Search: dayflower

Hawthorn berries are edible, but not the seeds. Photo by Green Deane

There are many botanical mysteries, Hawthorns are one of the prime puzzlements among green plants. No one knows exactly how many species there are, dozens? Hundreds? Perhaps thousands.  It’s a PhD waiting to happen. But we do know they are in the greater rose family, and the small fruit is applesque — so don’t eat the seeds. In hungrier times hawthorn jelly was popular particularly made from crataegus monogyna. It’s a no-cook jelly you can dry into a sweet snack. Although a European speciesI have seen crataegus monogyna growing near Boone, North Carolina, Hawthorn, now, is more known medicinally as a tea from the leaves and or fruit because they are an effective Beta Blocker for certain cardio vascular conditions. 

Devil Walking stick fruit is not edible.

We also harvested a lot of chanterelles during our Gainesville Class,  including some red chanterelles. They went well in an omelette. Also spied were the non-edible berries of the Devil’s Walking stick. Blossom and shoots are edible but not the fruit — which have a kind of Elderberry-on-a-bad-day flavor. It is irritating in foraging that some of the easiest things to identify are not edible.

American lotus seeds ready for cooking. Photo by Green Deane

Seen twice this past week in Gainesville and Winter Garden were blossoming American Lotus. The first time I saw a small lake of these blossoms was when an old dry lakebed was deepened and reflooded for a housing development. The next spring suddenly what was for decades a dry lake was full of American Lotus blossoms. This is because the seeds can stay viable some 400 years, or so the experts report. Talk about a survival food! There are multiple edible parts on the American Lotus but I prefer the seeds. I also think when collecting by hand the seeds proved to be the most calories for the least amount of work. The roots are edible but digging them up can be a messy, laborious job. Locally American Lotus are easy to find now: Just look for a lake with large yellow blossoms on long stems. Further north and west they are a favorite sight on rivers such as the Mississippi. To read more about the American Lotus go here.

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

Foraging Classes: Accompanying me in my foraging class this Saturday in Mead Garden is the publicity side of my book publisher, Keen Adventure. Sunday’s class will dodge thunderstorm in Largo. 

August 12th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. Meet at the bathrooms 9 a.m. This class will be attended by representatives of the company publishing my book. (See below) 

August 13th, Eagle Lake, Largo fl. Meet at the dog park pavilion, 9 a.m.

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

Cereus cactus fruit is wild Dragon Fruit. Photo by Green Deane

One of the joys this time of year is that cactus tunas are ripening: Cactus fruit are called Tuna. There are two or three general types of cactus locally, Opuntia and Nopales and a third with edible fruit, the Cereus, which is more an ornamental Dragon Fruit.  How do you pick a Tuna (or cactus pad?) In a word carefully. 

Sweeping glochids off is another option.

Most foragers know cactus have edible parts but what does one look for, generally? First make sure it’s a pad, segmented often oval or tear-drop shaped. You do not want anything that looks serpentine. Also no white sap. White sap in plants that resemble cactus can be very deadly even after being dry many years. In one case smoke from burning desiccated Euphorbia branches killed some stranded people. They were  trying to stay warm around the fire on a cold desert night. So, pads, no white sap. While which cactus you collect (Opuntia, Nopales, or Cereus) might be the luck of the draw, the less spines the better, and the less glochids the much better. Glochids are tiny tuffs of sharp hair that hurt, are hard to dig out, and last for days. Ma Natures knows the pads and Tuna are good food so she protects them mightily. Big spines can be cut, burned or scraped off, glochids burned or washed off. Just scraping is not so successful with glochids. Wear stiff gloves without seams. Those little glochids will pass right through seams and get ya. Hint: Young pads, the ones we want anyway, often have not developed glochids. The Tuna have them so pick with tongs and sweep, wash or burn the painful spines off. Let us presume you have a spineless, glochidless young pad. What do you do with it? You can eat it raw, skin and all, or roast it or boil it. I know one restuarant that steams them (preserving color) then lightly grills them puting the pads whole on a Mexicanesque hamburgers.  With older (de-spined) pads you can still eat them raw or cook. Usually the tougher spine “eyes” are removed just like you would with a potato. And the pad can be peeled as well. Pads at a certain point become woody and too tough to eat.  The fruit, Tunas, are also edible after ridding them of glochids. They can have a raspberry flavor. The seeds are edible, too, but are extremely tough. You have to grind or roast them To read more about cactus click here.

Hackberries, or sugarberries, are usually burnt orange in color.

There is a tree you should be scouting for now so when the fruit ripens next month you’ll have some already located. As in real estate so in foraging: Location, location, location. Hackberries (also widely know as Sugarberries) like to be near but not in fresh water. You can often find them about 10 feet above the local water table but I’ve seen them as low as three feet. Usually you can find them up the bank from the water. Older Hackberry bark will often be warty, sometimes heavily so. Leaves have uneven shoulders, and on the back side of the leaf notice three prominent veins at the base, unusual for tree leaves. The small-pea sized fruit is green now but will ripen this month or early September into a burnt orange. The entire fruit is edible though the seed is hard. To read more about them go here.

asdff

Doveweed, Murdannia, might be the smallest non-floating edible plant in the United States. Barely known, easily overlooked, yet very invasive. It pays to be small. For some young Doveweed is prime for soups, others view it as famine food. I can understand that. It’s closely related to a genus that gives me an upset stomach, the Commelinas (Dayflowers.)  I use only Doveweed blossoms in my salad. To anyone used to finding Dayflowers the Doveweed will look familiar but only a few inches tall. It also has a lot of common names around the world including “Micky Mouse.” To read more about the Doveweed, go here.

Isabelline wheateater

To my knowledge I’ve never met anyone named Isabell. So when the word “isabelline” cross my optical path about plants I had to look into it. “Isabell” means “God’s promise” presumably a positive one. It was very popular girl’s name in the 1880s, all but disappear until 2003 whereupon it had a resurgence in popularity until 2007. Now it is on the wane again. But what is isabelline?  There are three application of which I have also apparently never heard of.  One is what we could call Spanish Gothic Architecture. King and queen Ferdinand and Isabella got Columbus launched then turned to building cathedrals and the like. That style is called Isabelline, properly capitalized. I’m surprised they didn’t called it Ferdinine. The second use is a color: Isabelline. A color? Yes, and the word has been in use for at least 400 years so it is not a paint-store invention like “Baby Fawn” or “egg blue.”

A Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus.)

Isabelline “means a light yellow-gray and used mostly to describe mushrooms, animals and birds. There is the Isabelline Wheateater, see above left, the Isabelline Shrike, and the Isabelline Bear, right. Horses that are a cross between a Golden Palomino and a Champagne Palomino are also called Isabelline. Now, what of the third use? Well… ahem….Isabelline is also a reference to faded underwear. The story comes from when Philip II of Spain laid siege to the berg of Ostend in 1601. His daughter, Isabella, Archduchess of Austria, made a rather presumptuous vow not to change her underwear until the city was taken, thinking dad would be home by supper, lunch by Sunday for sure… Unfortunately for Isabell — and those around her — the siege took three years. Thus the color of dingy underwear is “isabelline.”

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. Most of the entries include a nutritional profile. Officially it will be published Dec. 5th (to suit the publisher publicity demands) apparently to appeal to the winter market but can be delivered by mid-October

This is weekly newsletter #569. 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.

Wild Chanterelles and wild rice. Photo by Green Deane

It was a mushroom Saturday. After our foraging class we went mushroom hunting and took home pounds of chanterelles, Old Man of the Woods, and milk caps. There were more Old Men than I had even seen. I had some chanterelles with scramble eggs and ghee for breakfast this morning. There are some 81 edible species of mushrooms in Florida and our best season is after late spring or early summer rains.

Sugarberries/Hackberries are starting to ripen.

There is a tree you should be scouting for now so when the fruit ripens next month you’ll have some already located. As in real estate so in foraging: Location, location, location. Hackberries (also widely know as Sugarberries) like to be near but not in fresh water. You can often find them about 10 feet above the local water table but I’ve seen them as low as three feet. Usually you can find them up the bank from the water. Older Hackberry bark will often be warty, sometimes heavily so. Leaves have uneven shoulders, and on the back side of the leaf notice three prominent veins at the base, unusual for tree leaves. The small-pea sized fruit is green now but will ripen this month or early September into a burnt orange. The entire fruit is edible though the seed is hard. To read more about them go here.

Murdannia nudiflora,

Doveweed, Murdannia nudiflora, might be the smallest non-floating edible plant in the United States. Barely known, easily overlooked, yet very invasive. It pays to be small. For some young Doveweed is prime for soups, others view it as famine food. I can understand that. It’s closely related to a genus that gives me an upset stomach, the Commelinas (Dayflowers.)  I use only Doveweed blossoms in my salad. To anyone used to finding Dayflowers the Doveweed will look familiar but only a few inches tall. It also has a lot of common names around the world including “Micky Mouse.” To read more about the Doveweed, go here.

Isabelline Whetear

To my knowledge I’ve never met anyone named Isabell. So when the word “isabelline” cross my optical path about plants I had to look into it. “Isabell” means “God’s promise” presumably a positive one. It was very popular girl’s name in the 1880s, all but disappear until 2003 whereupon it had a resurgence in popularity until 2007. Now it is on the wane again. But what is isabelline?  There are three application of which I have also apparently never heard of.  One is what we could call Spanish Gothic Architecture. King and queen Ferdinand and Isabella got Columbus launched then turned to building cathedrals and the like. That style is called Isabelline, properly capitalized. I’m surprised they didn’t called it Ferdinine. The second use is a color: Isabelline. A color? Yes, and the word has been in use for at least 400 years so it is not a paint-store invention like “Baby Fawn.”

A Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus.)

Isabelline “means a light yellow-gray and used mostly to describe mushrooms, animals and birds. There is the Isabelline Wheateater, see above right, the Isabelline Shrike, and the Isabelline Bear, left. Horses that are a cross between a Golden Palomino and a Champagne Palomino are also called Isabelline. Now, what of the third use? Well… ahem….Isabelline is also a reference to faded underwear. The story comes from when Philip II of Spain laid siege to the berg of Ostend in 1601. His daughter, Isabella, Archduchess of Austria, made a rather presumptuous vow not to change her underwear until the city was taken, thinking dad would be home by supper, lunch by Sunday for sure… Unfortunately for Isabell — and those around her — the siege took three years. Thus the color of dingy underwear is “isabelline.”

Foraging classes:  My Saturday’s class — Sarasota — is a couple of hours closer for me. My Sunday class –Gainesville — will be nearly a five hour drive for me, such is the results of moving. 

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

Saturday, August 6th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233, 9 a.m. Meet at the playground. 

Sunday, August 7th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house. 9 a.m.

Saturday, August 13th, 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, August 14th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte, meet at the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard Street. 9 a.m.

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

I find Russian Thistles in front of hotels on Daytona Beach. Photo by Green Deane

We shouldn’t forage along railroad tracks and you can blame it all on the Russian Thistle. This species, best known as the tumble weed that rolls across the wild west in movies, came with immigrants to southern South Dakota in the early 1870’s. Best guess is it contaminated their flax seed. By 1895  it reached New Jersey and California. The question was how? A professor who worked for the Department of Agriculture figured out the trains were spreading the seeds coast to coast. It was a remarkable idea at the time and brought him much fame. His solution to the unintentional distribution? Kill plants long railroad tracks. Thus began the practice of putting down some mighty and long-lasting chemicals to kill weeds sprouting amongst the iron rails. Railroad tracks are a good place to find seeds to take home and plant but not to find food. There have even been a few reported deaths from foraging along rail road tracks.

Saw palmetto berries half way to ripe.

As we are inching into  August and Saw Palmetto Berries are turning from green to gold. In another month they will be black and edible (so to speak.) Many folks find the flavor of Saw Palmetto berries revolting. I am not sure they are an “acquired” taste or a tolerated one. You will either be able to eat them or not. Basically they tastes like vomit. To be a little more gracious they taste like intense blue cheese with some burning hot pepper tossed in. Once you get used to them they are… endurable. But if you were hungry you would crave them in that they have all the amino acids humans need to be healthy. They are good for you even if you don’t like them. As with some fruit — Durian for example — the smell is enough to dissuade many people from eating them. Saw Palmetto berries will be ripening for the next month or so thus you have plenty of time to try one.

You get the USB, not the key.

Changing foraging videos: As my WordPress pages are being updated the video set will go away.  They are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have a separate copy. The DVD format, however, is becoming outdated. Those 135 videos plus 36 more are now available on a USB drive. While the videos were played from the DVDs the videos on the USB have to be copied to your computer to play. They are MP4 files. The 171-video USB is $99. If you make a $99 “donation” using the link at the bottom of this page or here, that order form provides me with your address, the amount — $99 — tells me it is not a donation and is for the USB. 

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.

This is weekly newsletter #518, 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.

Jambul Fruit being made into wine. Photo by Green Deane

Even ripe Jambul fruit is slightly astringent. Photo by Green Deane

Plants remind one that weather is less dependable than we might think. People who makes plans to live off the land often forget several things among them personal illness, crop predation by bug, animal or fungi, limited hours of daylight to work in, and uncooperative weather (either limiting hours one can work, or, affecting plant production.)   We were reminded of the latter this past week with the Java Plum (also called Jambul.) They’re a common tree in south Florida and I know of one and a few relatives in Central Florida. Usually the species fruits in August. That’s a good look- for target month. Last year it was early August if not late July, the year before late August and or September. In West Palm Beach this past weekend some were still blossoming while a couple were dropping unripe, astringent fruit. Usually by now sidewalks near the trees are stained purple with mashed fruit. The trees clearly have a six-week- (or so) window. That’s the effects of weather. Is it because of more or less chill hours? More or less clouds? Is it the amount of rain or timing (and not only for the trees.) Weather can effect pollenating insects. Can they fly when the plant really needs pollinating?  Plants are on a very flexible schedule and you have to be, too. You have to do more than know your land: You have to watch, too. 

Wild Chanterelles and wild rice waiting to be cooked. Photo by Green Deane

I was asked recently by one of the retired fellows I bike with if the rain was helping my plants. That’s kind of on par with “is sunshine helping your plants?”  What he meant but did not say was did the recent rains make a difference. I’m not sure it moved the chlorophylic needle much on green plants but it did stimulate a flush of edible Chanterelles. Several friends and I collected them for several days and did not put a dent in the abundance. (By the way harvesting wild mushrooms is what the mushroom wants just as an an apple tree wants its apples moved.)  All mushroom should be stored in paper bags (not plastic) and washed only right before cooking. (I’m certified to sell wild mushrooms in several states, and that is among the instructions.) Interestingly those who study such things now say no mushrooms — wild or cultivated — should be eaten raw. Over a life time, they say, eating raw mushrooms can increase the risk for mitochondria-based cancer. Cook your mushrooms. 

One way to remove glochids from tunas is to sweep them off.

One of the disappointments this time of year is that the Seagrapes are not quite ripe, as we saw in West Palm Beach Sunday. They usually ripen in september, That said the Tuna are running… well… actually ripening: Cactus fruit are called Tuna. We saw plenty of those. There are two or three general types of cactus locally, Opuntia and Nopales and a third with edible fruit, the Cereus, which is more an ornamental Dragon Fruit.  How do you pick a Tuna (or cactus pad?) In a word carefully. Most foragers know cactus have edible parts but what does one look for, generally? First make sure it’s a pad, segmented often oval or tear-drop shaped. You do not want anything that looks serpentine. Also no white sap. White sap in plants that resemble cactus can be very deadly even after being dry many years. In one case smoke from burning desiccated Euphorbia branches killed some stranded people. They were  trying to stay warm around the fire on a cold desert night. So, pads, no white sap.

Cereus fruit is soft and semi-sweet. Photo by Green Deane

While which cactus you collect (Opuntia, Nopales, or Cereus) might be the luck of the draw, the less spines the better, and the less glochids the much better. Glochids are tiny tuffs of sharp hair that hurt, are hard to dig out, and last for days. Ma Natures knows the pads and Tuna are good food so she protects them mightily. Big spines can be cut, burned or scraped off, glochids burned or washed off. Just scraping is not so successful with glochids. Wear stiff gloves without seams. Those little glochids will pass right through seams and get ya. Hint: Young pads, the ones we want anyway, often have not developed glochids. The Tuna have them so pick with tongs and sweep, wash or burn the painful parts off. Let us presume you have a spineless, glochidless young pad or tuna. What do you do with it? You can eat it raw, skin and all, or roast it or boil it. I know one restuarant that steams pads (preserving color) then lightly grills them inserting them whole on Mexican-esque hamburgers.  With older (de-spined) pads you can still eat them raw or cook. Usually the tougher spine “eyes” are removed just like you would with a potato. And the pad can be peeled as well. Pads at a certain point become woody and too tough to eat.  The tunas can have a raspberry flavor. The seeds are edible, too, but are extremely tough. You have to grind or roast them The pink foot-ball shaped fruit of the Cereus are spineless and totally edible, skin soft seeds and white pulp usually raw. To read more about cactus click here.

Sugarberries/Hackberries are starting to ripen.

There is a tree you should be scouting for now so when the fruit ripens next month you’ll have some already located. As in real estate so in foraging: Location, location, location. Hackberries (also widely know as Sugarberries) like to be near but not in fresh water. You can often find them about 10 feet above the local water table but I’ve seen them as low as three feet. Usually you can find them up the bank from the water. Older Hackberry bark will often be warty, sometimes heavily so. Leaves have uneven shoulders, and on the back side of the leaf notice three prominent veins at the base, unusual for tree leaves. The small-pea sized fruit is green now but will ripen this month or early September into a burnt orange. The entire fruit is edible though the seed is hard. To read more about them go here.

Doveweed

Doveweed, Murdannia, might be the smallest non-floating edible plant in the United States. Barely known, easily overlooked, yet very invasive. It pays to be small. For some young Doveweed is prime for soups, others view it as famine food. I can understand that. It’s closely related to a genus that gives me an upset stomach, the Commelinas (Dayflowers.)  I use only Doveweed blossoms in my salad. To anyone used to finding Dayflowers the Doveweed will look familiar but only a few inches tall. It also has a lot of common names around the world including “Micky Mouse.” To read more about the Doveweed, go here.

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

Foraging Classes this week depend upon the weather, which is always a challenge this time of year. If the tropical storm that is bewing – Fred — slows or weakens a little and there is just rain in southwest Florida the Port Charlotte class will go on. If it is blowing a gale, no. Same with Banchard Park on Sunday, which has a greater possibility of happening. I hold classes in the rain regularly. It is rain and wind that gets in the way. We’ll just have to watch the weather. You can also email me at GreenDeane@gmail.con.  

Saturday August 14th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot in the park on Bayshore at Ganyard Street.

Sunday August 15th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. till noon. Meet at the pavilion next to the tennis courts. 

Saturday August 21st, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park.

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

The Isabelline Wheateater

To my knowledge I’ve never met anyone named Isabell. So when the word “isabelline” crossed my optical path I had to look into it. “Isabell” means “God’s promise” presumably a positive one. It was very popular girl’s name in the 1880s, all but disappear until 2003 whereupon it had a resurgence in popularity until 2007. Now it is on the wane again. But what is isabelline?  There are three application: One is what we could call Spanish Gothic Architecture. King and queen Ferdinand and Isabella got Columbus launched then turned to building cathedrals and the like. That style is called Isabelline, properly capitalized. I’m surprised they didn’t called it Ferdinine. The second use is a color: Isabelline. A color? Yes, and the word has been in use for at least 400 years so it is not a paint-store invention like “Baby Fawn.”

A Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus.)

Isabelline “means a light yellow-gray and used mostly to describe mushrooms, animals and birds. There is the Isabelline Wheateater, see above left, the Isabelline Shrike, and the Isabelline Bear, right. Horses that are a cross between a Golden Palomino and a Champagne Palomino are also called Isabelline. Now, what of the third use? Well… ahem….Isabelline is also a reference to faded underwear. The story comes from when Philip II of Spain laid siege to the city of Ostend in 1601. His daughter, Isabella, Archduchess of Austria, made a rather presumptuous vow not to change her underwear until the city was taken, thinking dad would be home by supper, lunch by Sunday for sure… Unfortunately for Isabell — and those around her — the siege took three years. Thus the color of dingy underwear is called “isabelline.” 

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out and replaced by a 150-video USB. 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 or click here. 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.

Your donations to upgrade the EatTheWeeds website and fund a book were appreciated. A book manuscript has been turned it. It had 425 articles, 1326 plants and a third of a million words. What it will be when the publisher is done with it next year is unknown. It will be published in the spring of 2023. Writing it took a significant chunk of time out of my life from which I have still not recovered. (Many things got put off.) The next phase is to update all the content on the website between now and publication date. Also note as it states above the 135-video DVD set has been phased out for 150-video USB. Times and formats change. Which reminds me I need to revisit many plants and make some new videos. 

This is weekly newsletter #469. 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.

Cous Cous cuddling up to a Bunya Bunya cone. You should be scouting the ground for these now where ever Bunya Bunya grow. You can read more about them here. Photo by Green Deane

The fruit of the Rose Apple found by Rose-Ann.  Photo by Green Deane

There is probably some Syzygium in your kitchen.  Syzygium is a genus with several useful trees. Syzygium cumini produces the Java Plum also called Jambul. Syzygium jambos is the Rose Apple and Syzygium samaragense is the Java Apple (though common names can vary.) The Syzygium in your kitchen is S. aromaticum. You know the dried flower buds as “cloves.”  I know where there is a S. cumini in Orlando (and dozens in West Palm Beach.) Another member of the genus was found recently locally though whether its a S. jambos or S. samaragense requires more investigation. The fruit is cut open on right. If it has a bit of a rose aroma or taste then it’s the S. jambos. If not then perhaps the S. samaragense. I look forward to learning more about it. Thanks to Rose-Ann for bringing it to my attention. 

Wild Chanterelles and wild rice waiting to be cooked. Photo by Green Deane

I was asked this morning by one of the retired fellows I bike with if the rain was helping my plants. That’s kind of on par with “is sunshine helping your plants?”  What he meant but did not say was did the recent rains make a difference. I’m not sure it moved the chlorophylic needle much on green plants but it did stimulate a huge flush of edible Chanterelles. Several friends and I collected them for several days and did not put a dent in the abundance. (By the way harvesting wild mushrooms is what the mushroom wants just as an an apple tree wants its apples moved.)  So I’ve been having chanterelles several times this week. All mushroom should be stored in paper bags (not plastic) and washed only right before cooking. (I’m certified to sell wild mushrooms in several states.) Interestingly those who study such things now say no mushrooms — wild or cultivated — should be eaten raw. Over a life time, they say, eating raw mushrooms can increase the risk for mitochondria-based cancer. Cook your mushrooms. 

One of the disappointments this time of year is that the Seagrapes are not quite ripe, as we saw in Ft. Desoto Sunday. However, the Tuna are running… well… actually ripening: Cactus fruit are called Tuna. We saw plenty of those. There are two or three general types of cactus locally, Opuntia and Nopales and a third with edible fruit, the Cereus, which is more an ornamental Dragon Fruit.  How do you pick a Tuna (or cactus pad?) In a word carefully. 

Sweeping glochids off is another option.

Most foragers know cactus have edible parts but what does one look for, generally? First make sure it’s a pad, segmented often oval or tear-drop shaped. You do not want anything that looks serpentine. Also no white sap. White sap in plants that resemble cactus can be very deadly even after being dry many years. In one case smoke from burning desiccated Euphorbia branches killed some stranded people. They were  trying to stay warm around the fire on a cold desert night. So, pads, no white sap. While which cactus you collect (Opuntia, Nopales, or Cereus) might be the luck of the draw, the less spines the better, and the less glochids the much better. Glochids are tiny tuffs of sharp hair that hurt, are hard to dig out, and last for days. Ma Natures knows the pads and Tuna are good food so she protects them mightily. Big spines can be cut, burned or scraped off, glochids burned or washed off. Just scraping is not so successful with glochids. Wear stiff gloves without seams. Those little glochids will pass right through seams and get ya. Hint: Young pads, the ones we want anyway, often have not developed glochids. The Tuna have them so pick with tongs and sweep, wash or burn the painful spines off. Let us presume you have a spineless, glochidless young pad. What do you do with it? You can eat it raw, skin and all, or roast it or boil it. I know one restuarant that steams them (preserving color) then lightly grills them puting the pads whole on a Mexicanesque hamburgers.  With older (de-spined) pads you can still eat them raw or cook. Usually the tougher spine “eyes” are removed just like you would with a potato. And the pad can be peeled as well. Pads at a certain point become woody and too tough to eat.  The fruit, Tunas, are also edible after ridding them of glochids. They can have a raspberry flavor. The seeds are edible, too, but are extremely tough. You have to grind or roast them To read more about cactus click here.

Sugarberries/Hackberries are starting to ripen Aim for September.

There is a tree you should be scouting for now so when the fruit ripens next month you’ll have some already located. As in real estate so in foraging: Location, location, location. Hackberries (also widely know as Sugarberries) like to be near but not in fresh water. You can often find them about 10 feet above the local water table but I’ve seen them as low as three feet. Usually you can find them up the bank from the water. Older Hackberry bark will often be warty, sometimes heavily so. Leaves have uneven shoulders, and on the back side of the leaf notice three prominent veins at the base, unusual for tree leaves. The small-pea sized fruit is green now but will ripen this month or early September into a burnt orange. The entire fruit is edible though the seed is hard. To read more about them go here.

Doveweed is so small foragers over overlook it.

Doveweed, Murdannia, might be the smallest non-floating edible plant in the United States. Barely known, easily overlooked, yet very invasive. It pays to be small. For some young Doveweed is prime for soups, others view it as famine food. I can understand that. It’s closely related to a genus that gives me an upset stomach, the Commelinas (Dayflowers.)  I use only Doveweed blossoms in my salad. To anyone used to finding Dayflowers the Doveweed will look familiar but only a few inches tall. It also has a lot of common names around the world including “Micky Mouse.” To read more about the Doveweed, go here.

Isabelline Wheateater

To my knowledge I’ve never met anyone named Isabell. So when the word “isabelline” cross my optical path about plants I had to look into it. “Isabell” means “God’s promise” presumably a positive one. It was very popular girl’s name in the 1880s, all but disappear until 2003 whereupon it had a resurgence in popularity until 2007. Now it is on the wane again. But what is isabelline?  There are three application of which I have also apparently never heard of.  One is what we could call Spanish Gothic Architecture. King and queen Ferdinand and Isabella got Columbus launched then turned to building cathedrals and the like. That style is called Isabelline, properly capitalized. I’m surprised they didn’t called it Ferdinine. The second use is a color: Isabelline. A color? Yes, and the word has been in use for at least 400 years so it is not a paint-store invention like “Baby Fawn.”

A Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus.)

Isabelline “means a light yellow-gray and used mostly to describe mushrooms, animals and birds. There is the Isabelline Wheateater, see above left, the Isabelline Shrike, and the Isabelline Bear, right. Horses that are a cross between a Golden Palomino and a Champagne Palomino are also called Isabelline. Now, what of the third use? Well… ahem….Isabelline is also a reference to faded underwear. The story comes from when Philip II of Spain laid siege to the berg of Ostend in 1601. His daughter, Isabella, Archduchess of Austria, made a rather presumptuous vow not to change her underwear until the city was taken, thinking dad would be home by supper, lunch by Sunday for sure… Unfortunately for Isabell — and those around her — the siege took three years. Thus the color of dingy underwear is “isabelline.”

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

Changing foraging videos:  My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been selling for seven years and are still available. They are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have a separate copy.  A second option is a16-gig USB that has those 135 videos plus 15 more. While the videos can be run from the DVDs the videos on the USB have to be copied to your computer to play. They are MP4 files. The150-video USB is $99 and the 135-video DVD set is now $99. The DVDs will be sold until they run out then will be exclusively replaced by the USB. This is a change I’ve been trying to make for several years. So if you have been wanting the 135-video DVD set order it now as the price is reduced and the supply limited. Or you can order the USB. My headache is getting my WordPress Order page changed to reflect these changes. We’ve been working on it for over three weeks. However, if you want to order now either the USB or the DVD set make a $99 “donation” using the link at the bottom of this page or here.  That order form provides me with your address, the amount — $99 — tells me it is not a donation and in the note say if you want the DVD set or the USB. 

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.

Classes are held rain or shine.

Crossing the state this week with a Saturday class in Port Charlotte and another attempt to have a class at Haulover Canal which is north of the space center. 

Saturday, August 15th,  Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot on Bayshore Road across the street from Ganyard Street. 

Sunday, August 16th, Haulover Canal, Merritt Island National Refuge, north of the Kennedy Space Center. Let’s try this again. An ascending bridge thwarted the last class there. 9 a.m. to noon. No drinking water on site, Port-O-Lets for bathrooms. Lots of Mosquitos (and why it is called Mosquito Lagoon.) We meet at the west end of the northwest side of the canal. This class involves more than three miles of walking and can be strenuous. 

Saturday, August 22nd, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  9 a.m. to noon. The entrance is on the west side of Denning. Some GPS maps put it wrongly on the east side off Pennsylvania.

Sunday, August 23rd, Princess Place Preserve, 2500 Princess Place Road, Palm Coast, FL, 32137. 9 a.m. to noon? This class will be donations only. No charge. I have not been to this location but am visiting it to perhaps make it a permanent class location. As to where to meet … how about the parking lot? Discover the park and plants with me. 

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

This is weekly newsletter #418, 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.

Lambsquarters often has a mealy look. Photo by Green Deane

While driving through the middle of the peninsula this week I noticed Lambsquarters in their most common seasonal place: Citrus groves. Look for them in not only well-tended groves but poorly maintained ones as well. They like the disturbed soil that annual harrowing creates. In Eagle Lake an old grove had been cleared for housing. Lambs Quarters were taking advantage of turned soil.

Seablite is related to Lambsquarters. Photo by Green Deane

Lambsquarters, also known as Pigweed, Fat Hen, and Chenopodium album, was a common weed in rural Maine where I grew up. It was one of the first edible wild plants I learned as a kid and rather unintentionally. We didn’t have a lawn so my father sprinkled several wheel barrows of chaff from the haybarn on the the designated soil. The first crop that spring was wild mustards which I knew were edible. The second crop was Lambsquarters. I didn’t know they were edible until a neighbor one day asked if he could take several five-foot tall plants home for supper. I added them to my “edibles” list. Other comestibles around the house were wild raspberries, apples, grapes, choke cherries, strawberries, blueberries, dandelions, sand roses and violets called “Johnny Jump Us.” They grew near the septic drank drain. My mother enjoyed eating them despite the aromatic surroundings.  You can read about the Lambsquarters here. 

Lambsquarters is also in the Goosefoot family and related to a “grain” you might have eaten — Quinoa — which is a Chenopodium quinoa.  It’s a relative of several weeds most of us have growing in our neighborhood. And the answer to the next question is yes, our local Goosefoots/Chenopodiums have edible seeds (including Chenopodium ambrosioides, also called Epazote.) The only precaution is like Quinoa all Chenopodiums seeds must be soaked before consuming to remove bitter saponins (a natural, bitter soap.) 

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

It might be a little rainy this weekend but fairly warm for foraging classes in West Palm Beach and Largo Fl. Weather the showers are Friday night or Saturday morning is still in contention but we will have class rain or not. In real life you’re also hungry when it rains. 

Saturday, February 1st, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, FL, 33405. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet just north of the Science Center. 

Sunday, February 2nd, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park. 9 a.m to noon. (This class will go on as scheduled.) 

Saturday, February 8th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. Meet at the parking lot. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Sunday, February 9th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, February 15th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, March 7th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion near the YMCA building and tennis courts.  

Sunday, March 8th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. (There are no official bathrooms at this location. And don’t forget the time change. Leap forward.)

Saturday, March 28th, Haulover Canal, Merritt Island National Refuge, north of the Kennedy Space Center. 9 a.m. to noon. Read the instructions below. We meet the the northwest end of the canal area. 

Sunday, March 29th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange FL, meet at the pavilion. 9 a.m. to noon. 

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

Some passion fruit are edible, some just tastes bad, and others are not edible if not deadly. Photo by Green Deane.

There are several “edible” Passiflora locally but only a couple worth eating in my tender-tummy opinion: P. incarnata and P. foetida. They both have a tart-sweet flavor and the entire fruit is edible, seeds, pulp and skin. I have eaten both but not in huge quantities, usually one or two at a time. A couple that are marginal are P. lutea and P. suberosa. I see P. lutea often but not P. suberosa which tends to grow further north. During a foraging class this week we saw P. lutea and it was fruiting. I’m a bit concerned in that I have seen some websites say P. lutea leaves can be used medicinally like P. incarnata. I would question that though I am not an herbalist nor a chemist (they would not let me take chemistry in school.)  But, I seem to remember a study that tested numerous Passifloras which reported they all had some cyanide in their leaves except the P. incarnata which has GABA instead (gamma amino-butryc acid.) P. incarnata was the only one, in the study at least, that did not have cyanide in its leaves and was specifically singled out. I would be careful about using any Passiflora leaves other than wild P. incarnata without thorough research first. Also avoid unripe fruit. One species, Passiflora adenopoda, from China,  is definitely fatal. You can read about Passifloras  here. 

Doveweed is a little local edible.

There are many tiny edibles that don’t get much coverage probably because they’re minute or not a great flavor, read a famine food. One of them is the Doveweed, Murdannia nudiflora. Considered one of the world’s worst weed it is often found with its relatives the Asiatic Day Flower and Spiderworts. According to the Invasive Species Compendium “its special ability to root easily at the nodes, propagating clonally through cut stems and dispersal during tillage and land preparation make this weed difficult to control. This trait coupled with its ability to adapt and survive a wide ecological window of soil types, pH, moisture availability and soil drainage makes M. nudiflora a weed to watch for potential spread into new areas in near future, and a species under the ‘alert list’ by the Invasive Species Specialist Group.” It’s a big pest for such a tiny plant, one not usually seen while you’re standing up. When you are on your knees looking for something else is when you will find Doveweed. Locally I locate it in slightly damp locations and in semi- shade. As one might guess it’s similar to Commelinas and was once in that genus. To read more about the Doveweed go here.

Brazilian Pepper fruit grows from axils. Photo by Green Deane

Botany Builder #10: Axil is a word you’ll read often in plant descriptions. It is the upper point where a leaf petiole (see previous Botany Builder #2) meets the stem or where a branch meets the stem. They should have called it a juncture rather than an axil. We wouldn’t be too interested in that rather unremarkable location except plants often sprout branches, blossoms and fruit from that spot. The Brazilian Pepper it puts on fruit where a larger stem and a leaf meet. Where that larger stem and — in this case — the leaf meet is the axil. Another member of this family — Poison Sumac — grows toxic white/light green berries out of the axil. A third member, however, does not. The edible sumac grows berries at the very end of a branch rather than at the axil. When the berries are in a bunch at the end of a branch it is called a terminal cluster. Thus berries growing out of an axil are in a far different location than a terminal cluster. Brazilian Pepper berries have been used as spice if you are not allergic to them as they are closely related to poison ivy. Using them is not recommendation. I have a video on the species here.  

Stomolophus meleagris, one of our edible jellyfish. Photo by Deep Sea Waters.

While foraging along the Peace River this past Saturday I noticed jelly fish in the wrack line. Many jellyfish are edible including some that are found in local waters. How did I come to eat Jelly Fish? I had a friend from Taiwan who never ordered from the menu at Chinese restaurants. It was always off-the-menu and then after much discussion with the waiter and sometimes the chef. One of those chats produced a dish of jellyfish. I was hooked. It was very tasty and jellyfish can be caught while casting for other fish. (I like castnetting and am a castnet junkie.) While a substantial food in many parts of the world I’m not sure jellyfish locally would qualify as a staple because catching them by hand is by chance (which does increase however when in season.) Despite their name Jelly Fish are also mostly water and need to be desiccated immediately, not a small process. It all depends on how hungry you are and how many of them you have. You should get them live out of the water not dead on the beach. To read about jellyfish go here.

The Nine DVD set includes 135 videos.

Though your foraging may drop off  during the winter it’s a great time to study wild edibles with my nine DVD set. Each  DVDs has 15 videos for 135 in all. They make a great gift. Order today. Some of these videos are of better quality than my free ones on the Internet. They are the same videos but many people like to have their own copy. I burn and compile the sets myself so if you have any issues I handle them personally. There are no middle foragers. And I’m working on adding a tenth DVD.  To learn more about the DVDs or to order them click here.

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.

This is weekly newsletter 390, 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.

Seagrapes are coming into season. This week near St. Petersburg we got to taste a few, from the tree and off the ground. Sometimes the best fruits are the ones you have to fight the ants for. The only problem with Seagrapes off the ground — if it is a problem — is they can ferment a little and taste a bit zippy, wine-ish. In central Florida Seagrapes are at the northern end of their range. They fair a bit better on the coast but are usually no more than eight or 10 feet high. Further south they attain tree status and near the equator they are huge trees. (Did you know that trees that grow near the equator have no growth rings because they don’t have seasons as in the northern latitudes.) Seagrapes are garnet red color when ripe, and sweet. People mistakenly make them into jelly. It’s a mistake because the jelly tastes so much like apple jelly the Seagrape identity is lost. It’s best to just eat them out of hand. To read more about the Seagrape go here.

Doveweed, Murdannia, might be the smallest non-floating edible plant in the United States. Barely known, easily overlooked, yet very invasive. It pays to be small. For some young Doveweed is prime for soups, others view it as famine food. I can understand that. It’s closely related to a genus that gives me an upset stomach, the Commelinas (Dayflowers.)  I use only Doveweed blossoms in my salad. To anyone used to finding Dayflowers the Doveweed will look familiar but only a few inches tall. It also has a lot of common names around the world including “Micky Mouse.” To read more about the Doveweed, go here.

It’s truly irritating to read someone write “never forage within 120 feet of a road.” It’s a non-thinking statement whereas foraging is a thinking activity. I am not aware of any formal research on the road topic so the distance is arbitrary to start with, and who carries a long measuring tape with them? More to the point it misses one of the most important points about foraging and the environment, assessing the lay of the land.  Which way might the rain or runoff flow? How about prevailing winds? Is there manure pile nearby, or heavily -sed mega- farm land? Is it a dog park? Am I uphill a little from a country dirt road, or downhill and downwind from a busy interstate? The 120-foot mantra is rather meaningless. What’s more important is looking around. Foraging makes pollution personal. So take it personally. Is the flower bed above the parking lot and watered with city water? Does the nearby parking lot drain into the pond you are eying? Assessing what is in front of you is far more important than throw-away rules.

Both foraging classes this weekend are on Florida’s east coast and the presumption is both parks will be open following last week’s rain from Hurricane Dorian. Rain is expected this weekend but not enough to stop classes unless the parks are closed.

Saturday, September 14th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park.

Sunday September 15th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. The preserve has no official bathroom or drinking water so take advantage of the various eateries and gas stations before arrival. You can walk your dog through the preserve.

Saturday, September 21st, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet next to the tennis courts by the YMCA building.

Sunday September 22nd, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park.

Saturday, September 28th, Florida State College,  south campus, 11901 Beach Blvd.,  Jacksonville, 32246.  9 a.m. to noon. We will meet at building “D”  next to the administration parking lot.

Sunday, September 29th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot at the intersection of Bayshore Road and Ganyard Street. 9 a.m. to noon.

For more information about the classes, to sign up and or pay for a class go here.

Do you know why the Sweet Gum tree is called “sweet?” Because it’s the least foul of all the “gum” trees. None have a great flavor regardless of what parts you might consume, be it the fruit or congealed sap. The Sweet Gum is not sweet. It’s just not as bad as the rest. And you can prove it yourself  by trying some Black Gum fruit coming into season.

Also known as Black Tupelo, the fruit is sour and bitter, intensely so. I’ve only met one person who likes them right off the tree. Personally I think the fruit rightly reminds us of how desperately hungry people were in the past. To get around the taste — which has been compared to really bad manure — folks cooked it and added huge amounts of sugar.  One good identification characteristic of the Black Gum fruit is the vertical striations on the seed. You can read about the Black Gum here.  The Sweet Gum is here.

To my knowledge I’ve never met anyone named Isabell. So when the word “isabelline” cross my optical path about plants I had to look into it. “Isabell” means “God’s promise” presumably a positive one. It was very popular girl’s name in the 1880s, all but disappear until 2003 whereupon it had a resurgence in popularity until 2007. Now it is on the wane again. But what is isabelline?  There are three application of which I have also apparently never heard of.  One is what we could call Spanish Gothic Architecture. King and queen Ferdinand and Isabella got Columbus launched then turned to building cathedrals and the like. That style is called Isabelline, properly capitalized. I’m surprised they didn’t called it Ferdinine. The second use is a color: Isabelline. A color? Yes, and the word has been in use for at least 400 years so it is not a paint-store invention like “Baby Fawn.”

Isabelline means a light yellow-gray and used mostly to describe mushrooms, animals and birds. There is the Isabelline Wheateater, see above left, the Isabelline Shrike, and the Isabelline Bear, right. Horses that are a cross between a Golden Palomino and a Champagne Palomino are also called Isabelline. Now, what of the third use? Well… ahem….Isabelline is also a reference to faded underwear. The story comes from when Philip II of Spain laid siege to the berg of Ostend in 1601. His daughter, Isabella, Archduchess of Austria, made a rather presumptuous vow not to change her underwear until the city was taken, thinking dad would be home by supper, lunch by Sunday for sure… Unfortunately for Isabell — and those around her — the siege took three years. Thus the color of dingy underwear is isabelline.

The weekend could have been worse. Friday my Miata failed to start. That’s the bad news. The good news is it was in my driveway at the time, not the other end of the state. Predictions were it was a major mechanical catastrophe. Saturday’s class was local so I drove my van. Sunday’s class was south of St. Pete so I rode 256 miles on my motorcycle to make that class. That left Monday. I had to give a presentation Monday evening to the Manatee Rare Fruit Council, a 273-mile motorcycle ride in afternoon heat, I-4 traffic, and then dark of night. Fortunately the Miata’s issue was small and repaired just in time to drive to Palmetto. (And then unpredicted thunderstorms fumed so at least on the late-night drive back I was dry not wet, tired and miserable.) The talk went well — I thank the council for inviting me, click on their link upper left — and I saw Andy Firk there. He generously gave me a copy of the Bessette’s newest publication: Mushroom of the Gulf Coast States.

At 614- pages Mushrooms of the Gulf Coast States is a good addition to your library and area of study. The South has notorious problems with mushroom identification. It’s just not like the rest of North America nor Europe. Add to that revisionary DNA testing and, to mangle some metaphors, the fog gets muddier. There are huge naming and identification issues. Through this mushroom morass the Bessettes — Allan and Arleen with co-author David P. Lewis — keep clarifying and updating. It sometimes takes them weeks to identify a mushroom. And it has to be frustrating to finally figure out what you have only to learn the name has been change (because it had a European-based name) and or has not been renamed or one totally as-of-yet reported… the fungi world is in flux. Publication of the Mushrooms of the Gulf Coast States is timely. The book covers over 1,000 common and less-known species in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The fungi themselves are broken down in to major groups and are color-keyed. From description to cooking instructions (for the edible ones) the book is brimming with helpful information.

Donations to upgrade: If you’d like to donate to this website and newsletter you can use this Go Fund Me link, this PayPal donation link or by writing to Green Deane POB 941793 Maitland FL, 32794.  And I am in the process of writing to folks who are interested in exchanging some webmastering for foraging classes. As they used to say when we had television with antennas, stay tuned.

All My Videos are available for free on You Tube. They do have ads on them so every time you watch a Green Deane video I get a quarter of one cent. Four views, one cent. Not exactly a large money-maker but it helps pays for this newsletter. If you want to see the videos without ads and some in slightly better quality you can order the DVD set. It is nine DVDs with 15 videos on each for a total of 135 videos.  Many people want their own copy of the videos or they have a slow service and its easier to order then to watch them on-line. The DVDs make a good gift for that forager you know especially as spring is … springing. Individual DVDs can also be ordered or you can pick and choose. You can order them by clicking on the button on the top right hand side of this page (if your window is open wide enough.)  Or you can go here.

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 some 8,000 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.

This is weekly newsletter 372. 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.

The Western Tansy Mustard is one of our shortest-lived winter-time forageables. It’s not flashy and is often either too small or too old to be seen. It also likes very dry place and cool temperatures. I often find it dusty areas where you find livestock such as paddocks and corrals. Of all the Micro-Mustards it is the mildest in flavor, at least for humans. The texture is fuzzy. More confusing is there is no Eastern Tansy Mustard. You read about the Western Tansy Mustard here.

With recent cool spells it’s no surprise to find our winter mustards making their annual appearance though I call them the Little Mustards and Micro-Mustards. Prime among them is Bittercress, Cardamine hirsuta, sometimes called Hairy Bittercress. Frankly I’ve never found it bitter.

In northern climates Bittercress is a springtime herb growing into summer. Here in Florida it’s a fall herb growing into winter. It is also one of the few mustards, if not the only one, you can find growing in very damp or waterlogged soil. Unlike the Western Tansy Mustard, mentioned above, which adores dry ground, I’ve always found Cardamine hirsuta in well-watered lawns and landscapes or wet spots. In fact this past summer, which was Florida hot as usual, several of our spring-fed streams dried to a trickle exposing much stream-bed. In the shade of a cypress tree on one of those beds an unusual summer crop of Bittercress germinated. All it needed was a bit of shade — read cooler temperatures — and a damp spot.

Bittercress is naturally leggy, whispy, even at its best at the end of a season’s worth of growth. Its prime use is as an addition to salads or soups, more flavoring than material substance. Cardamine hirsuta is one of those plants that is not substantial enough to sustain you but with it potent flavor it makes eating and thus life better. To read about our small winter mustards click here and here.

Seasonally there are a lot of straddles now. Chickweed is in most areas. Poorman’s Peppergrass, Shepherd’s Purse and the aforementioned Western Tansy Mustard are at their seasonal height or approaching it. Swinecress, featured recently, is seeding. And along many dry roads banks now you can see Wild Mustards and Radishes forming yellow-blossom hedgerows. Native Plantagos are starting to seed signaling an end to their season. Early Sow Thistles are reaching maturity but are still starting seedlings. We saw both species in Winter Park this past weekend, the Common Sow Thistle and the Spiny Sow Thistle. I should mention Poison Ivy  has started it annual growth as has deadly Water Hemlock.

A fairly common “What is it?” seen now is Black Medic. It’s also an iffy edible. While the seeds and greens have been eaten it is not for everyone. Also, to the every-day forager it looks a lot like Hop Clover.  Native to the area of Iran, it came to the east coast of the United States around 1807 and went west over the next 130 years. It was on the west coast of the United States in time for the Great Depression in the 1930’s. Native Americans were eating it when surveyed during the Depression thus it got listed as a Native American food. Before the species seeds the easiest way to identity Black Medic from Hop Clover is look at the center leaf of the trifolium. Black Medic’s central leaf has a longer stem than the other two leaves. In Hop Clover all three stems are the same length. Also when they seed Black Medic has black seeds, Hop Clover has brown seeds. And locally Black Medic is common whereas Hop Clover is found mostly Florida’s northwestern counties. You can read all about it here.

Foraging classes: Quite a stretch this coming weekend, Ocala to Port Charlotte. This past weekend it was Sarasota and Winter Park. (It’s nice to hold a class now and then in which you can walk from coffee shop to coffee shop.) Ocala should have some nice winter species and Port Charlotte some salt-tolerant edibles.

Saturday, February 16th, Jervey Gantt Recreation Complex, 2390 SE 36th Ave., Ocala, FL, 34471. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the entrance to the pool, aka Aquatic Fun Center. 

Sunday, February 17th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot at the intersection of Bayshore Road and Ganyard Street.

Saturday, March 2nd, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. Meet near the tennis court near the YMCA building.  9 a.m. to noon

Sunday, March 3rd, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. The preserve has no official bathroom or drinking water so take advantage of the various eateries and gas stations before arrival. 

Saturday, March 9th, Florida State College,  south campus, 11901 Beach Blvd.,  Jacksonville, 32246.  9 a.m. to noon. We will meet at building “D”  next to the administration parking lot.

Sunday, March 10th, Haulover Canal, Merritt Island National Refuge, north of the Kennedy Space Center, 9 a.m. to noon or later. Because of its shape this class requires the most walking and climbing, about four miles. We meet at the end of the northwest jetty. Take the time change into account that day so you are on time. There are more directions below. 

Saturday March 16th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park.

Sunday, March 17th,  Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233.  9 a.m. to noon. 

To learn more about the foraging classes or to sign up go here.

The Florida Herbal Conference is next weekend, February 22-24. It’s their eighth annual event and for the eighth year I will be teaching there. I’m usually the 7 a.m. wake-up class. You can learn quickly at conferences because you are getting a distillation of information from teachers with years of experience. Any questions can be answered quickly and to the point, no rummaging around to resolve an issue. You’re also with like-minded folks so there’s instant camaraderie. You are the majority. For more information go to: Florida Herbal Conference.

There is a tiny edible that doesn’t get much coverage probably because it is small and not a great flavor, read a famine food. This is the Doveweed, or Murdannia nudiflora. It is often found with its relatives the Asiatic Day Flower and Spiderworts. This is a tiny plant, not usually seen while you’re standing up. When you are on your knees looking for something else is when you will find Doveweed. Locally I locate it in slightly damp locations and in semi- shade. To read more about the Doveweed go here.

“Did you ever eat a larch?” was the subject of a post on the Green Deane Forum (the button to join the forum is on the right hand side of this page.) Euell Gibbons got a lot of mileage from asking “did you ever eat a pine tree?” But what of the larch? There was a stand of them — a Larchhurst — about 300 feet from our front door where I grew up in Maine. One of the first things I noticed was it was a conifer that was not evergreen. It loses its “needles” in the winter. And local folks didn’t call it Larch. It was a “hatmatack” or “tamarack.” These trees can live 700 years, or so the experts say. The sap is edible and the inner bark in spring. Young shoots were cooked as vegetables. Lumps of sap were also chewed like gum. The dried sap was used like baking powder. These things I did not know when I was young though I did know the tree did not size up well for the wood stove. We heated and cooked with wood and my job (besides feeding five horses every day plus haying and manuring) was chopping wood, cord after endless cord of wood. I AM DANGEROUS with an ax.  What caught my interest in the larch recently is arabinogalactan. (If you want to try and say it you have two choices: Air-row-BEE-nah-gah-LACK-tin. Or… ah RAB-binn-know-gah-LACK-tin.)

What is arabinogalactan, or specifically Larch arabinogalactan? In two words, dietary fiber. Maybe the first inhabitants were onto something. It’s a ploysaccharide that increases the production of short-chain fatty acids in the lower gut, principally butyrate and propionate. This is from the increased number of friendly anaerobes such as Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus. The ultimate point of arabonogalactan is to improve your health. How? According to one study it: “…can stimulate natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity, enhance other functional aspects of the immune system, and inhibit the metastasis of tumor cells to the liver.” See? There are good reasons to eat a tree.

Soon it will be Tulip season in Europe. The bulbs are edible if properly prepared. Do you know how?

The flavor of Tulips bulbs depend on how hungry you are, and whether you have prepared them correctly.  If you have an excess of untreated Tulip bulbs they can be made into a life-sustaining meal or a trip to the hospital. Similar to an onion, the outer layer is removed and the small proto-tulip in the center of the bulb has to be removed. The remaining material can be then processed in a variety of ways, from just boiling to dying, to grinding  and adding to flour for baking. The petals are edible as well. To read an interesting bit of history about Tulips click here.

Donations to upgrade EatTheWeeds.com have gone well. Thank you to all who have contributed to either via the Go Fund Me link, the PayPal donation link or by writing to Green Deane POB 941793 Maitland FL, 32794.  There are many needs left such as expanding the foraging teacher page and the page on monotypic edibles. I’m still having a hard time finding articles I wrote!  There’s always something and such things get more complex and expensive every year. Indeed, the average email cost to send each newsletter is $20.

Want to identify a plant? Looking for a foraging reference? Do you have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object you want identified? On the Green Deane Forum we chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations around the world 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. One special section is “From the Frightening Mail Bag” where we learn from people who eat first then ask questions later. You can join the forum by clicking on “forum” in the menu.

All My Videos are available for free on You Tube. They do have ads on them so every time you watch a Green Deane video I get a quarter of one cent. Four views, one cent. Not exactly a large money-maker but it helps pays for this newsletter. If you want to see the videos without ads and some in slightly better quality you can order the DVD set. It is nine DVDs with 15 videos on each for a total of 135 videos.  Many people want their own copy of the videos or they have a slow service and its easier to order then to watch them on-line. The DVDs make a good gift for that forager you know especially on long, cold winter months. Individual DVDs can also be ordered or you can pick and choose. You can order them by clicking on the button on the top right hand side of this page (if your window is open wide enough.)  Or you can go here.

If you would like to donate to Eat The Weeds please click here. Or you can use my Go Fund Me  link, or by writing to Green Deane POB 941793 Maitland FL, 32794

This is weekly issue 342.

Our Yucca blossoms need to be cooked. Photo by Green Deane

Yucca is not Yuca. Or said another way: YOU-ka is not YUK-ka. The latter, Yuca with on ‘C’, is a root that is edible after some processing. Yucca — with two ‘C’s’ has roots that are not edible. They are bitter, soapy, and used to stun fish. So what do we eat on the Yucca? The flowers, the flower stem when young, and some folks can stomach the seeds. The plant is also deer proof. 

Also called Spanish Bayonet, Needle Palm, Bear Grass, and Adam’s Needle, it is actually a broadleaf, evergreen shrub. It was originally a southern species but now can be found as far north as southern New England. Interestingly Yucca is not found in south Florida or the Keys. Unlike many other Yucca species its edible uses are limited. Other species, with far less bitter saponins, have edible fruit which lends itself to many uses. What it lacks in edibility the Yucca filimentosa mades up for in producing fiber.  It is blossoming now. A good place to look is drier pastures and clearings in upland woods. To read more about the Yucca, go here. 

Matchhead also called Frog Fruit

Some plants barely make it into the realm of edible.  For example it if it not toxic, does not taste bad, and grows in profusion it’s probably an edible. However, as forager emeritus Dick Deuerling used to say, “I only eat the good stuff.” Whether Frog Fruit, also known as Match Head, is “good stuff” is debatable. You can boil the leaves to eat , dry them for tea, or in a pinch smoke them most likely to keep bugs from finding you. Most often you will find Match Head/Frog Fruit in lower, wetter spots of a lawn. While it is not a great wild edible one of it’s relative,  Lippia alba aka Oaxaca Lemon Verbena, is. I have it growing in my dry back yard. All of that reminds me of a “nudiflora” that also barely makes it into the edible realm, Murdannia nudiflora, or Doveweed. It’s related to the Commelina family and likes damp spots like the Match Head. To read about Doveweed go here. 

Ficus racemosa. Photo by Green Deane

Both Palm Beach (thus West Palm Beach) and Dreher Park have an interesting history. Palm Beach got its name from an argument over insurance followed by one big party. You can read about it here. Dreher Park’s creation was covered in this newsletter last year. The park has many unusual species because  (Paul) Dreher wasn’t given a budget to make the land into a park. He took donations and even raided landscaping trash heap. Thus it has an eclectic mixture of species. One tree it has is a Ficus racemosa, the Cluster Fig. (What I don’t know is whether this species has varieties and different colored figs.) The tree produces figs on special shoots from the trunk and main branches. The fruit is edible raw or cooked but does not have much of a flavor — nor do Banyan figs. Often the fruit is striped when totally ripe. Young leaves are  cooked as well, shoots are cooked or eaten raw. Interestingly, a relative, the Rubber Tree, has edible tips and fruit. You can read more about the Fig Family here. 

The Black Nightshade has shiny berries. Photo by Green Deane

Here, there, everywhere, you can find American Nightshade ripe with fruit. It likes sunny places but don’t rule out spots under trees that also get enough passing sun. Overly wet areas are not good. One often finds them along with Bidens alba, also known as Spanish Needles. From a pile of dirt in West Palm Beach to a bike trail north of Orlando we found plenty of ripe American Nighshades this weekend to snack on (often, oddly, peering out from under a monsoon umbrella.)  Yes, the green, unripe berries are toxic, they can make you sick if you eat many unripe berries, less for children who are more often poisoned than adults. They don’t know green berries taste bad and they eat a lot of then. Symptoms occur within 30 minutes and pumping out the stomach usually leads to recovery. That said, fatal poisoning are rare with the only death reported as far back as 1866. So don’t eat unripe green berries. Don’t eat berries that are partially green or purple. Total purple on the outside is what you want.  To read more about the American Nightshade go here. 

Classes are held rain or shine.

Foraging Classes: A hearty thank you to the folks who braved Tropical Storm Alberto’s rains for a foraging class in West Palm Beach Sunday. Saturday’s class was cancelled not because of rain — it was a fine day — but because of flooding in the back of LaStrange Preserve. They county said if we parked outside the park the police might haul our cars away. 

Saturday, June 2nd, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233, 9 a.m. 

Sunday June 3rd, Colby-Alderman Park: 1099 Massachusetts Street, Cassadaga. Fla. 9 a.m., meet near the restrooms.

Saturday, June 9th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. Meet at the pavilion east of the tennis courts near the YMCA.

Sunday, June 10th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house, 9 a.m.

Saturday, June 16th, Florida State College,  south campus, 11901 Beach Blvd.,  Jacksonville, 32246, 9 a.m.

Sunday, June 17th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL.  9 a.m.  Meet at the dog park.

Sunday June 24th, 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.

Saturday, June 30th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m.

Sunday July 1st is a tentative Orlando Mushroom Group mushroom hunt. Time and location to be announced.

To learn more about the classes go here. 

Green Deane DVD set of 135 videos

All of Green Deane’s videos available for free on You Tube. They do have ads on them so every time you watch a Green Deane video I get a quarter of one cent. Four views, one cent. Not exactly a large money-maker but it helps pays for this newsletter. If you want to see the videos without ads and some in slightly better quality you can order the DVD set. It is nine DVDs with 15 videos on each.  Many people want their own copy of the videos or they have a slow service and its easier to order then to watch them on-line. They make a good gift for that forager you know. Individual DVDs can also be ordered. You can order them by clicking on the button on the top right of this page or you can go here.

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant? Looking for a foraging reference? Do you have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object you want identified? On the Green Deane Forum we chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations around the world 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. One special section is “From the Frightening Mail Bag” where we learn from people’s mistakes. You can join the forum by clicking on the button in the menu line.

Tsuga canadensis. We just called it a fir tree.

The fir tree called the Easter Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) has edible parts. It was also what we used for a Christmas Tree every year. I’d take an ax and head out into the 120 acre chunk of forest behind the house and find a suitable one. And it is called “eastern” for a reason: You won’t find it west of mid-continent. On the edible side young needles are used to make a tea and the inner bark is edible as well. The tree is also quite threatened and down to 1% presence in some places compared to when Europeans first arrived to the New World. One reasons is many areas of the country are overpopulated by deer and their urine is threatening the tree’s future. Deer like to nibble on the Eastern Hemlock. They know a good thing when they taste it. Their urine, however, is high in nitrogen and hemlocks like low nitrogen soil plus they are slow growing. Trees such as the sugar maple, however, like high-nitrogen soil so they are moving in and outgrowing hemlocks. (Don’t confuse the tree called the hemlock with a green herbaceous plant call the hemlock, which is deadly.) And while permaculture is a related speciality and not my area of competency it might be nice to have a cute deer or two in the back yard to recycle “garden waste” and make nitrogen…

This is weekly issue 306.

If you would like to donate to Eat The Weeds please click here. Or you can use my Go Fund Me  link, or by writing to Green Deane POB 941793 Maitland FL, 32794.  

Green Lantana camara berries are toxic. Photo by Green Deane

Two pages of “Plants Poisonous To People” by Julia Morton detail how the Lantana camara is toxic. Morton, a professor of botany at the University of Miami, wrote extensively about edible wild plants, medicinal plants and toxic plants. Page 80 of the aforementioned book has three long paragraphs. The middle one tells us Lantana is highly toxic to grazing animals. The toxin, Lantanine, is broken down by the liver which produces phylloerythrin which causes photosensitization. This leads to jaundice, yellowing of the eyes, swollen head, kidney congestion, and death. Dogs that eat the leaves have liver damage. Morton tells us children are made ill eating the fruit. She presents a case history of a child dying of neuro-circulatory collapse after chewing and swallowing a quantity of unripe green berries. Symptoms can include vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, lethargy, cyanosis, labored slow respiration, dilated pupils, photophobia, ataxia, coma and depressed deep tendon reflexes. Even touching the plant can cause dermatitis and itching. In short we get the picture: Leave Lantana alone. But she also writes on page 80: “The ripe fruit are eaten by natives wherever the plant grows.”

Julia Morton, University of Miami

Huh? Natives eat the berries? Yes, the ripe, metallic-blue colored berries. The green berries are indeed toxic, the ripe blue ones are not (also turn the berry over to make sure it is ripe on bottom.) One can understand why we know the green berries are toxic. Why don’t we know more about the ripe berries being edible? One possible reason is their quality can vary. I’ve eaten sweet ones with few seeds and medicinal tasting ones with a large seed. They also don’t ripen at the same time and have to be individually picked. That does not make them user-friendly. I would like to see a list of nutritional elements to learn if they have substantial contributions there.

Lantana camara have blossoms of different colors. Photo by Green Deane

Lantana is not mention in Facciola’s Cornucopia II nor in Moerman’s Native American Food Plants. Dr. Daniel Austin, whom one gathers was under the administrative thumb of Morton at the University of Miami, takes a few swipes at her in his book Florida Ethnobotany. (She was by the account of folks who knew her, a crusty Vermonter of whom Austin said “she will eat anything.” But she also lost her husband rather young from lung cancer thus she was a leading critic of tobacco and was always on the look out for plant-based cancer palliatives.) Austin notes there are many medicinal uses for the Lantana genus. As to edibility he writes on page 398  “in spite of its poisonous chemicals, some cultures still eat the fruits.” This edibility information, by the way, applies only to the native Lantana camara which has multiple colored blossoms. They are not all pink or all yellow or all orange. Those are man-made varieties. The edibility of those berries is unknown, at least to me. Always make sure you have a Lantana with multiple color blossoms (and again, turn the berry over to make sure it is totally ripe.) To read more about the Lantana go here.

Wild Pineapples produce fruit some people can eat. Photo by Green Deane

One cannot forage long without discovering many botanists have their head intentionally buried in distributional sand. This can be quite true about non-native plants they don’t want to recognize as either existing or growing in certain areas. Kudzu is one, which is up now but not blossoming yet. (If you are in a natural setting and smell an intense aroma of a third-grade class chewing cheap grape bubble gum there is a blossoming Kudzu nearby.) Another iffy botanical locally is Wild Pineapple. It isn’t “here” but you can’t miss it either. Its leaves et cetera take on brilliant hues and you can see why this plant that is not “here” is here: It’s pretty. The fruit is edible by some. I think it’s a genetic thing. Some people can eat it with no problem. If I eat a fruit I can’t taste anything for a few hours. You can read more about Wild Pineapple here.

Fern stolons are puckery. Photo by Green Deane

After heavy rains two things are worth looking for: The first is edible mushrooms. The rain entices fungi to send up their reproductive parts we call mushrooms. There are about 90 different edible species of mushrooms in Florida. The other edible are the swollen stolons of Sword Ferns. Theses epiphytes save water for dry days so after rains they are busy storing water in their brown, fuzzy nodules. While there are five sword ferns locally only one — the non-native — stores water. Their foreign origin a great comeback when someone challenges you for pulling them up: “They’re an invasive non-native. I’m doing my civic duty. Want to help?” You can read about Sword Ferns here.

FORAGING CLASSES: Our foraging class last week in Port Charlotte produced some nice seasonal finds. Sea Blite it near the height of its season. We found enough of it to take pictures and get a taste. This is a member of the Goosefoot family that should be a commercial crop. We also got a chance to taste some Sea Purslane, Beach Carpet, and a few Surinam Cherries. Another nice plant is the Blue Porter Weed which has blossoms that taste like raw mushrooms.  We also saw Simpson Stoppers in blossom. This week’s class is in east Orlando at Blanchard Park. It has a nice representation of wild edibles and we also get a chance to see the very deadly Water Hemlock.

Classes are held rain or shine.

Saturday, May 6th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. Meet east side of the tennis courts near the YMCA building.

Saturday, May 13th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. 9 a.m. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park (turn right after entrance, go 1/4 mile, dog run on right, parking at run or on previous left.)

Saturday, May 20th, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. We meet just north of the science center in the northern part of the park. 9 a.m.

Saturday, May 27th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. 9 a.m. Meet next to the spring house.

To read more about the foraging classes go here. 

Do you know this edible fruit? You would if you read the Green Deane Forum. Photo by GD

Want to identify a plant? Looking for a foraging reference? Do you have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object you want identified? On the Green Deane Forum we chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations around the world 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. One special section is “From the Frightening Mail Bag” where we learn from people’s mistakes. You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

The Nine-DVD set includes 135 videos.

Spring orders have started their annual  increase. All of Green Dane’s videos available for free on You Tube. They do have ads on them so every time you watch a Green Deane video I get a quarter of one cent. Four views, one cent. Not exactly a large money-maker but it helps pays for this newsletter. If you want to see the videos without ads and some in slightly better quality you can order the DVD set. It is nine DVDs with 15 videos on each.  Many people want their own copy of the videos or they have a slow service and its easier to order then to watch them on-line. They make a good gift for that forager you know. Individual DVDs can also be ordered. You can order them by clicking on the button on the top right of this page or you can go here.

Some are allergic to Birch and Bananas. Photo by Green Deane

Did you know: If you’re allergic to bananas you are also probably allergic to birch trees, and vice versa. No one really knows why. Probably a genetic component someplace. Seven other species for different reasons often cause an allergic reaction in the same person because they are closely related. They are: Poison Ivy, Poison Sumac, Brazilian Pepper, Mangos, edible Sumac, Cashews, and Pistachio. A close Poison Ivy/Mangos allergy is quite common. It is also curious that only three groups get poison ivy: Humans, some monkeys, and guinea pigs.  They are also the only three that cannot make their own vitamin C.

A Yellow Commelina, C. africana

From a 2011 newsletter:  …One of my long-time students, Maryann Pugliesi, during a foraging class happened to spot a Commelina I had not seen in my several decades of traipsing around America. Three-petaled Dayflowers are usually blue, or blue and white. This was mustard, or yellow. A bit of research showed that it is the Yellow Commelina, Commelina africana, from South Africa and once imported as a ground cover. Edible cooked. I am now of the opinion all edible Commelinas need to be cooked, save for the blossoms. How it got to be in Tampa seems to be a mystery. For the historical record it was found on the north shore of the western-most lake to the country club at 8401 New tampa Boulevard, Tampa FL. To read about the Dayflowers click here.

This is issue 255

If you would like to donate to Eat The Weeds please click here.