our mighty stinging nettles are up. They’re one of the most popular wild edibles.The most powerful stinging nettle is in New Zealand (Urtica ferox) which kills animals and has claimed at least one human life. Our nettle, Urtica chamaedryoides, has a sting like a giant wasp and can burn for days or more. While its common name is a deceptive, “Heartleaf Nettle” its botanical gets to the point, “Stinging Dwarf.” Quite edible but you must handle it with care (there are no stingers on the roots.) If this particular species stings me it is not only extremely painful but a welt develops and the site is sensitive to temperature changes and any liquid for more than a week. The irritant compounds are histamines and acetocholines.  Apparently I am quite sensitive to them though I can eat the plant raw or cooked (crushing the needles disarms them.) Also don’t confuse this plant with another stinging plant called the Spurge Nettle, Cnidoscolus stimulosus (video here ).  That has an edible root but the leaves are usually not eaten. To learn more about the Heartleaf Nettle go here. For a video, here.

Common Sow Thistle. Photo by Green Deane

Another not unexpected seasonal green this week was the sighting of Sow Thistles in central and west Florida. Like its relative the Dandelion it, too, prefers the cooler months locally. Not a true thistle it’s one of the more milder seasonal greens. Although Sow Thistles are commonly called “thistles” they are not in the genus and do not draw blood like true thistles. True thistles are well-armed with needle-sharp spines. While the Sow Thistle can look intimidating it’s mostly just show in that the spines are soft. There are two species locally, the Common Sow Thistle and the Spiny Sow Thistle. The latter is a bit rougher than the former but no where near as abusive as true thistles. Both are slightly bitter raw. A few minutes of boiling or steaming takes away the bitterness completely (unlike wild lettuce which always stays slightly bitter.)  I have a video on the sow thistles and to read more about them go here.

Foraging classes:Only one class this weekend, a long drive to south Florida, rain might be an accompaniment. 

Saturday, February 3rd, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet just north of the science center.

To read more about the classes, to pre-pay or sign up, go here. 

Silverthorn berries ripen in February.

Another seasonal species to be looking for is Silverthorn one of the few fruits that sets in our winter and is usually ripe about Valentine’s Day. That’s handy because the jelly-bean sized fruit is red with a gold netting or spray on it. But, if you remember the red fruit is ready around Valentine’s Day you’ll be looking for it. The boxy blossoms help you identify which shrubs — also called Ugly Agnes —  will be producing fruit this year. It’s a common landscape plant and also an escapee. New fruit likes to grow on new growth and with waxy leave the species is fairly easy to identify. Even though the fruit is small it has the distinction of having the highest amount of the antioxidant lycopene per weight of any fruit. You can read about Silverthorn here and watch a video here.

Tender Red Maple Seeds

If you look across local lakes now you will see ruby red splotches on the horizon. Those are maples putting on new leaves. Are maple leaves edible? Yes and seeds, too. Are they prime foraging food? Opinions vary. The delicate samaras (see left) happen to be red but they can also be green. Later the auto-rotating wings will turn brown. Locally the trees are so heavy with seeds they appear red from a distance. As for eating them what you need to do is taste them first. If they are not bitter you can tear off the wings and eat them raw though some folks eat the soft wings, too. If they are bitter they need to be cooked in boiling water, cooled, then tasted. They should be less bitter. You may have to boil them again. Non-bitter seeds can also be roasted or sun-dried. Some Native Americans sprouted the seeds for a treat. I do not know of any toxic maple seeds to humans but red maple (Acer rubrum) leaves and seeds are toxic to horses. That said I do recall we had two red maple intentionally planted in the barnyard. My father liked the looks of them. Our five horses — definitely leaves eaters — left them alone. To read more about maples go here.

Patches of “white snow” on lawn. Photo by Green Deane

Drymaria cordata… Drymary… West Indian Chickweed… White Snow. Hopefully you can see in the accompanying picture why this species is called White Snow. When it is seeding and the sun hits the seed heads just right it can resemble a patch of white snow on your lawn. Unlike true chickweed, which is Stellaria media, Drymary is here most of the year but has similar uses to true chickweed (which you can also find now.) Young leaves and shoots are edible, older leaves have some medicinal uses including use as a diuretic. There is some research that suggests it can reduce coughing and can easy anxiety. You can read more about Drymary here.

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant? Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food.

Finally, a physical copy of the book.

Now in print is EatTheWeeds, the book. It has 275 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

This is weekly newsletter #585. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

This is weekly newsletter #586. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

White mexican poppy, Argemone albiflora. Photo by Green Deane

Yellow Mexican Poppy, Argemone mexicana, photo by Green Deane

No, it’s not edible. Depending on the weather I receive numerous emails wanting me to identify a white- or yellow-blossomed extremely prickly plant.  It’s almost always a Mexican Poppy. Some years they bloom as early as Christmas or can still be blossoming in May. They are found in dry areas in much of eastern North America avoiding some north mid-west states and northern New England. Highly toxic, the Mexican Poppy tastes bad and is so well-armed that accidental poisonings amongst man or beast are few. The plants also  that do not want to be eaten. However people have tried to use their seeds for cooking oil resulting in severe edema (water retention.) Herbalists, however, use the plants extensively (which brings up the importance of knowing what you’re doing.)  Toxicity reportedly occurs only when large quantities are ingested and the plants might have had primitive uses in treating malaria. In one study the White Mexian Poppy helped three quarters of the patients but did not completely get rid of the parasitic load. The most common places to see the very prickly plants are beside roads and railroad tracks. The yellow seed oil, called katkar oil, can cause epidemic dropsy, particularly with severe leg swelling. It has also has been used in oil lamp for lighting.  

Violet Photo by Green Deane

A common blossom now that’s easy to identify is the wild violet. It’s cultivated brethren is the pansy. There are a huge variety of violets in North America ranging from field pansies to those that like to grow down hill from the septic tank. Whether wild or cultivated violets are attractive, personable blossoms, usually on the sweet, viscous side. There are a couple of precautions, however. The first is to make sure the soil they are in — either a pot or bed — is wholesome and that the water they are getting is good. Where I grew up “Johnny Jump Ups” (viola tricolor) were routinely picked from the septic tank’s drain field. If they come from a garden center they might have pesticides on them. The other precaution is a bit more esoteric: Yellow blossoms tend to have a laxative effect. You can read about violets here. I have a video about them here.

Fruit ripening on a Ficus benghalensis, aka Ficus Audrey and strangler fig. Photo by Green Deane

Strangler figs get a bad rap, perhaps deservedly so. They slowly take over a tree or palm and kill their host while living on them. But they are also edible figs, and there are three of them locally (eleven different species in the state.)  One is from India, a native one and an export from business offices. As a food these figs can range from dry tasteless sponges to sweet or fermented.  The species are Ficus benghalensis (red fruit)  Ficus aurea (Florida strangler fig, yellow fruit) and Ficus Benjamina (the Weeping Fig and a common office plant and a major source of indoor allergens. The fruit can be dark purple.) If any of these starts life growing on some other plant it is called a Strangler Fig, if it starts on the ground and has multiple trunks it is called a Banyan. They can live to 500 years and cover several acres. The fruit of the F. benghalensis is hard when orange, and softens as it turns red or purple. They were eaten by native and settlers alike. Ariel roots were used for bow strings, rope and fishing lines. The extra roots allow the tree to grow faster than its host thus engulfing it.

Blossoming chickweed east of Tampa. Photo by Green Deane

Chickweed is a common winter species in Florida, usually from the central part of the state north. Surprisingly we saw some about 30 miles east of Tampa this week. The first time in decades of foraging finding chickweed south of greater Orlando. A short-season winter vegetable, it is related to West Indian Chickweed which can be found all year here. Real Chickweed, Stellaria media, tastes like corn silk or raw corn, West Indian Chickweed, drymaria cordata, which likes damp soil, has no particular flavor.  Inoffensive West Indian Chickweed is often used as a garnish. Also seen fruiting heavily now is American nightshade, Solanum americanum. Sow thistle (Sonchus genus) are also blossoming profusely. 

Foraging classes are held rain, shine, hot or cold. Photo by Nermina Krenata

Foraging Classes: As the weather is becoming more consistent hopefully it won’t cause anymore class cancellations: 

Saturday, January 27th, Mead Garden, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms, 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday, January 28th, Eagle Lake Park, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park. 9 a.m. to noon.

Saturday, February 3rd, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet just north of the science center.

To read more about the classes, to pre-pay or sign up, go here. 

Wild Geraniums are a common seasonal lawn weed. Photo by Green Deane

Also found in lawns this time of year are wild geraniums, usually Cranesbill or Stork’s Bill. (Why one is one word and the other two-words possessive I do not know.)  Botanically they are Geranium carolinianum and Erodium circutarium.  Neither is great foraging. In fact both are more medicinal than edible but they seem to get mention in a variety of foraging books. The problem is they are extremely bitter. You might be able to toss a little bit of both in a salad but that’s about the extent of it. If you have what you think is a Cranesbill or a Stork’s Bill but it has more of a bottle brush blossom than five petals you might have the non-edible Fumaria. It comes up this time of year and from a distance the leaves can remind one of the wild geraniums. To read more about them go here. 

Silverthorn berries ripen in Feburary.

Another seasonal species to be looking for is Silverthorn one of the few fruits that sets in our winter and is usually ripe about Valentine’s Day. That’s handy because the jelly-bean sized fruit is red with a gold netting or spray on it. But, if you remember the red fruit is ready around Valentine’s Day you’ll be looking for it. The boxy blossoms help you identify which shrubs will be producing fruit this year. It’s a common landscape plant and also an escapee. New fruit likes to grow on new growth and with waxy leaves the species is fairly easy to identify. Even though the fruit is small it has the distinction of having the highest amount of the antioxidant lycopene per weight of any fruit. You can read about Silverthorn here and watch a video here. 

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. 

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant? Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food.

Finally, a physical copy of the book.

Now in print is EatTheWeeds, the book. It has 275 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  

This is weekly newsletter #585. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

This newsletter is late because mail chimp is increasingly difficult to work with. Any one have a suggestion for a mailing service?

Wild Radish and Mustard are in blossom now. Photo by Green Deane

Tea Berry (Checkerberry) Can be found under the snow.

One can forage in the Wintertime even in snowy northern climes. I first realize this as a kid ice skating and seeing frozen cranberries and turtles swimming around under the ice.  And of course, ice fishing is a way of life for a few months but also available are cattail rhizomes and shoots along with fresh water clams. Groundnuts can also be found near frozen waterways. Ad there are a few trees that hold onto fruit into cold weather, the sugarberry comes to mind, some times persimmons and apples though the persimmon will be better than most apples. Some plants germinate under the snow or keep their fruit until spring, teaberry and chickweed are two examples. South facing hills that lose their snow can often have wintertime edibles.

If Hamlet doesn’t behave I’ll change his name to SPAM. Photo by Green Deane.

My challenge this past fortnight has not been plants. A sow where I live had four piglets. Two were taken by a bobcat and a third fatally injured. The same bobcat that took all my ducks and chickens.  I have been raising the fourth piglet as mom decided to have nothing to do with him. Called Hamlet, he’s still kicking and getting more active and noisy.  I’ve finally got him to eat on his own, he likes warm towels and snuggling with a teddybear. Sleepy happiness is a heat lamp. Like baby squirrels, piglets have to be carefully fed or they will aspirate the milk, get pneumonia, and die. We’ve gone for a couple of walks, expanding his horizons.

Redflowered Ragweed. Photo by Green Deane

Redlfower Ragweed isn’t a ragweed but I’ve been seeing it for a couple of years now. It reminds me of Fireweed/Burnweed except with large red blossoms. Botanically it’s Crassocephalum crepidioides (kras-oh-SEF-uh-lum krep-pid-dee-OY-deez.) Crassocephalum is from the Dead Latin “Crassus” meaning “thick” and “kephale” which is Greek for head. Crepidioides is more mangle Greek. “-oides” in Dead Latin is mispronounced borrowed Greek and means “resembles.” Crepidioides means “resembles Crepis.” Crepis is from an old Greek word for a frilly funeral veil. It works its way into English via French as “crepe” paper.  So “thick head resembles crepe paper” is one way to interpret the plant’s name.” And… even though it is called the Redflower Ragweed its leaves resemble Fireweed/Burnweed, Erechtites hieraciifolius (which is an even more complicated, naughty story.  Redflower Rageweed’s blossoms, however, resemble the toxic Florida Tassel Flower. Florida tassel flower has smoother less toothy eaves and is a smaller plant and can have pink blossoms.) Cornucopia II says of Crassocephalum crepidioides on page 37: “Ebolo, Okinawan Spinach, Young leaves and shoots are used as a potherb, fried, or mixed in Khao yam. The leaves are fleshy, tinged with purple and have a somewhat mucilaginous quality and nutty flavor. Has become quite popular on the island of Okinawa and in Hawaii In Thailand, the roots are eaten with chili sauce or cooked in fish curry. Tropical Africa. Cultivated.”

Henbit. is in the mint family but does not smell or taste minty. It does, however, have a square stem and the blossoms resembles mints. In northern climates it is one of the first green plants to pop up after the snow goes (it and chickweed.) Locally it likes our cooler months of the year. It was esteemed by the natives because among all the annual greens it is not spicy but rather mild if not on the sweet side. What can be confusing about it is that the leave shape and stem length is different from young to old leaves. But they all have a scalloped shape. It also has a similar looking relative that is also edible called Dead Nettle. You can read about Henbit here.

Cranesbill is barely edible

Also found in lawns this time of year are wild geraniums, usually Cranesbill or Stork’s Bill. (Why one is one word and the other two-words possessive I do not know.)  Botanically they are Geranium carolinianum and Erodium circutarium.  Neither is great foraging. In fact both are more medicinal than edible but they seem to get mention in a variety of foraging books. The problem is they are extremely bitter. You might be able to toss a little bit of both in a salad but that’s about the extent of it. If you have what you think is a Cranesbill or a Stork’s Bill but it has more of a bottle brush blossom than five petals you might have the non-edible Fumaria. It comes up this time of year and from a distance the leaves can remind one of the wild geraniums. To read more about them go here. 

Classes are held rain or shine (but not during hurricanes.)

Foraging classes, we might be dodging passing storms this week. 

Jan. 6th, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park, 9 a.m. to noon.

Jan. 7th Mead Garden,1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789, 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the bathrooms. 

Jan. 13th Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335, meet at the dog park, 9 a.m. to noon. 

Jan. 14th Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte, meet at the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Ripe fruit of the Spanish Cherry tree.

It is called the Spanish cherry or the Bullet Tree, thus I slipped up in class and called it the Spanish bullet tree, botanically it’s Mimusops elingi, and related to the Mimusops coriacea, neither of which are anything to write home about. While the fruit of the Spanish cherry tree is edible it needs the attention of a dessert chef to make it tasty. Off the tree the astringent fruit has a granular texture and a flavor reminiscent of persimmons. They look better than they taste. That said, I have only had one tree to go by and that is in Dreher Park in West Palm Beach. I’ve never seen the tree elsewhere. Fruiting heavily now, in Dreher it is adjacent to a pedestrian entrance at the west end of McIntosh Street.

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. 

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant? Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also

articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food.

Finally, a physical copy of the book.

Now in print and available is EatTheWeeds, the book. It has 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available at  Amazon.  and other locations.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile and if no profile reported then noteworthy constituents, such as anti-oxidants. I have no doubt that the book will outlive me, my little contribution to posterity.

This is weekly newsletter #583. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

Technology can be a killer. A malfunctioning mail program and a dying desk top computer has prevented the production and mailing of these newsletters and posting a foraging class schedule. I also confused two class dates — my apologies — and lost 30 years of photos and writings, so November was pretty much a bust. And a bobcat ate my duck and chickens.

This is the common place to find mustard or radish plants this time of year, a streak of yellow blossoms beside the road. Photo By Green Deane

Chilly nights have accentuated our wild mustards. Where I live they are blooming along the road ways. Up north that happens in late spring or early summer. Wild mustards and wild radishes often resemble each other and can be used in similar manner. The entire plant is edible, blossoms to roots. The roots have a tough jacket on the outside which is better peeled off. You can read about mustards here. And Radishes here.

Ghost Pipes, Melbourne Florida. Photo by Green Deane

Several plants were called “Indian Pipes” where and when I was growing up. One of them is the Monotropa uniflora, recently seen in Wickham Park, Melbourne. Living more like a mushroom than a plant it sprouts up in various edibility conversations. Focusing the issue on exactly what “edibility” means, helps. Other than allergies, edibility does imply it will not kill you or harm you in any significant way. But “edibility” does not have to imply tasty. As forager emeratus Dick Deuerling (d. 2015) used to say “there are a lot of edible plants. I only eat the good stuff.” There are also things that are just too woody or bitter to eat more than a sample of but are included in “edible.” Sea Oxeye (Borrichia frutescens) comes to mind. And some plants have to be prepared correctly to be “edible.” Is the Monotropa uniflora edible? Yes. Does it taste good? Only if you’re really hungry. But that is understandable. The list of edible plants has to include everything from incredibly delicious food to only-if-I-were-starving food. Indian Pipes are closer to the famine food end of that list. The need a good sauce such as for asparagus. You can read more about the Monotropa here.

Classes are held rain or shine or cold. (Hurricanes are an exception.) Photo by Kelly Fagan.

Foraging Classes: Note below my annual urban crawl is coming up the last Friday before Christmas, warm or cold the class will go on. It has been held every year since 2008 (excepting one year I had surgery.)

Dec. 10th  Mead Gardens, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  9 a.m. to noon Meet at the bathrooms. 9 a.m. to noon.

Dec. 16th, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 a.m. to noon Meet at the pavilion near the dog park.

Dec. 17th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. Meet at the parking lot at Ganyard and Bayshore, 9 a.m.

To read more about the classes, to pre-pay or sign up, go here. 

Finding Mistletoe during the 13th annual Urban Crawl in Winter Park.

My annual Urban Crawl #14 is coming up, on Dec. 22nd, 2023, in down town Winter Park. A reasonable question is what about foraging in a city? There is some surprising research. Dan Brabaner is a geoscience professor at Wellesley College, Boston. With some undergraduate students they studied preserved food collected from fruit trees and the like in the urban Boston area. What they found was cherries, apples, peaches and herbs were relatively low in lead and arsenic. That is, a serving had less amounts of these toxins than the allowed daily amount for a child. The team also did not find a significant difference between peeled and unpeeled fruit. The fruit was low in toxic chemical because they are the furthest away from any toxins in the soil. This would apply to tree nuts as well. Leafy greens faired well, too, because they grow fast and 1) don’t have time to accumulate toxins and 2) most air pollution on them can be washed off. Brabander also analyzed foraged food from plants growing in the urban environment not growing on agricultural soil. These foods had higher micronutrients because they were not growing on worn-out agricultural soil. Calcium and iron were higher as were manganese, zinc, magnesium and potassium. Thus we know that not only do “weeds” pack more of a nutritional punch because they are wild but also because they can be growing in better soil. My Urban Crawl is a free class Friday Dec. 22nd in Downtown Winter Park. We meet in front of Panera’s at 10 a.m. We wander south to the Rollin college, stop at Starbucks, go east to the public library area, then back to Panera’s, that takes a couple of hours. Park in the parking garage behind Paneras. If you park more than three hours on the streets of Winter Park you can get a ticket (this has happened in previous years.) 

Real chickweed will soon arrive. If you want to sample it in a variety of ways you have a couple of months at best. I usually find chickweed locally between Christmas and Valentine’s Day. It can be found earlier and occasionally after Valentine’s Day. But those two holidays mark the practical beginning and end of the local chickweed season. It also doesn’t grow much farther south than central Florida. In northern climates Chickweed is a green of spring. It actually germinates under the snow so it can get a head start on other spring plants. Snow spits here every half century or so and the ground never freezes which is why we can forage 365 days a year. Chickweed is fairly easy to identify. Besides tasting like corn silk it has a stretchy inner core and one line of hair that runs along the stem switching sides at each pair of leaves. Don’t confuse Chickweed for a local cousin the edible, Drymaria cordata. To read more about chickweed click here.  Also coming on strong is Pellitory. To read about Pellitory again click here.

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. 

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant? Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also

articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food.

Finally, a physical copy of the book.

Now in print and delivered this week is EatTheWeeds, the book. It has 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. Several hundred have been pre-ordered on Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile and if no profile reported  then noteworthy constituents. I have no doubt that the book will outlive me, my little contribution to posterity.

This is weekly newsletter #581. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

Chicken of the Woods. Photo by Green Deane

When is a cow not a cow? When it is Chicken Of the Woods, which we found during a foraging class this week. We have three speces of C.O.W.s locally. Laetiporus sulphureus, Laetiporus cincinnatus and Laetiporus gilbertsonii, all shelf fungus.  A fourth fungus that is put into that group, Laetiporus persicinus, might not really be a Laetiporus. It also does not look like or taste like the other chickens.  We took some Laetiporus sulphureus home and fried said. While the texture might remind one of chicken the flavor is derived from how it is cooked and what it is cooked with. It is a fugus of substance, it will not disappear in a dish. I sliced mine and fried in butter. Orange and sulphur colored  Laetiporus sulphureus usually grows on the trunk or upperpart of the tree because it causes heart rot, locally often on oaks. Laetiporus cincinnatus is often at the base of a tree trunk where it causes butt rot.   Laetiporus gilbertsonii — common in the gulf south —  is found on the trunk and is beige in color. Laetiporus persicinus, is found on the base of oaks or growing on roots. It is usually round and stains brown where you handle it. No particular flavor. It is good for stews and the like and when cut and dried makes a good jerky.

There are many way to process acorns after leaching.

Also masting now are our oaks. The amount of acorns in the fall is related to spring rains. More rain in spring, more acorns in the fall. Acorns as a food are a lot of work but also a lot of energy, it’s been the staple food for many ancient populations. Their preparation involved kids as each acorn must be cracked and the nut inside removed for processing (a great job for kids and a couple of rocks to smash with.) I have the suspicion that the family is the most foraging-efficient group, and a village a group of foraging groups. Men think in vectors roam far from home to hunt meat then bring it back. Women go to landmarks to forage and bring it home. Kids help in the processing. Thus acorns. There are two general group, red and black acorns. The former have pointy leaves, the latter do not, the former have an extra layer of material in the shell which gives the nut and water a pink tinge. Acorns have tannins which should be leached out before consuming. How that can be done is subject of books. Acorns high in tannins store well, so the native put them in special containers, acorns low in tannin were processed for immediate or near-term use. Some Live Oaks have acorn with no tannin. The largest local acorn is the chestnut oak. You can read more about acorns here.

Classes are held rain or shine (but not during hurricanes.)

Foraging classes On the east coast of Florida this weekend, let’s hope the weather holds. One worry about Saturday’s class is whether the preserve will be flooded from recent rains. That affects only the western section but removes wandering by the river.

Nov 18th Lori Wilson Park, 1500 N Atlantic Ave, Cocoa Beach, FL 32931, meet at the north bathrooms, 9 a.m. to noon.

Nov 19th , George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon.

Nov 25th , Wickham Park, Melbourne Florida, 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the dog park.

Nov 26th  Mead Gardens, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  9 a.m. to noon Meet at the bathrooms.

To read more about the classes, to pre-pay or sign up, go here. 

Henbit, one of the few “sweet” springtime greens. Photo by Green Deane

The first is Henbit. It’s in the mint family but does not smell or taste minty. It does, however, have a square stem and the blossoms resembles mints. In northern climates it is one of the first green plants to pop up after the snow goes (it and chickweed.) Locally it likes our cooler months of the year. It was esteemed by the natives because among all the annual greens it is not spicy but rather mild if not on the sweet side. What can be confusing about it is that the leave shape and stem length is different from young to old leaves. But they all have a scalloped shape. It also has a similar looking relative that is also edible called Dead Nettle. You can read about Henbit here.

Cranesbill is barely edible, photo by Green Deane

Also found in lawns this time of year are wild geraniums, usually Cranesbill or Stork’s Bill. (Why one is one word and the other two-words possessive I do not know.)  Botanically they are Geranium carolinianum and Erodium circutarium.  Neither is great foraging. In fact both are more medicinal than edible but they seem to get mention in a variety of foraging books. The problem is they are extremely bitter. You might be able to toss a little bit of both in a salad but that’s about the extent of it. If you have what you think is a Cranesbill or a Stork’s Bill but it has more of a bottle brush blossom than five petals you might have the non-edible Fumaria. It comes up this time of year and from a distance the leaves can remind one of the wild geraniums. To read more about them go here. 

Dandelions are a common green, photo by Green Deane.

While looking for yellow-blossomed Dandelions also start looking for the more extroverted yellow-blossomed Wild Radish and Wild Mustard. These two peppery species look very similar and are used the same way. There are several ways to tell them apart but on a glance one identifier of the radish is that it grows in a windrow way whereas mustards tend to grow straight up. Radish blossoms are always yellow, mustard blossoms can be yellow or white.  I usually start to find tasty Wild Radishes and Wild Mustards when the nights start getting cooler.  To read more about Wild Radish, go here. Wild Mustards click here.  

Our native Plantago is small and hairy. Photo by Green Deane

There are Plantains that look like tough bananas and there are Plantains that are low and leafy plants. No relation. Just two different groups with the same common name. Plantains can be native or non-native. The one pictured left is native, the Dwarf Plantain. We saw one Sunday in our foraging class at Mead Gardens. As a genus the plants are well-known. The leaves are edible raw when young. As they age they become more bitter and stringy. Cooking makes them palatable up to a point. Then they move into the astringent medical realm. They are used on bites, stings and to help puncture wounds heal. Seeds are edible once produced and are the source of the commercial dietary fiber psyllium. When finely ground the seeds are sold under the brand name Metamucil. There are numerous species of Plantagos (Plantains) with at least four common locally, P. virginiana, P. major, P. lanceolata and P. rugelii the latter which strongly resembles P. major. They are all used the same way. You can read about the Plantains here.

Panera’s in Winter Park where we start and finish the Urban Crawl.

My annual Urban Crawl #12 is coming up, on Dec. 22nd, 2023. A reasonable question is what about foraging in a city? There is some surprising research. Dan Brabaner is a geoscience professor at Wellesley College, Boston. With some undergraduate students they studied preserved food collected from fruit trees and the like in the urban Boston area. What they found was cherries, apples, peaches and herbs were relatively low in lead and arsenic. That is, a serving had less amounts of these toxins than the allowed daily amount for a child. The team also did not find a significant difference between peeled and unpeeled fruit. The fruit was low in toxic chemical because they are the furthest away from any toxins in the soil. This would apply to tree nuts as well. Leafy greens faired well, too, because they grow fast and 1) don’t have time to accumulate toxins and 2) most air pollution on them can be washed off. Brabander also analyzed foraged food from plants growing in the urban environment not growing on agricultural soil. These foods had higher micronutrients because they were not growing on worn-out agricultural soil. Calcium and iron were higher as were manganese, zinc, magnesium and potassium. Thus we know that not only do “weeds” pack more of a nutritional punch because they are wild but also because they can be growing in better soil. My Urban Crawl is a free class Friday Dec. 22nd in Downtown Winter Park. We meet in front of Panera’s at 10 a.m. We wander south to the college, stop at Starbucks, go east to the public library area, then back to Panera’s. Park in the parking garage behind Paneras. If you park more than three hours on the streets of Winter Park you can get a ticket (this has happened in previous years.) 

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. 

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant? Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food.

Finally, a physical copy of the book.

Now in print is EatTheWeeds, the book. It has 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. Several hundred have been pre-ordered on Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile. Officially it will be published December 13th (to suit the publisher publicity demands) and apparently to appeal to the winter market. Orders via Amazon are scheduled to arrive Dec. 5th. 

This is weekly newsletter #580. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

This newsletter is late because mail chimp is increasingly difficult to wok with. Any one have a suggestion for a mailing service?

The root of the winged yam. Photo by Green Deane

It was an air potato weekend. During our Jacksonville class we dug up several pounds of Winged Yam (Dioscorea alata) roots, a yam that taste similar to potato but with a smoother texture.

If you can identify the winged Yam you will always have food to eat. Digging them up after the vine dies back for the season requires some hand scrounging to feel the telltale top. (This is always a bit fraught with danger as much soil has broken glass in it. It is safer to identify the root by the vine while in season then dig it up later. You can read more about this staple here. 

Chanterelles have wrinkles not gills.

This weekend also unintentionally was a mushrooming weekend, with several pounds available at our usual Orlando Mushroom Group location. We usually have a large mushroom flush around May but it seemed to hold off until now. We collected several pounds of Milk Caps and Chanterelles. While they can be often be found this late in the season, a huge flush of them this time of year is unusual. Perhaps we will find some in Jacksonville. Saturday.

Sida has ephedrine. Photo by Green Deane

Is it Sida (SEE-dah) or is it Sida (SIGH-dah)? Either either it would seem… There are several members of the Sida genus locally and they blossom nearly all year. This weekend, however, Sida cordifolia was particularly happy. Taller and softer than some of the other genusmates, it’s a plant with a little bit of legal history. Plants in the genus tend to have ephedrine in them to varying amounts. Sida cordifolia, however, is the only Sida species mentioned in the Florida Statutes. If you make a pill using the plant it cannot be given to anyone under the age of 18. I doubt the problem is bootleg diet pills but rather youthful experimenting with ephedrine. Adults can apparently do what they want with the plant.  S. cordifolia is not native. The species I see the most often is S. rhombifolia, which means diamond shape. The lower part of the leaves of that species do not have teeth on them. You can read more about Sida here. 

Winged Sumac. Photo by Green Deane

Our Sumacs are happy. Everywhere you go now they are sporting terminal clusters of garnet-colored berries. It is time to harvest Sumacs for use today or later. There’s a wide variety of Sumacs. Perhas 325 in the genus.  Locally it’s the “Wing Sumac.” In other areas of the country it can be the Staghorn Sumac which I grew up nibbling in Maine. Shapes and quality vary but they always have terminal clusters of garnet-colored berries, give or take a hue. The berries have hair on them. And on the hair is malic acid, the acid that makes apples tart. You can rinse the acid off the acid and make a lemonade-like drink. The berries can be dried, their coating knocked off then ground and used as a spice. Surprisingly Sumacs are high in the B vitamins, including B12, but rather low in ascorbic acid which is nature’s form of vitamin C. I currently have three gallons of Sumac wine working. I hope to bring some to classes next fall. In the springtime the shoots can be peeled and eaten raw or cooked. If you are worried about Poison Sumac it grows only in wet spots, has a much different leaf, and when in fruit has white berries positioned farther down the stem, not terminal clusters. Also Poison Sumac leaves have bright red stems.

Classes are held rain or shine or cold…

Foraging Classes: If you attending the Gainesville class Saturday the weather forecast suggest you dress for nippy weather. 

Oct  7th Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. 9 a.m. Meet at the pavilion near the pump house

Oct 8th Red Bug Slough , Sarasota. 9 a.m. Because of rennovations, we have to meet at a different location at Red Bug Slough in Sarasoata. Normally it is at 5200 S. Beneva Road. Instead we will have to park at Gypsy Street and South Lockwood Ridge Road. Gypsy can be reached by Camphor Ave which runs south of Proctor west of Beneva.

Oct 14th Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405, 9 a.m. meet just north of the science center. There might be a hurricane that weekend. 

Oct 15th  Blanchard Park,  2451 Dean Rd, Union Park, FL 32817 9.a.m. met at the pavilion by the tennis courts.

For more information, the pre-pay for a class, or sign up go here. 

In his book Edible Plants of North America, Francois Couplan writes on page 384: “the leaves of the S. lyrata, Eastern North America, contain an acrid principle and should not be ingested. They have been used to remove warts.” That said I know an herbalist who makes a tea from the leaves and a foraging instructor who cooks the young leaves and eats them. I’ve heard other reports of them being eaten. That can leave a person in a tough spotas to what to do with the plant. To eat or not to eat, that is the question.

This sage made me wretchedly ill.

Another example is also a sage, Salvia coccinea, also known as Tropical Sage. A small piece of the blossom of this species — a very tiny piece, 1/8 inch square — made me horribly sick for several weeks. It attacked my stomach with viciousness and I was go-to-the-emergency room miserable. Coca-cola syrup and Pepto-Bismol combined were my salvation from doubled-over pain.  I was actually “field testing” this plant for edibility at the time, one reason why I am very opposed to field testing. Yet, I know of two people who have eaten the young leaves with no problem. Perhaps it was a personal allergy on my part. I don’t know. But I do know I will never eat any part of that plant again. Ever. Lesson painfully learned. Yet it might be edible, or maybe some folks really do have cast iron stomachs. I know I don’t. Eating this Sage is one of those “you’re on your own” kind of things.

Richardia is generally not edible.

A third plant that falls into the crack between edible and not edible is Richardia scabra, aka Florida Pusley. It is in a genus that has species used to make you throw up. In fact one is called Richardia emetica. That is not encouraging. Some people mistake R. scabra for chickweed, which is a Stellaria, a totally different genus.  The plants vaguely resemble each other if one ignores several details and that fact that real chickweed only grows here in the winter time. R. scabra is a species for which I have never found any ethnobotanical references to regarding edibility. In fact it is one of three common plants that seems to have either not been used by the natives or somehow were not reported. The other two are Amaranthus australis and Hibiscus moscheutos. I know from modern reports that A. australis is edible but as for the H. moscheutos I have no idea though it comes from a very edible genus. Thus R. scabra is not on my site as an edible because I can’t find any historical reference to its use. Curiously the internet now calls it “edible.”  I do know two people who mistook it for chickweed and ate it for quite a while. And I know two people who did not mistake it; they know it is a Richardia and they eat it from time to time. That might be a key element. Without any ethnobotanical reference perhaps a little now and then is okay but a steady diet of it is not. It is one of those unknown things. Sometimes eating little bits of this or that do not rise to the level of making you ill. I know a person who mistook Oak Leaf Fleabane (Erigeron quercifolius) for for Plantago major and ate some for quite a while without an apparent problem. And I have personally seen someone eat a leaf of Oak Leaf Fleabane against my advice. She was still standing at the end of class. While there are some edible wild plants, and there are some that are definitely not edible,  and there can be some fog in between.

You get the USB, not the key.

150-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. 

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant? Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food.

Now being printed is EatTheWeeds, the book. It should have 275 plants, 350-plus pages, index and color photos. Several hundred have been preordered on Amazon. And it is being printed now. Most of the entries include a nutritional profile. Officially it will be published December 5th (to suit the publisher publicity demands) and apparently to appeal to the winter market.

This is weekly newsletter #575. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Mulberries resemble over-grown blackberries. Photo by Green Deane

There’s a fruiting mulberry near you. Locally the season is approaching. During a foraging class this past weekend we saw a huge red mulberry a couple of weeks shy of having gallons of ripe fruit. April is a target month for a lot of wild fruit locally including, red mulberries, blackberries, blueberries and the start of black cherries. While you can find mulberries nearly anywhere, they tend to favor past agricultural land, such as truck farms. 

Wild Garlic will be cloving soon. Photo by Green Deane

Also seen was wild garlic, allium canadensis. It is in transition. The tasty allium  comes up in January, puts blossoms and cloves on top in March and in April ripens into onions with easy-to-spot cloves. We dug up many in Sunday’s class. A true allium, they like sunny damp areas and spread by spring floods floating their cloves down stream. These are not “ramps” or “leeks” though related to those popular wild species. It has a small onion on the bottom and garlic cloves on top, and an edible stalk in between. Locally they are found throughout most of the state from Largo to Orlando to Gainesville.

Florida Pennyroyal is also in blossom. Photo by Green Deane

If you are one to wander around sandy scrub in Florida this time of year you will see the low blooms of the Florida Pennyroyal. It’s quite an unusual plant in that it is monotypic, meaning it is the only plant in its genus. Found along the Central Florida Ridge though I have seen it also on the east coast of the state. There are a few plants in the Bahamas and maybe one or two in southern Georgia. It has the unmistakable aroma of pennyroyal. A species that looks vaguely similar, Florida Rosemary, has no noticeable strong aroma. Florida Pennyroyal used to be the third most common nectar plant in the state but fell off for some unknown reason and was replaced by Bidens alba, the Spanish Needles. Florida Pennyroyal was used extensively by the natives and has culinary uses. To read more about it go here.

To a startled Land Blue Crab a leg is as good as a tree. Photo by Green Deane

Foraging classes, we’ll visit two opposing  coastal area this weekend. Might even see a land crab or two at Princess Point, see photo right. 

April 1st, Red Bug Slough 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota, 9 a.m. 

April 2nd  Princess Place Preserve, 2500 Princess Place Road, Palm Coast, FL, 32137.  Meet at middle Parking lot.  9 a.m.

For more information. to sign up for a class or to pre-pay go here. 

Dandelions like cooler weather. PHoto by Green Deane

There is perhaps no more commonly known wild weed than the Dandelion. Whether a child blowing aways the Dandelion puff or a seasoned pallet flavoring coffee with the roasted root, Dandelions are user friendly. My first batch of wine — after two five-gallon batches of beer — was Dandelion wine, made when I was in the 8th grade. It was very reasonable choice: I could not buy wine,  I did not have a driver license, and Dandelions were everywhere. That was more than a half-a-century ago in Maine where summer Dandelions grew large and luscious. Now I live in Florida and Dandelions here are usually anemic winter stragglers. That first experience with a wild wine makes it easy to realize how wine-making evolved. There was no great preparation. I put blossoms, water, sugar and yeast into a 5-gallon crock, the top covered with a towel. When it was done working it went into old glass coca cola bottles. Perhaps it was beginners luck but it worked wonderfully. It doesn’t always, that’s for sure as subsequent failures over the years have proved. After some 50 years of wine making I am not cavalier about it but not super fastidious either.  What you also learn is that most wine recipes are basically the same with minor variations. I will admit that of all my videos on You Tube the one on making a quick hard cider is the most watched. I’m probably corrupting some 8th grader out there… who might grow into a great wine maker. As I tell my classes, Damdelions like acidic soil and cold weather. Florida is a hot limestone plate. So we have to look for them in the winter in lawns near oaks and pines, which happens to be the area south of the dog park in Wickham Park. To learn more about Dandelions click

Burnweed/Fireweed in blossom in front of cattails. Photo by Green Deane

Fireweed/Burnweed has a flavor chefs love. With an impossible scientific name and strong aroma Fireweed is often over looked by the foraging community. Conversely the aroma is also a good identifying characteristic. As with several things in life tastes vary and many people enjoy the Fireweed raw or cooked. Closely related to the Dandelion, the Fireweed locally favors the late winter or early spring. Currently you can find Fireweed from a few inches high to a couple of feet. While they do not grow in colonies often several will grow near each other. Soon the older ones will put on yellow blossoms that barely open, another identifying characteristic. Of course in greens young and tender is usually preferable and this is particularly true with the Fireweed which grows rank as it ages. To read about fireweed go here.

Clover prefers low nitrogen soil.

Clover is one of those wild edibles that is both overstated and understated. The overstatement is from writers who offer it as a great human food full of this and that to keep us healthy. The understated part is that it can harbor a fungus that inhibits clotting and somewhere around a half-a-cup of raw leaves can make you throw up. Individual experience, of course, can vary and there are several different species of clover with different characteristics. Pictured here is a nice little White Clover which is blossoming now mostly in lawns and athletic fields. A few leaves can be eaten raw. They are high in protein for a leaf. The blossom fresh or quickly dried can be used for tea. There is also Crimson, Red, Sweet and even Tick Clover.

Almost out of season now is stinging nettle (in the urtica family.) Also gone until next winter is real chickweed, it’s relative west Indian CHickweed, is still abundant. Cucumberweed will be around for a few more weeks in shade but is already aging in many locations.Also heading out of season is Goosegrass. Still in seasons are sow thistles and various mustards. 

Ganoderma curtisii, a local reishi msuhroom. Photo by Green Deane

When will we be seeing and reading about mushrooms again? The answer is probably after spring rains in April or May or so. One can find various edible and medicinal mushrooms all year here but April to November is prime time for ground-based fungi (November to April for wood-based fungi.) I harvested several pounds of chanterelles last year. The topic of mushroom came up in the foraging class this week as we saw some “Train Wreckers” and Ganodermas starting their seasonal growth. Several species are called “Train Wreckers” because they can destroy railroad ties. None of them are toxic but some are too tough to digest and are related to Shiitake mushrooms. We also have several species of Ganodermas locally (Reishi) which is a bit of contention. The debate is how many species are there, what are they called, and are they as good as the ones that are sold for medicinal use? As for the latter my herbalist friends say yes, they are as good as the commercial kinds. As for how many and what they are called that probably won’t be settled for decades. I see three, or five, regularly, it’s hard to tell. With certainty I see G. curtisii, G. sessile, and G. zonatum. G. curtisii grows like a short golf club and is the closest relative to G. lingzhi, which is the well-known Chinese Reishi.  G. sessile has no stem and grows horizontally (a smaller form is G. sessiliforme.)  G. zonatum, more yellow than the rest, is found exclusively on palms and will kill the palm. If your palm has G. zontaum on it there is no hope for it.  There is also a Ganoderma that grows on citrus G. tuberculosum. To my knowledge none of the Reishis are toxic — but stick to identified species — and local herbalists report good results with them. These mushrooms stimulate the immune system by providing various molecular “keys’ that unlock and turn on immune cells in the gut. By the way I moderated these pages on Facebook: Southeast U.S. Mushroom Identification, Florida Mushroom Identification Forum, Edible Mushrooms: Florida, Edible Wild Mushrooms and Orlando Mushroom Group (OMG, which also will start to have meetings and fungal forays as soon as the season turns. Two years ago late rains threw the season off.) Florida Mushroom Identification Forum has some 24,000 members, including authors and professors.

You get the USB, not the key.

My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out and replaced by 171-videos on a 128-GB USB, see right.  The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy especially if social order falters.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page or click here. That will take you to an order form. Or you can make a $99 donation, which tells me it is for the USB (include a snail-mail address.)  I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. I had to stop making them as few programs now will read the ISO files to copy them. Burning a set also took about three hours. 

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant?  Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk about. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food. Recent topics include: Stale Bread and Cod Liver Oil, Killing Bugs with Tobacco Plugs, Eating weeds: Is it safe? Have they mutated? Not the Eastern Red Bug but the Pink Tabebuia, African Tulip Tree, Asparagus densiflorus, Green Deane’s Book… You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

This is my weekly newsletter #551. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Pawpaws are blossoming. Photo by Green Deane

It’s a good time to identify Pawpaw by its blossoms. I see them regularly while driving local roads. Look for pastures along the byways, nice high and dry pastures. Pawpaws are one to two yard high with large cream-colored blossoms. Pastured livestock generally avoid the species. Finding the shrub is not the real challenge. Woodland creatures like the tasty ripe fruit so one has to find AND watch pawpaw to get some to eat.

Wild Garlic will be cloving soon. Photo by Green Deane.

Getting ready to “fruit” is our wild garlic, Allium canadense. The plant is easy to find now in damp sunny areas and by next month will be putting garlic cloves on the top. Remember: if it looks like a garlic and smells like a garlic it is edible. The same holds true for onion, if it looks like an onion and smells like an onion it is edible. We dug some up during our foraging class in Gainesville last week. Their onion roots are small now as the energy in the root is being used to grow the plant and make cloves. What’s more important than their size is that you can transplant them and have a source of onions and garlic for flavoring without having to be reliant on stores. They often grow in profusion, becoming the dominant grass-like plant in a given area. The ornamental “Society Garlic” Tulbaghia violacea, is an edible distant relative of garlic. One can eat the leaves and blossoms, it rarely has a root worth preparing. 

Oenothera laciniata, cutleaf evening primrose

There are two blossoms you might be seeing now. One is the non-edible vine Carolina jassamine (Gelsemium Sempervirens.) You will see it draping over fences and bushes. The other in the southern version of the Evening Primrose, generally considered not edible (but I haven’t proven that to myself.) The northern version of the Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis, is called a “lost vegetable.” It was cultivated in Europe for about a century. There is a debate whether it is native to Europe or North America. Our Evening Primrose is O. laciniata, or the Cutleaf Evening-primrose. Unlike its northern sibling our local Evening Primrose does not grow tall, is a ground hugger, and is not considered edible. I have been meaning to try a little part of the blossom. A quarter of a century ago Forager Emeritus Dick Deuerling told me it was not edible. That said, Dick had texture sensitivities and said he only ate the “good stuff.” So he could have been saying he didn’t eat it. It’s a plant I’ve been meaning to explore. The natives ate several other Evening Primroses including O. albicaulis, O. biennis, O elata ssp. hookeri, and O. triloba. Another evening Primrose you might find in the northern part of the state is O. fruticosa. It’s not considered edible, either. 

The Toxic Atamasco Lily

What are they? The first answer is they are NOT edible. The second is they are a threatened species. And the third answer is the toxic Atamasco lily, or Zephranthes atamasca . For a threatened species they are seen in a lot of lawns this time of year prompting many emails asking for an identification. These natives like wetlands though a well-watered lawn after seasonal rains will do nicely. The problem with the Atamasco/Rain Lily is that it resembles wild garlic before it blossoms (and even has a bulb!) However, it does not have the telltale garlic or onion aroma. Remember if it smells like a garlic and looks like a garlic you can use it like a garlic. The Atamasco does not have any garlic aroma. It is not edible. All parts are poisonous. And while these in the picture have a pink tinge there are also all-white blossoms.

Two leghorns and a silver lace wyandotte.

Chicklettes: Unfortunately one died soon after relocation, the other three are doing well, having tried this week, chickweed, cucumber weed, purslane and apple. My home made incubator might add more babes this week. Chickweed, from the front yard, was quite popular (and why it was named that. Chicken, even baby ones, like it.) The apple core also received constant attention. These chicks are the leghorns, quite vocal and flighty, will lay white eggs. The deceased chick was replace with a very loud Silver Lace Wyandotte, not a breed I’m familiar with, lays brown eggs. My 15-year-old cat, Couscous, finds them … interesting.

Cherokee rose is not native. Photo by Green Deane

An Asian species sighted this weekend is one that was once considered native, the Cherokee Rose, which is actually an invasive. Botanically Rosa laevigata (Rosa is from the Greek ῥόδον (rhódon) meaning rose and laevitata or (Levis) which is Dead Latin for  smooth or polished. It’s a “climbing shrub” as is Smilax and Nicker Bean. Cherokee Rose is a large nearly odorless white bloomer from the low mountains of China and Vietnam. It was carried to the Americas in 1780 and was reportedly cultivated by the Cherokee thus the name. In 1916 at the urging of womens’ clubs it was made the state flower of Georgia and still is. It  produces huge rose hips to two-inches long though you have to burn bristles off to use them. And as one might presume the rugged vining shrub is covered with mean prickles. Handle carefully. Sugar from the plant has been used to make wine.

Foraging Classes: March is something of a transition month for foragers, it might be the only month of spring here in Central Florida. It is a good month to identify plants that usually fruit in April, often our most productive month.Classes span both coasts this weekend, with a Saturday in Melbourne and Sunday Port Charlotte.

Foraging classes are held rain, shine, hot or cold. Photo by Nermina Krenata

Saturday March 18th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park 9 a.m.

Sunday March 19th, Bayshore Live Oak Park Park, Bayshore Drive, Port Charlotte, Meet at the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard Street. 9 a.m.

Saturday March 25th, Mead Garden, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. 9 na.m.

Sunday March 26th, Eagle Lake Park, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park. 9 a.m.

Bring cash on the day of class or  click here to pay for your class

Deer Mushrooms like wood and cool weather. Photo by Green Deane

An edible mushroom that takes advantage of cool, rainy weather, such as this week, is the Deer Mushroom, in this case Pluteus petasatus. These are bunching mushrooms usually growing on old hardwood remains, either logs, stumps, roots or debris. As often is the case the botanical name is more confusing than enlightening. Pluteus  can mean shed or penthouse. Petasatus is Dead Latin for wearing a cap (meaning) ready for a journey. A relative is called P. cervinus the latter means deer or stag because of that species’ cap color. It is also sometimes called the Deer Mushroom or Fawn Mushroom. These two are edible but are viewed as marginal. One reason is the cap is mostly gills with little cap material. Sometimes it can have a radish flavor. Spore print is salmon to pink. 

My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out and replaced by 171-videos on a 128-GB USB, see right.  The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy especially if social order falters.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page or click here. That will take you to an order form. Or you can make a $99 donation, which tells me it is for the USB (include a snail-mail address.)  I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. I had to stop making them as few programs now will read the ISO files to copy them. Burning a set also took about three hours. 

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant?  Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk about. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food. Recent topics include: Stale Bread and Cod Liver Oil, Killing Bugs with Tobacco Plugs, Eating weeds: Is it safe? Have they mutated? Not the Eastern Red Bug but the Pink Tabebuia, African Tulip Tree, Asparagus densiflorus, Green Deane’s Book… You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

This is my weekly newsletter #549. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.