Search: dandelion

Pyrrhopapppaus carolinianus not a dandelion

Pyrrhopappus, & Hypochoeris: Are Dandelion Impostors

Most people don’t notice False Dandelions because they have the real thing. But here in the South where real dandelions are scarce and scraggly, False Dandelions stands out. Actually, they are found most of the Eastern US, and up the west coast. Let’s look at several of them starting with the Pyrrhopappus carolinianus.

Pyrrhopappus carolinianus

P. carolinianus is not mentioned in any edible plant book I have. I learned about it from Dick Deuerling, author of “Florida’s Incredible Wild Edibles” which is still in print, the profits from which go to non-profit plant causes.

Dick, however, had a slightly different take on the False Dandelion. While ethnobotanical research shows the natives ate the roots, Dick preferred the leaves, raw in salads or cooked. The roots, by the way, are said to be much sweeter when picked in autumn. I use them just like Dandelion leaves, that is, young and tender leaves in a salad, older leaves boiled as a green. I learned from Suzanne Shires one can cook the stems and use like spaghetti.

Pyrrhopappus (pye-roh-PAP-pus) means “fire fluff” a reference to the floating dandelion-like seed. Carolinianus (kair-oh-lin-ee-AY-nus) means “of Carolina” which was an old way of saying middle America.

Hypochoeris radicata sometime call the Hairy Cat’s Ear. Photo by Green Deane

The second false dandelion is better known and more wide-spread. The Hypochoeris radicata  (hye-poe-KÊ-ris rad-i-KAY-ta) is also called by several other names usually involving “cat’s ear” such as “Smooth Cat’s Ear” or “Spotted Cat’s Ear.”   See pictures at right.

Unlike the previous “false dandelion” the radicata is an import from Europe. It is still very popular wild weed in France, Spain, Italy and Greece. It is one of only 17 plants that are still gathered by farming communities in those countries. You can find it in grassy areas and road sides. They can tolerate dry ground but like moist soil as well. In very wet conditions the rosette can grow in to a clump.  On a sunny cay it covers my cousin’s lawn in South Carolina.

Hypochoeris glabra

H. Radicata might be an acquired taste. Cooking reduces the bitterness but there is always left over bitterness, and the leaves are hairy as well. They can go in go raw in salads, or cooked in soups and also steam well. The “cat’s ear” part refers to the bitter hairy leaves. Radicata means “rooted.” Hypochoeris is translated to mean “for the hogs” because pigs like the roots. Another Hypochoeris, the glabra, right,  is less bitter and is often eaten raw. Glabra means smooth, read hairless. Young tender stems of cat’s ear can be boiled and used like spaghetti.

Agoseris aurantiaca

Lastly a fourth false dandelion, also called the Mountain Dandelion, is the Agoseris aurantiaca, (a-go-SER-iss aw-ran-ti-AYE-kuh) below, found mostly in the western half of north America. It’s leaves were eaten by the Indians.   Agoseris combines two Greek words, aego (goat) and seris (the genus name for a lettuce-like plant) and aurantiaca which means orange-red color.

 Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: On first glance you’ll think P. carolinianus is a dandelion but the flower’s rays are more sparse and you will see dark anthers in the middle area of the flower. The stem is thinner and stronger than a dandelion, and the leaves skinnier and far less intended. They tend to curl laterally towards the center.

H. radicata: first leaves are club-shaped, round end, and hairless, mature leaves grow to eight inches long. Leaves arranged in a basal rosette, hairy, toothed or irregularly lobed edges. Basal leaves obovate in shape and to 8 inches long and 1.5 inches wide with toothed edges that are deeply wavy. The basal leaves are very hairy and sessile (without stalks.) Leaves grow smaller up the stem, have a milk sap, leafless flower stalks with two to seven flowers on each stalk.  H. glabra is similar to radicata but hairless.

Agoseris aurantiaca: Perennial with basal patch of long leaves, variable in shape but 15 inches in length, no stem, several flowers on tall peduncles up to two feet tall. Flower is ray florets with squared, toothed tips, deep orange to red, occasionally yellow, seed has dandelion-like tuff attached.

TIME OF YEAR: Same time as dandelions, greens spring and summer, roots in fall.

ENVIRONMENT: Same environment as dandelions, lawns, fields, common areas, sidewalk cracks. Prefers moist soil.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: P.  carolinianus: Young leaves raw in salads, older leaves boiled like dandelions for a potherb, young stems like spavhetti. Autumn roots boiled or roasted.  H. radicata, young leaves raw or cooked. H. glabra, leaves cooked or raw. Flower and buds of all can be used like dandelions. A. aurantiaca, cooked leaves

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

Fireweed/Burnweed has a flavor chefs love. As professionals they think differently about flavors, textures and possible applications. 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. Forager emeritus Dick Deuerling used to say about wild plants that he only ate the good stuff and fireweed was not the good stuff. 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 green-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.

Fruit of the Latex Strangler Vine. Photo by Green Deane

Another recent find was Latex Strangler Vine. At one time a bane of the citrus industry the lengthy vine grows edible fruit that is high in vitamin C.  It’s called “Strangler” because it can cover a citrus tree shading it out and killing it. The specie was “found” twice in Florida some twenty-five years apart in the last century. The state unsuccessfully spent millions trying to get rid of it  Look for it on fences and around current or old citrus groves. Decades ago when the weather was warmer the vine was common wherever there was citrus. Cooler weather has frozen it and citrus out on the north end of the state. I have seen Latex Strangler Vine in Ocala and near Gainesville but that’s the limit. In both cases the plants were under Live Oaks and in unmowed areas. It is quite common mid-state and south. The blossoms are edible off the vine. The raw leaves can also be eaten but are usually dipped in oil first. My article on the species is here. I also have a video on the species here. 

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

Foraging Classes: The weather might be iffy this coming weekend for classes spanning both coasts. Classes are held in the rain, except for hurricanes.

Saturday, March 23rd, Red Bug Slough 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot.

Sunday, March 24th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127, 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion.

For more information on these classes, to prepay or sign up 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.

Bacopa monnieri can have four or five petals.

Before I forget it’s time to write about Bacopa again. Actually there are six Bacopas locally, two common: Water Hyssop and Lemon Bacopa. They are quite different and perhaps it takes a trained botanical eye to appreciate their similarities which strike me as few. Perhaps their greatest difference is texture. Lemon Bacopa is soft, fuzzy, and crushes easily. It smells like limes not lemons. Water Hyssop is tough and shiny, resilient. Lemon Bacopa is aromatic and fruity in flavor, Water Hyssop is just pain bitter. Water Hyssop definitely can help with memory issues, Lemon Bacopa is more iffy on that score. One does not find Lemon Bacopa too often whereas Water Hyssop is nearly everywhere the soil is wet and sunny. (There are actually five Bacopas that look like the bitter one we want but four of them are rare. The one we want, Bacopa monnieri, by far the most common, has a single crease/line on the leaf.) I have found Lemon Bacopa only three times; two of them in the wet ruts of woods roads. There is also a lake near me that has a little growing near a boat ramp when the water level is just right. As my article speaks more towards Lemon Bacopa I will address Water Hyssop here. It basically stimulates the brain to make new neuronal connections, specifically in the hippocampus. It is anti-inflammatory and interacts with the dopamine and serotenergic systems. As you might expect growing new memory cells enough to notice takes time. So Bacopa has to be taken daily for at least three months. I have had several people tell me it has made significant difference in their lives. It does not work on all causes of memory problems but if it does work it does so dramatically. You can read about both Bacopas 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. Unfortunately this portion of my website has been disfunctional recently, efforts have been made to fix it.

Stinging nettles boiling.

Noticed this week, was a proliferation of stinging nettles. Cooking nettles eliminates their sting plus they are high in calcium and potassium.  I harvest them wearing gloves, stripping the leaves from the top of the stem to the bottom. I also rinse them as the stinging hairs can cling to sand. They take very little cooking. They are good with butter or balsamic vinegar.

Finally, a physical copy of the book.

Now in its second printing 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 #593. 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.

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.

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?

Oyster mushroom growing on a Sweet Bay. Photo by Green Deane

Creeping Cucumber keeps fruiting in south Florida.

Perhaps it was a last seasonal hurrah, or maybe the creatures that eat Melothria Pendula are full now (see photo right.) We found dozens of “mouse cucumbers” during our Saturday class in Winter Park.  Perhaps the birds who like them have migrated. We had more than enough for several salads. Another surprise were oyster mushrooms growing on a Magnolia virginiana. It’s a good time of year for them but the lack of rain seem to not be a problem. A popular mushroom I have hundreds of plugs in various logs where I live. 

Fraging Classes: We’re making a rare trip to an actual seaside class location Sunday and a bayside class Saturday

April 15th  Saturday, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte, meet in the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard. 9 a.m. to noon 

April 22nd, Saturday, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981, 9 a.m. to noon. 

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

Tall Evening Primrose (oenothera biennis) a “lost vegetable.”

Is it edible? The quick answer is no… maybe…. yes? The plant in question is the moth-pollenated Evening Primrose (whose blossoms open sunset to sunrise.) We have three species in locally, two are considered edible, the third is up in the air.  Oenothera biennis is called a “lost vegetable.” It was cultivated in the area of Germany for about a century. The cooked root is edible, shoots raw or more often cooked, flowers in salads or pickled. Young pods steamed. There are two cultivars, EP 10 and Saguin. It’s the Evening Primrose I grew up with in Maine, a rather tall plant for a root vegetable, one to two yards high. It supposedly grows in central and North Florida but I have never seen it locally. It’s listed in most of North America except Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming. The big debate is whether the plant is native to North America or is European. The other edible Evening Primrose locally is O. fruticosa, also called the “Wild Beet.” Natives parboiled the leaves then cooked them in grease. No mention of the root. Its seed capsules are club shaped. The primrose I see most often, however, is the “non-edible” low-growing O. laciniata aka Cutleaf Evening primrose. It is also the most common and has round seeds and short petals, an inch or less. 

Cutleaf Primrose blossom. Photo by Green Deane

Many years ago I asked Forager Emeritus Dick Deuerling if O. laciniata was edible and he flatly said “no.” But on consideration texture and or palatability was important to Dick and he could have said no because he didn’t like to eat the plant. He felt that way about Burnweed (Erechtites hieraciifloius.) He was well-known for saying while there are a lot of edible wild plants “But I only eat the good stuff.” The Florida Native Plant Society says the seeds and leaves of the Cutleaf Evening Primrose were used as food and medicine by the Cherokee. It is not mentioned in Cornucopia II or Moerman’s Native American Food Plants.  To make things complicated there are 16 “evening primroses” in Florida, 11 native. I have tasted one blossom of the Cutleaf but not yet consumed one (I had a long, awful illness after tasting a Tropical Sage blossom once [Salvia coccinea.]  My blossom-experimenting days are behind me.) 

Dark stamens helps to identify this False Dandelion. Photo by Green Deane

Also seen this week was one of the “False Dandelions’ Hypochaeris radicata. In general terms there are four species known as False Dandelions (not counting species falsely called False Dandelion such as Crepis japonica.) There are at least three genera: Pyrrhopappus, Hypochaeris and Agoseris. Pyrrhopappus carolinianus are found in the southern eastern quarter of the United States. Hypochaeris radicata is found in most of North America except the high plains states. Hypochaeris glabra is some eastern states, some southern states, and some western states. Spotty. Agoseris aurantiaca is in the western U.S. and Canada and eastern Canada but not in between. Also note that Hypochaeris is also spelled Hypochoeris. In general terms False Dandelions are used like Dandelions though they do vary in flavor with H. radicata being quite bitter. The odd-one out is A. aurantiaca which has an orange-red blossom instead of yellow. You can read about them here.

Also blossoming right now is our local yucca. Photo by Green Deane

Also blossoming now are our local yucca, Yucca filamentosa. While some wild edibles are under-rated perhaps the Yucca is over-rated. You will read in many foraging books that the blossoms are edible raw. Good luck with that. I have never found that so with our local species. Raw they have a wonderful texture and initial flavor but then a natural soap kicks in and leaves a bitter aftertaste that is quite disappointing. Cooked flowers, however, are quite tasty though you always have to knock out a lot of insects before cooking… well, you don’t really if you want some extra protein.  I usually boil the blossoms. The flower spike is also edible when very young.  Other parts are famine food. To read more about the yucca go here.

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 #553. 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.

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.

Yellow is a possible theme this week. Yellow pine pollen,  yellow puncture vine, yellow mustard, all can be easily seen now.

Pine is pollenating now. Photo by Brian Maudsley.

Pine trees are growing tan male pine cones now, (microsporangiate strobili) which are edible but taste like a dry sponge.  When tapped they release a yellow dust. That dust is pollen and has been used for centuries as a testosterone supplement. Ten grams of pine pollen has approximately 0.8 micrograms of testosterone. Eating the male pine cones does not deliver the dose. The pollen has to be placed under tongue. I know people who collect pine pollen every year. It is high in protein and can be used to extend flour. Digesting pollen does not have a hormonal effect. Pine pollen has often been blamed for allergies to ragweed (also yellow) However, in comparison pine pollen is heavy and does not drift as easily or as far as ragweed pollen so amny folks who think they have a pine allergy have a ragweed allergy. Incidentally Female pine cones are MACROsporangiate strobili.

(Tribulus terrestris) on the beach

The yellow puncture vine tribulus trestris, has yellow blossom and a long history in folk medicine for treating male sex issues, often attributed into its ability to increase nitric oxide levels (as does Dollar Weed.)  Complicating usage is where the puncture vine was grown (country.) That seems to affect efficacy of the plant. To extend the yellow theme, wild mustard’s yellow blossoms are common now  in long rows along dry roadways. Very conspicuous. There are no hormonal uses. However, it has many culinary issues from a pot herb to a fermented food.

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 (Erechtites hieraciifolius) 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 green-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.

Fruit of the Latex Strangler Vine. Photo by Green Deane

Another recent find was Latex Strangler Vine. At one time a bane of the citrus industry the lengthy vine grows edible fruit that is high in vitamin C.  It’s called “Strangler” because it can cover a citrus tree shading it out and killing it. The species was “found” twice in Florida some twenty-five years apart in the last century. The state unsuccessfully spent millions trying to get rid of it  Look for it on fences and around current or old citrus groves. Decades ago when the weather was warmer the vine was common wherever there was citrus. Cooler weather has frozen it and citrus out on the north end of the state. I have seen Latex Strangler Vine in Ocala and near Gainesville but that’s the limit. In both cases the plants were under Live Oaks and in unmowed areas. It is quite common mid-state and south. The blossoms are edible off the vine. The raw leaves can also be eaten but are usually dipped in oil first. My article on the species is here. I also have a video on the species here. 

Foraging classes: This week span the coasts from John Chestnut Park in New Port Richey to Wickham park in Melbourne. 

Saturday February 25th, John Chestnut County Park: 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685. Meet at the trail head of the Peggy Park Nature Walk, pavilion 1 parking lot. 9 a.m 

Sunday February 26th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park 9 a.m.

Saturday March 4th, Red Bug Slough, 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota, 9 a.m. 

Sunday march 5th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms, 9 a.m.

For more information, to pre-pay or sign up, go here. 

White clover blossoms is often used for tea. Photo by Green Deane

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.

Bacopa monnieri can have four or five petals.

Before I forget it’s time to write about Bacopa again. Actually there are six Bacopas locally, two common: Water Hyssop and Lemon Bacopa. They are quite different and perhaps it takes a trained botanical eye to appreciate their similarities which strike me as few. Perhaps their greatest difference is texture. Lemon Bacopa is soft, fuzzy, and crushes easily. It smells like limes not lemons. Water Hyssop is tough and shiny, resilient. Lemon Bacopa is aromatic and fruity in flavor, Water Hyssop is just pain bitter. Water Hyssop definitely can help with memory issues, Lemon Bacopa is more iffy on that score. One does not find Lemon Bacopa too often whereas Water Hyssop is nearly everywhere the soil is wet and sunny. (There are actually five Bacopas that look like the bitter one we want but four of them are rare. The one we want, Bacopa monnieri, by far the most common, has a single crease on the middle of the leaf.) I have found Lemon Bacopa only three times; two of them in the wet ruts of woods roads. There is also a lake near me that has a little growing near a boat ramp when the water level is just right. As my article speaks more towards Lemon Bacopa I will adress Water Hyssop here. It basically stimulates the brain to make new neuronal connections, specifically in the hippocampus. It is anti-inflammatory and interacts with the dopamine and serotenergic systems. As you might expect growing new memory cells enough to notice takes time. So Bacopa has to be taken daily for at least three months. I have had several people tell me it has made significant difference in their lives. It does not work on all causes of memory problems but if it does work it does so dramatically. You can read about both Bacopas here. 

Maple buds. Photo by Simplehomesteadliving. com

This time of year a forested horizon locally will have a red hue. That is caused by budding red maples, Acer rubrum. While the winged maple seeds are edible they can be bitter with tanins. However, that makes the buds and later seeds good candidates for tea. Use them like making sun tea, that is, put them in a large jar and let them soak. You should know dry red maples leaves and bark are toxic to horses. Fresh leaves are not. Dry leaves are also toxic to llamas or alpacas. Toxic chemicals in the dry leaves include gallic and tannic acid, which destroy a horse’s red blood cells. Another toxin pyrogallol, prevents red blood cells from being able to carry oxygen. Three pounds of leaves, a small amount for a horse, is enough to kill them. Red-brown urine tells you the horse is suffering from the toxins. Effectively, there isn’t any treatment.

If you’re a gardener: The Florida keys are usually hard limestone islands. West of Miami the soil is only about a foot thick sitting on feet of  limstone. The way they grew food on key west  was to mix horse manure with sea weed to create soil.

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 #546. 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.

A Bunch of real chickweed and Hen bit, growing together. Photo by Green Deane

Seek and ye shall find. Thus far this year finding real chickweed (stellaria media) has been a challenge. Usually one spies it in late November, and now we’re mid-January. It and henbit have been elusive. Until this morning. Right outside my front door, there was a patch of chickweed with henbit tossed in. I didn’t plant them: They followed me home…

Both are edible raw. Henbit has a mild flavor, whereas raw chickweed tastes like corn silk or raw corn, which moderates on cooking. Henbit was a favorite springtime green of the natives because of it’s mild in flavor. Many springtime potherbs are in the mustard family and peppery to varying degrees. 

Stinging Nettles are making their seasonal debut. Photo by Green Deane

Our mighty stinging nettles are up, we saw some in Largo Saturday. 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 name gets to the point, “Stinging Dwarf.” Quite edible but you must handle it with care. If this particular species stings me it is not only extremely painful but a bloody 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.) I like to dehydrate them next to a campfire. 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 weekend was the sighting of Sow Thistles. 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, and is slightly bitter. Although Sow Thistles are commonly called “thistles” they are not in the genus and do not draw blood with spines 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.

Beach Bean Canavalia Rosea

We had a rare class at Princess Place Preserve in Palm Coast Sunday, thank you to everyone who turned out on that chilly morning. Princes Place Preserved is a good place to find chanterelles and black trumpet mushrooms when they are in season (around June.)  A plant we did not see though I think we would if we looked around more is Beach Bean, Canavalia maritima (aka Rosea) The plant gets mixed reviews, eaten for a long time yet listed as toxic. The adult beans are definitely to be avoided but the young seeds are being eaten by humans somewhere as you read this paragraph, quite popular. There is no record of local natives using the C. Maritima for food, and among Caribbean people it is viewed as a medicine. Professor Daniel Austin, author of Florida Ethnobotany, writes that he flipped back and forth on edible or not. He avoided it than had studnets who ate it, then he ate them and later stopped. As many legume species develop lectins as they age that might be the issue with the Beach Bean and why they are edible young and not recommended when mature. Upcoming foraging classes are: 

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

Saturday January 21th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte, 9 a.m. meet at the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard street. 

Sunday January 22nd, Red Bug Slough, 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota. 9 a.m.

Saturday January 28th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms.  9 a.m.

Sunday January 29th, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. 9 a.m. meet north of the science center parking lot. 

For more information, to pre-pay or sign up go here. 

Stinkhorn Mushroom. Photo by Green Deane

Many cheeses have a strong aroma. My  Father did not eat cheese ever. Mother likened cheese to dirty socks so she didn’t eat it either or mushrooms. Just as well. We have a very smelly mushroom which when young smells quite tasty but when past the juvenile stage smells like road kill. It’s the stink horn. There are many stink horns. This one is Clathrus columnatus. Opinions vary whether it is edible in the “egg” stage. I don’t conveniently see them that often in the “egg” stage to give them a try. Phallus ravenelii is definitely edible in the egg stage and has a flavor similar to radish. 

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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 #541. 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.

False Hawk’s beard Like cooler weather. Photo by Green Deane

Also making itself better know now is a Dandelion relative, the False Hawk’s Beard. While one can find it all year this edible favors the spring. It’s a very common lawn invader and can occasionally get up to a couple of feet tall. Young leaves are eaten raw, older leaves which can be tougher and a bit bitter, can be boiled. I have a Croatian friend who also cooks up the roots, too.  They can be easily distinguished from the Dandelion by the flower stalk which is branched (unlike the Dandelion which has one straight stalk.) Also the False Hawk’s Beard can have blossoms in all  stages of development at the same time, unopened,  open, and going to seed. I have a video on it here . You can read more about the False Hawk’s Beard here.

Sow Thistles make a nice winter pot herb and are related to Dandelions. Photo by Green Deane

Another not unexpected seasonal green this weekend was the sighting of Sow Thistles. 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.

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. We saw some blossom this past weekend in east Orlando. 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. 

The mighty Heart Leaf Nettle. 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. 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 contact with 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.

Lots of driving for me this weekend in a rental car. My two vehicles are in the garage. Saturday’s class is in Orlando and Sunday in Melbourne. 

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

Saturday January 7th  Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr.Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. 9 a.m

Sunday January 8th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park. 9 a.m.

Saturday January 14th, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park. 

Sunday January 15th the Princess Place Preserve, 2500 Princess Place Rd, Palm Coast, FL 32137, 9 a.m. Meet at the parking lot.

For more information, to pre-pay or sign up go here. 

This might be a good time to mention that Begonias are edible. We saw some this weekend at my foraging class. Unfortunately a rather popular book some 30 years ago said they are not edible. I actually spoke with the author once and she told me in subsequent editions that mistake would be changed but the book never went into second edition. Thus the mistake can be found on the internet. Begonias are not only the favorite of growers (and cemetery pots) they are naturalized locally. I see them often in damp spots such as stream banks or drainage ditches. The leaves are edible as well as the blossoms. They can be prepared in a variety of ways and the juice is also a vegetarian rennet. My favorite are wax begonias (and the flavor can vary with their color.) You can read about them here.

Spiderworts got me in trouble once. I let them cover my entire lawn in suburbia. That prompted a visit from Lawn Enforcement Officers. I was cited in writing for having an unkept lawn which meant covered with weeds (that they were pretty, native “weeds” was deemed irrelevant.) As I thought the citation wrong I read the pertinent law. It said a weed was a plant unintentionally over 18 inches high. Problem solved. My spiderworts were intentionally over 18-inches high. I watered and fertilized them. Consequently I beat the rap. And while Spiderworts favor the spring you can find them blossoming now here and there.  Spiderworts are quite edible, at least all the parts above ground. They can be consumed raw, cooked or fermented. While this is not too descriptive they taste “green” to me, not distinctive but pleasant. Spiderworts have a history, by the way, being connected to John Smith of Pocahontas fame. You can read about them here.

m’i’;l

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. 

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 #538. 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.News