Search: duckweed

Duckweed

by Green Deane

in Greens/Pot Herb, Plant Uses, plants, Protein Plant source, Vegetable

Frog in Duckweed, photo by StevesPhotos.com

A Weed Most Fowl

Do ducks eat duckweed? Yes and no. Do humans eat duckweed? Yes and no. Domestic ducks tend to eat duckweed, wild ones don’t. Humans can eat duckweed but …

Wollfia, Watermeal

Generally said there are three genera of duckweeds: Lemna, Wolffia, and Spirodela. Let’s start with Wolffia globosa which is used as a vegetable in Burma, Laos and Thailand. Its flavor is similar to sweet cabbage. Wolffia, which has the smallest blossom in the world, reproduces quickly making it a sustainable crop if the water is wholesome, which is a significant problem. In the wild, duckweeds tend to grow in poor water. Wolffia is 20% protein (more than soybeans) 44% carbohydrates, 5% fat has vitamins C, A, B6, and Niacin. Also called Khai-nam (eggs of the water) and Mijinko-uji-kusa, Wolffia is naturalized in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida. Unfortunately it is tiny, about 1/32 of an inch or the size of the eye of a needle. It’s a floating tiny disk with no root though it can have little hairs on its margin. It is so small it looks like meal floating on the water, hence its name watermeal. The tiniest and the tastiest. Best to raise your own in good water while keeping out lesser species.

Lemna minor

Lemna is much larger than Wolffia. It usually has three attached floating leaves (called fronds) and at least one vertical root root per frond. Lemna, also called water lentils, is typically less than a quarter inch wide, some species an eight of an inch wide. Dried Lemna is used as cattle feed having up to 45% protein, 4% fat. Unfortunately, from the human point of view, it is also high in calcium oxalate. To quote Missouri Botanical Garden (www.mobot.org)

“Calcium oxalate is not a nutrient (nor a beneficial source of calcium), and it can be toxic in large doses. Duckweeds can contain up to 2 — 4 percent oxalic acid equivalents by weight. However, oxalate also is found in a great many leafy and very nutritious vegetables, including spinach, swiss chard and others. In these edible vegetables, calcium oxalate is found in at levels up to 0.5 — 1 percent. So, minimizing oxalate has the potential to make duckweeds more nutritious and digestible.

However, published reports of calcium oxalate levels in duckweeds are likely to be misleading. The late Vincent Franceschi (Washington State University) demonstrated that the calcium oxalate content of Lemna minor depends greatly on the calcium content of the water on which they are growing. Elevated calcium in the water favors formation of calcium oxalate crystals, and their content can be lowered by growth on low-calcium medium. It seems likely that placing duckweed on soft water for a reasonably short period could lower oxalate content significantly in a practical setting…

Harvesting Wolffia in Thailand

For people to eat duckweed, it would need to be grown under sanitary conditions. In addition, it may be desirable to pay attention to the calcium content. Evidence is now emerging that the absorption of dietary oxalate makes a major contribution to urinary oxalate excretion, particularly in stone formers. There is a patent on a method to select duckweeds for human consumption.”

To all of that I would add that perhaps some experimenting is in order. Dry heat has been used to break down calcium oxalate in other foods, Jack In The Pulpit comes to mind. Sometimes moist heat works, as in taro. Cooking — boiling or roasting — would also kill any bacteria et cetera on or in the duckweed from the water (high nutrient water is often caused by… duck droppings.) A second option, as some suggest, is to boil the duckweed, change water, then blend it. There is a practical side to that as well. Pistia stratiotes seedlings look similar, grow in the same place and time, and are the same size. They must be cooked.

Spirodela, Giant Duckweed, is not edible.

Duckweeds are found in quiet, nutrient rich wetlands and ponds. They require high levels of nutrients to “bud” which means if a pond has a lot of duckweed the pond has excessive nutrients. Duckweed does not like moving water or windswept water even if the nutrients are high. Duckweeds bud. Under ideal conditions one duckweed frond can produce 17,500 “daughters” in just two weeks. With such high reproduction rate duckweed can cover the surface of ponds in just a few weeks. That is also why it is being considered for biodiesel because it has five to six times the amount of starch as corn. Duckweed also provides shelter for frogs, snakes, fish, insects and crustaceans. Grass Carp and Koi eat it. Perhaps the best way to to eat duckweed is to eat what eats it.

Sculling through duckweed

Giant Duckweed, Spirodela polyrhiza, was Lemna polyrhiza. There is one reference that says it has been used as food. Details are absent. I haven’t tried it. Giant Duckweed is frequently found growing in local rivers, ponds, lakes, and sloughs. In Florida, from the peninsula west to the central panhandle. It has two to three rounded leaves usually connected with each usually having several roots (up to nine) hanging beneath each leaf. The underleaf surface of Giant Duckweed is dark red. It can be easily confused with the exotic plant, Landoltia punctata. Landoltia duckweed is smaller than Spirodela polyrhiza, is more shoe-shaped, does not have a red dot on top, usually has only up to four roots, and sometimes has a red margin on the underneath of the leaves. It is spotted, as its name suggests.

Wolffia (WOLF-ee-ah or wolf-EE-ah) is named for Johann Friedrich Wolff, 18th century German botanist and physician. Spirodela (spear-row-DELL-ah) is from the Greek spira (spiral) and delos (clear), referring to spiral vessels clearly visible through the whole plant. Lemna (and various spellings) in Greek means port, which usually has quiet water. In fact, near my grandfather’s village in the Mani is a town called Lemeni. It’s at the end of a long, bay surrounded on three sides by huge mountains, and a cute hotel clinging to a cliff.

One last point: Frankly I think using an old swimming pool or the like to raise duckweed in would be the best. In natural ponds duckweed tends to collect detritus. A handful of duckweed includes a quarter handful of debris. It can be an aquaculture crop but it would take some planning.

PS: The leopard frog is edible.

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408

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406

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405

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404

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403

Now is a good time to go looking for blackberries.

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401-402

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400

Watercress grew in a ditch behind an apartment complex I lived in near Sanford, Florida…

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399

Blossoming this time of year is the Eastern Coral Bean, sometimes called the Cherokee Bean.

Eastern Coral Bean, Sea Blite, Foraging Classes, Pineapple Guava, Foraging DVDs, Variegated Mahoe, Australian Pine, Bananas, Green Deane Forum, Donations, Making Wine

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-31-march-2020/

398

If you have an established ivy gourd…

Ivy Gourd, Swinecress, Foraging Classes, Cashews, Henbit, Purslane, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Donations, Basswood,

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-24-march-2020/

397

A common blossom that’s easy to identify is the wild violet.

Violets, Seablite, Loquats, foraging classes, Redflower Ragweed, Latex Strangler Vine, Green Deane Forum, Donations, DVDs, Ivy Gourd

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-17-march-2020/

396

Fireweed/Burnweed has a flavor chefs love.

Fireweed/Burnweed, Clover, Foraging Classes, Waning Weeds, Fungi, Creeping Cucumber, Bacopa, Pennyroyal, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Donations

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-10-march-2020/

395

A few newsletters ago it was mentioned the Mulberries were in blossom.

Mulberries, foraging classes, Pawpaws, Time Change, Dandelions and False Dandelions, Winter Plants and Wintergreen, Green Deane Forum, DVDs, Donating, and foraging photo #19

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-3-march-2020/

394

Species in the Rumex genus can be difficult.

Rumex, Foraging Classes, Citron Melons, Loquat, Clover, Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDS, Donations,

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-25-february-2020/

393

What are those white blossoms?

Plums, Hawthorns, Pawpaw, Foraging Classes, Blewit, Wild Garlic, Plantagos, Green Deane Forum, DVDs, Donations, Botany Builder #38.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-18-february-2020/

392

It’s time for my annual warning about Butterweed

Butterweed, Bulrush, Foraging Classes, Wild Pineapple, Red Powder Puff, DVDs, Creeping Indigo warning, Green Deane forum, donations,

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-11-february-2020/

391

Most trees in the Pea Family are toxic but not all of them.

Eastern redbud, Cattails, Pines, Foraging Classes, Coquina and Mole Crabs, Acorns, Plantagos, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-04-february-2020/

390

While driving through the middle of the peninsula this week I noticed Lambsquarters in their most common seasonal place: Citrus groves.

Lambsquarters, Foraging Classes, Passifloras, Doveweed, Axils, Jelly Fish, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, Donations

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-28-january-2020/

389

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-21-january-2020/

Cladonia is a large genus of edible but not tasty lichen.

Lichen, foraging classes, Botany Builder 28, Wild Lettuce, Removing Invasive Species, Botanical Names, Black Medic, Foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, Donations

388

It’s rather obvious that wintertime foraging varies where you live.

Winter Foraging, Chickweed and edible friends, Foraging classes, Sublimed sulfur, A cheap foraging book, Details and Solanum Americanum, Oyster Mushrooms, DVDs, Donations and the Green Deane Forum.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-14-january-2020/

387

Eastern Gamagrass, aka Fakahatchee Grass, is an edible you don’t see and then you do.

Eastern Gamagrass, Ivy Gourd, Foraging Classes, Teas, Botany Builder #10, Carpetweed, Donations, Foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-7-january-2020/

386

There’s no reason to buy mustard greens now.

Wild mustard and radish, Butter and Ruby Boletes, Foraging Classes, Edible Blossoms, Surinam Cherries, toxic Creeping Indigo.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-31-december-2019/

385

It’s a good time to mention the toxic Butterweed and Rattlebox.

Butterweed, Foraging Classes, Roses, Hawthorns, Euell Gibbons and Nutrition, Rattlebox

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-24-december-2019/

384

Plants give you something to look forward to especially if you know where and when to look.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-17-december-2019/

Wild Garlic, Chickweed, Goosegrass, Sow Thistle, Stinging Nettles, Dandelions, Sycamore, Foraging Classes, Tar Vine, Desert Horse Purslane, Green Deane Forum, DVDs, Go Fund Me, Urban Crawl

383

Mother Nature can be fickle and it’s almost always tied to weather.

Grapes, Swinecress, Silverthorn, Foraging Classes, False Hawk’s Beard, Jelly Ears, Botany Builder #31, Cactus, the Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, Go Fund Me

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-10-december-2019/

382

Pyracanthas are furious in the fall.

Pyrachanthas Chinese and Siberian Elms, Silverthorn, Foraging Classes, Drymaria, Botany Builder #30, Magnolia Blossoms, Ginkgo, Foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, Go Fund Me, Pollination in a word, and Remembering Nefertiti

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-3-december-2019/

381

This time of year two wintertime foragables come up, one quite esteemed the other barely edible.

Henbit, Wild Geraniums, Foraging Classes, Chickweed, Horse Nettle & Tropical Soda Apple, Bananas

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-26-november-2019/

380

wild Mustards and radishes, Toxic Water Hemlock, Smartweed, Foraging Classes, Golden Rain Tree, Skunk Vine, Scat Contamination, Lady Bugs, and Lion’s Mane

Many foraging books are what I call “Ohio-centric.”

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-19-november-2019/

379

Dandelions, Seaweed, Foraging classes, Jellyfish, Wax Myrtle Berries, the Stinkhorn and Jack O’Lanterns, Mustards and Radishes, the Green Deane Forum, Donations, and foraging DVDs

Dandelion blossoms, ten pounds of sugar, and two cakes of bread yeast became my first batch of wine.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-05-november-2019/

378

Edible Mushrooms, Foraging Classes, Tie Change, Blue and Red Sages and Oakleaf Flea Bane, Chinese Elm, Christmasberries, Wild Mustards, donations, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum.

Unusual rains last week coaxed more life out of several edible mushroom species that were seasonally put to bed a month ago.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-29-october-2019/

377

Cucumber Tree, Paul Dreher, Sida, Turkey Tails, Foraging Classes, Palmate Leaves, Richardia, Perennial Peanut, Caesarweed, Botanical Names, Donations, Foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum.

Foraging is treasure hunting for adults

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-22-october-2019/

376

As is often the case one can walk past edible species many times and not notice them.

Cinnamon, Dragon Fruit, Foraging Classes, Sumac, Persimmons, Yellow Pond Lily, Donations, Foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-15-october-2019/

375

The fruiting of species can be a mystery.

Cocoplums, Simpson Stopper, Coconut borer, Southern Wax Myrtle, Foraging Classes, Ringless Honey Mushrooms, White American Beautyberries, Wood Oats, Donations, foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-08-october-2019/

skipped a week, wordpress down

374

Panicum is a very common group of edible native and non-native grasses in Florida and North America.

Panic Grass, Aromas, Plant Pronunciations, Foraging Classes, Purslane, Pindo Palm Wine, Donations, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-24-september-2019/(opens in a new tab)

373

It’s the time of year to talk about Saw Palmetto berries.

Saw Palmettos, Tallow Plum, Foraging Classes, Wild Apples, Elevation, Donations, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum

Newsletter 17 September 2019

372

Seagrapes are coming into season.

Seagrapes, Doveweed, Foraging near roads. Foraging Classes this week, Black & Sweet Gums, Isabelline and Mushrooms of the Gulf South.

Newsletter 10 September 2019

371

Newsletter 03 September 2019

Labor Day used to mean more than hurricanes threatening the east coast from Florida to Maine.

Labor Day, Creeping Fig, Foraging Classes in spite of Hurricane Dorian, Liatris, Poke Weed, Yellow Pond Lilly, Poke Weed, Mosquitos & Beer, Lawns Aren’t Green, donations,

370

It’s the time of year when Horsemint is easy to find.

Horsemint, Cocoplums, Natal Plumbs; Mushroom, Chitin, Arsenic and Insects; Stevia and Ragweed, Foraging Classes, Railroad Tracks, Goldenrod, Go Fund Me

Newsletter 27 August 2019

369

I never receive mail about Lion’s Ear.

Newsletter 20 August 2019

Lion’s Ear, Brazilian Nightshade, Foraging Classes, Sida, Gopher Apples and Tallow Plums, White Chicken of the Woods, Go Fund Me, Foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum.

368

The Water Hyacinth is blooming and no doubt many people are irritated by that.

Newsletter 13 August 2019

Water Hyacinth, Milk Cap Mushrooms, Foraging Classes, Kudzu, Green Deane Forum, DVDs, Go Fund Me, and I need a webmaster.

367

Bunya Bunya get no respect

Bunya Bunya, Red Spiderling, Goldenrod, Sugarberry, Foraging Classes, Horsemint, Sweet Gum/Black Gum, The False Parasol: A mushroom to avoid, Green Deane Forum, Russian Thistle and railroad tracks, Foraging DVDs, Go Fund me, and I need a webmaster.

Newsletter 6 August 2019

366

What’s in season to forage? Many species now perhaps because of unusual weather pattens this year.

What plants can you forage for now, what mushrooms can you forage now, foraging classes, Blue Porter Weed, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, Go Fund Me

365

It’s common yet uncommon, that is, not rare but you don’t notice it too often.

Hawthorns, American Lotus, Upcoming foraging class schedule, Chanterelles, Burgoo and Loblollies, Donations, the Green Deane Forum, foraging DVDs

Newsletter 23 July 2019

364

One more abbreviated newsletter with schedule because I have been teaching out-of-state.

Newsletter 16 July 2019

Newsletter 23 July 2019

363

Newsletter 9 July 2019

This and next week’s newsletters (July 9 & 16, 2019) are abbreviated because…

362

One would think that with a name like “Barnyard Grass” one would find the species in barnyards.

Barnyard Grass, Strawberry Guava, Seaside Gentian, Spanish Needles, Toxic polypore, Foraging Classes, Teaching in South Carolina, Go Fund Me, the Green Deane Forum, foraging DVDs

Newsletter 2 July 2019

361

Yes it is edible but….

The other White Chicken-of-the-Woods, Two-Leaf Solanum, Norfolk Pines and the Bunya Bunya, Foraging Classes Florida, Foraging Classes South Carolina. Go Fund Me, the Green Deane Forum, and foraging DVDs

Newsletter 25 June 2019

360

Ground cherries locally tend to have two seasons, spring and fall.

Ground Cherries, South Carolina Foraging Classes, new food crops, Florida Foraging Classes, the Winged Yam, Passion Flower, the toxic Cherry Laurel, Go Fund Me, the Green Deane Forum, foraging DVDs

Newsletter 18 June 2019

359

Yellow ponds, that’s how I think of it, or in some places, yellow rivers.

American Lotus, South Carolina Foraging Classes, Local Foraging Classes, the toxic Atamasco Lily, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Juniper Berries, Go Fund Me, Green Deane Forum, DVDs, the Chinese Tallow tree

Newsletter 11 June 2019

358

From a foraging point of view it was a very berry weekend starting with Coastal Ground Cherries, Physalis angustifolia in Port Charlotte.

Ground Cherries, Cassine, Marco Island, Classes in South Carolina, Foraging Classes Florida, How Safe Is Foraging, Go Fund Me, the Green Deane Forum, DVDs

Newsletter 4 June 2019

357

The first time I ever saw red poppies growing was in Athens on my first visit to Greece

Corn Poppies, Impatiens, Smartweed, Mushroom Update, Foraging Classes, Botany Builder #28 Echinate, Blue Porterweed, Green Deane Forum, Go Fund Me, DVDs, and Wild Pineapple

Newsletter 28 May 2019

356

If you were starving and came upon a patch of cattails you would have great cause for celebration.

Cattails, Kudzu, Acorns, Lantana, Foraging Classes, Gopher Apples, Go Fund Me, and foraging DVDs

Newsletter 21 May 2019

355

The American Nightshade is a much-maligned plant

American Nightshade, Ground Cherry, Blueberries et cetera, Carolina Bristle Mallow, Foraging Classes, Juniper Berries, Donations, the Green Deane Forum, foraging DVDs

Newsletter 14 May 2019

354

There’s an odd kind of mulberry here in Florida.

Basswood (The Linden/Lime Tree) Chestnut Bolete, Foraging Classes, Kudzu, Wild Pineapple, Winged Yam, Foraging DVDs, Ivy Gourd, Donations, Gamagrass/Fakahatchee Grass, the Green Deane Forum

Newsletter 7 May 2019

353

There’s still time to look for Sea Blite, a seasonal salt-tolerant species that’s here this month, gone next month

Sea Blite, Sugarberry, Foraging Classes, the Mahoe, Partridgeberry, Marlberries Revisited, DVDs, Donations and the Green Deane Forum.

Newsletter 30 April 2019

352

By April Stinging Nettles are usually gone for the season.

Newsletter 23 April 2019

Stinging nettles, Green Mushrooms, Suriname Cherries, Wild Garlic, Foraging Classes, Miner’s Lettuce, Confederate Jasmine, Florida Pennyroyal, Redvein Abutilon, DVDs, Go Fund Me, and the Green Deane Forum

351

If you are in the habit of eating wild mushrooms

Newsletter 16 April 2019

Five Edible Wild Mushrooms, Pineapple Guava, Eastern Coral Bean, Forestiera segregata the Florida Privet, Weekly Foraging Classes, Wild Edibles and locations they like, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, and Go Fund Me

350

Watercress/Wintercress grew in a ditch behind an apartment complex I lived in…

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-09-april-2019/

Watercress, Wild Garlic, Upcoming Foraging Classes, Marlberries, Chokeberry, Making You Own Vinegar, Usnea, DVDS, Green Deane Forum, Go Fund Me, A Leafing Hickory

349

Tallow Plums are something of a botanical mystery.

Newsletter 2 April 2019

Tallow Plums, Wild Garlic, Blueberries and relatives, Toothache Tree as a source of pepper, Foraging Classes, Eastern Coral Bean, American Nightshade, Soon it will be mushroom season, Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, Go Fund Me.

348

A few newsletters ago it was mentioned Mulberries were in blossom…

Newsletter 26 March 2019

Mulberries, Creeping Cucumber, Coco-plums, Foraging Classes and a new location, toxic Butterweed, Suriname Cherries, Green Deane Forum DVDS, Fermenting Spiderwort, Go Fund Me…

347

Pawpaws can be among the most difficult and easy wild fruits to find.

Newsletter 19 March 2019

Pawpaws, Eating Grass, Foraging Classes, sickening Tropical Sage, Wisteria, Gladiolus, Raceme vs Spike, the Green Deane Forum, DVDs, Go Fund Me.

346

With an impossible scientific name and strong aroma Fireweed is often over looked by the foraging community.

Fireweed, Mayflowers, Lilacs, Pussy Willows, Foraging Classes, Mistetoe, Green Deane Forum, DVDs, Go Fund Me, Drying Loquats

Newsletter 12 March 2019

345

Most foragers know Smilax tips are edible.

Newsletter 5 March 2019

Smilax berries, Marlberries, Daylight Saving Time, True Thistles, Coquina & Mole Crabs, Botanical Names, Foraging Classes, the Green Deane Forum, DVDs, and Go Fund Me

344

Heads up, literally: Loquats are ripening.

Newsletter 26 February 2019

Loquats, Blackberries, Mulberries. Maypops, Creeping Cucumbers, Dollarweed, Strange Time of Year, Foraging Classes, Eau de Rodent, Turkey Berry, Toxic Tomatoes, the Green Deane Forum, DVDs, Go Fund Me,

343

Lamb’s Quarters… Fat Hen… and where to find it.

Newsletter 19 February 2019

Lamb’s Quarters, Citron Melons, Last Average Frost Date, Maple Seeds, Eastern Red Bud, Pink Tabebuia, Loquats, Pawpaws, Surinam Cherries, Cocoplum, Wild Mustard, Wild Radish, Blackberries. Agaricus campestris, Foraging Classes, Go Fund Me, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Plantago rugelii

342

The Western Tansy Mustard is one of our shortest-lived winter-time forageables.

Newsletter 12 February 2019

Western Tansy Mustard, Bittercress, Micro-Mustards, Black Medic, Foraging Classes, Florida Herbal Conference, Doveweed, the Larch, Tulips, Go Fund Me, Green Deane Forum, DVDs,

341

Going north to forage is always pleasant this time of year.

Newsletter 5 February 2019

Wild Garlic, Black Cherry vs Laurel Cherry, Elderberries, Foraging Classes, Lawns Aren’t Green, Florida Herbal Conference, Go Fund Me, the Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs

340

Yeah… that’s a mouthful…

Male Pine Cones, Poorman’s Pepper Grass and Maca, Perennial Peanut, Foraging Classes, Seaweeds, Dandelions, Nicker Beans, Florida Herbal Conference, Go Fund Me, the Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, and Trametes lactinea.

Newsletter 29 January 2019

339

An often overlooked wild edible is Bulrush.

Newsletter 22 January 2019

Bulrushes, Candyroot, Florida Pennyroyal, Sow Thistle, Wild Pineapple, Florida Herbal Conference, Calliandra, Foraging Classes, Blewits, Magnesium Deficiencies, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Go Fund Me, Spanish Cherries

338

Newsletter 15 January 2019

A common blossom that’s easy to identify is the wild violet. It’s cultivated brethren is the pansy.

Violets, foraging mistakes, upcoming foraging classes, the Florida Herbal Conference, Bauhinias, False Hawks Beard, Green Eyes, Florida Privet, foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, Go Fund Me, Swinecress, Stink Horns, and Lawns Aren’t Green.

337

Newsletter 08 January 2019

There are Plantains that look like tough bananas and there are Plantains that are low and leafy plants.

Plantains/Plantagos, Fleabane, Goji Berry, Sycamore tree, Sublimed Sulfur, Richardia, Foraging Classes, Foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, Go Fund Me.

336

Newsletter, 01 January 2019

Newsletter, 01 January 2019

Making their winter debut are our stinging nettles and they might have the second-worst nettle sting on earth.

Stinging nettles, Sow Thistles, Chickweed, Foraging Classes, Podocarpus Mystery, Hen Bit, the “Bills”, Wax Myrtle Berries, Foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, Go Fund Me

335

Newsletter 18-25 December 2018

Newsletter 18-25 December 2018

Newsletter 18-25 December 2018

A winter edible you should be scouting for is Galium aparine, or Goosegrass…

Goosegrass, Jelly Ears, False Hawk’s Beard, Roses, Nickerbeans, Christmasberry, Dandelion, Lemon Bacopa and it’s evil bitter sister Water Hyssop, Foraging Classes, Pinellas County, Foraging Videos, Go Fund Me, Green Deane Forum, Thistle Seeds, 8th Annual Urban Crawl

334

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-11-december-2018/

Pyracanthas are furious in the fall. Their brilliant red berries stand out in every landscape

Pyracanthas, Gingko, Chickweed, Hibiscus, Bauhinia, Foraging Classes, Death By Apple Seeds, Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, Go Fund Me, can you ID the edibles?

333

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-04-december-2018/

Both the Chinese and Siberian elms have several edible parts.

Chinese and Siberian elms, if an animal can eat it, West Indian Chickweed, upcoming Foraging Classes, Passiflora lutea, the Green Deane Forum, Go Fund Me, Foraging videos, and oaks

332

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-27-november-2018/

Foragers benefit from bad ideas.

Silverthorn, Little Mustards, Creeping Cucumber, Foraging Classes, Go Fund Me, Wax Myrtle, Green Deane Forum, Indian Pipes, Foraging Videos,

331

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-20-november-2018/

The seasons are changing and so is the foraging with a shift into not only fall but winter plants.

Christmasberry, Sugarberry, Foraging Classes, Carpetweed, Beefsteak Polypore, Go Fund Me. Green Deane Forum, Foraging videos

330

Common plant names can be so misleading.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-13-november-2018/

Silk Floss Tree, Pandanus Grass, Sand Spurs, Stinging Nettle, Foraging Classes, Chicken of the Woods, Go Fund Me, Foraging DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum

329

We don’t have the opportunity to often use the word “windfall”…

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-november-06-2018/

Chinese elm, pines and inner bark, jellyfish, wild oaks and sea purslane, foraging classes, personal notes, donations, DVD and the Green Deane Forum

328

The tree is easy to find but is it edible?

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-30-october-2018/

Golden Rain Tree, Daylight Saving Time, Back Yard Foraging and Pets, Foraging Classes, Smartweed, Go Fund Me, DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum

327

Learning about edible wild plants seem intimidating at first.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-23-october-2018/

Ringless Honey Mushroom, Foraging Class Schedule, Morning Glories, Go Fund Me, DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum,

326

Our Sumacs are happy.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-16-october-2018/

Sumacs, Persimmons, What is Edible? Foraging Classes, Perennial Peanut, Sea Grapes, Go Fund Me, Green Deane Forum, foraging DVDs,

325

This might be a good time to write about Yellow Pond Lilys.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-09-october-2018/

Yellow Pond Lily, Papaya and Castor Beans, Sida, Turkey Tails, False Turkey Tails, Foraging Classes, DVDs, Go Fund Me, Green Deane Forum.

324

Is it edible? Yes, no, maybe…

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-2-october-2018/

Chinese Tallow Tree, Caesarweed, Horsemint, Oyster Mushrooms, Foraging Classes, DVDs, Go Fund Me, the Green Deane Forum.

323

Seasons can be subtle

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-25-september-2018/

Seasons, Jambul Tree, Mushrooming, Saw Palmaettos, Foraging Classes. Toxic Caterpillars, Foraging Videos, and the Green Deane Forum.

322

It was on the side of the bike trail, half squished.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-18-september-2018/

Persimmons, Ringless Honey Mushrooms, Bananas, Foraging Classes, Peppervine, Foraging Videos, Green Deane Forum,

321

In the backwoods of Maine where I grew up Dogwoods were small.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-11-september-2018/

Kousa Dogwood, Canna, Ground Cherries, Cocoplums, Foraging Classes, Foraging DVDs, Go Fund Me, the Green Deane Forum, OMG!, Carpetweed, Indian Pipes

320

In the olden BC days… before computers…

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-04-september-2018/

Fall foraging, foraging classes, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Go Fund me, Creeping Fig

319

Still unpacking from my road trip (which is my excuse for this shorter-than-usual weekly newsletter.)

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-28-august-2018/

Mushroom class, foraging class in South Carolina, Foraging Classes, Kudzu, Radium Weed, DVDs, Go Fund Me, the Green Deane Forum

318

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-21-august-2018/

This is an abbreviated newsletter

Foraging class schedule for August and September 2018

317

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-14-august-2018/

Bunya Bunya get no respect in countries where people have plenty of food.

Bunya Bunya, Norfolk Pine, Black Gum, Sugarberry, Erect Spiderling, Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, Foraging Classes, Go Fund Me,

316

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-08-august-2018/

There’s an old phrase: “Sometimes you have to bow to the absurd”

Chanterelles, Black Trumpet, Sumac, Foraging Classes, Horsemint, Green Deane Forum, DVDs, Go Fund Me,

315

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-31-july-2018/

Putting on black fruit now is the much-debated Peppervine, Ampelopsis arborea.

Peppervine, Pindo Palms, Foraging Classes, Americaln Lotus, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Where the wild food is.

314

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-24-july-2018/

Our foraging class in Port Charlotte this past week was above and beyond if you like fruit.

Cocoplums, Jambul Tree, Mangos, Ground Cherries, Foraging Classes, Fermenting Mushrooms, Blue Porterweed, Foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum,

313

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-17-july-2018/

Millions of dollars and many decades have been spent trying to eradicate the edible pictured above.

Latex Strangler Vine, Beefstake Polypore, Sugarberry, Foraging Classes, Eastern Gammagrass, Purslane, Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, Lawns Aren’t Green,

312

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-10-july-2018/

Lobsters… no, not the kind from the sea but the woods: Lobster mushrooms.

Magnolias, Lobster Mushrooms, Foraging Classes, Carpetweed, Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, Bacterial Considerations,

311

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-3-july-2018/

There’s a wonderfully aromatic plant that prefers to hide most of the year.

Horsemint, Tallow Plum, Orlando Mushroom Group, Pecan Truffles, Foraging Classes, and DVDs

310

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-26-june-2018/

Podocarpus does not, as they used to say, have an attitude.

Podocarpus, Simpson Stopper, Orlando Mushroom Group, Foraging Classes, Jack In The Pulpit, Green Deane Forum, and foraging DVDs.

309

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-19-june-2018/

Paper Mulberries are related to bread fruit.

Paper Mulberries, St. John’s Mint, Black Gum, Podocarpus, Poison Sumac, Foraging Classes, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Blue Porterweed

308

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-12-june-2018/

Sorting out Morning Glories, Maypops and plants with cyanide, a Bolete with no name, Foraging Classes, Eating Little Red Bugs, the Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs,

307

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-05-june-2018/

Yellow ponds, that’s how I think of it…

American Lotus, Black Cherry, Foraging Classes, Toxic Atamasco, Milk Caps. The Old Man of the Woods, Green Deane Forum, Chinese Tallow tree, foraging DVDs,

306

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-29-may-2018/

Yucca is not Yuca. Or said another way: YOU-ka is not YUK-ka.

Yucca, Matchhead, Oaxaca Lemon Verbena, Doveweed, Ficus Racemosa, American Nightshade, Foraging Classes, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Eastern Hemlock

305

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-22-may-2018/

The Orlando Mushroom Group (OMG!) met Sunday for their first fungal foray of the year.

Orlando Mushroom Group, Pawpaws, Foraging Classes, Pregnancy and Plants, Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, Go Fund Me, and Chanterelles.

304

Spiderworts got me in trouble once

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-15-may-2018/

Spiderworts, Pond Apples, Sea Oxeye, Foraging Classes, OMG mushroom hunt, Go Fund Me, Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, Botany Builder 26,

303

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-08-may-2018/

Not all of botany is settled.

Grapes, Ivy Gourd, Eastern Gamagrass, Foraging Classes, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Go Fund Me, the Orlando Mushroom Group,

302

Sea Purslane and Purslane are not the same species

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-01-may-2018/

Sea Purslane, Sargassum, Morning Glories, Foraging Classes, Foraging DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Orlando Mushroom Group, Go Fund Me, Jack in the Pulpits,

301

The American Nightshade is poised to fruit heavily.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-24-april-2018/

American Nightshade, Blackberries, Orlando Mushroom Group, Common Fungi of South Florida, Foraging Classes, Ivy Gourd, Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, Go Fund Me,

Newsletters in chronological order
29 November2016: https://www.eattheweeds.com/newsletter-6-december-2016/ Issue 235: What do you see #25, Beautyberries, Simpson Stoppers, Wild Pineapples, Where To Find Wild Edibles. Foraging Classes, A possible edible shrub? Bananas, Foraging DVDs and the Green Deane Forum
22 November 2016: Issue 234 Dandelions, Goji Berries, Wapato, Foraging Classes, Foraging DVDs, the Green Deane Forum
15 November 2016: Issue 233: Chinese Elm, Wild Lettuce, Horsemint, Smartweed, Beautyberry, Brazilian Pepper, Winged Sumac, Foraging Classes, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum,
08 November 2016: Issue 232. Cucumber Weed, Honey Mushrooms, Creeping Cucumber, Tallow Plum, Christmasberry, Foraging Classes, Green Deane DVD, and the Green Deane Forum.
01 November 2016: Issue 231: Edible Wild Radish, Deadly Water Hemlock, Peppery Smartweed, Crushed Acorns, Foraging Classes, DVDs and the Green Deane Forum
25 October 2016: Issue 230: Tropical Almond, How Kids Learn, Foraging Classes, Dove Plums, the Green Deane Forum and foraging DVDs.
18 October 2016: Issue 229: Do you need to know the botanical names? Morning Glories, Persimmons, Yam A, Foraging Classes, Green Deane Forum, DVDs, Acorn Bread.
11 October 2016: Issue 228: Harvesting windfall, is the ground polluted? the Green Deane Forum and foraging DVDs
04 October 2016: Issue 227: Carpetweed, foraging and bacteria, foraging classes, the Green Deane Forum, and foraging DVDs.
27 September 2016: Issue 226: Acorns, Creeping Fig, Jewels of Opar, Foraging Classes, Ft. Desoto, Chaya, Green Deane Forum, foraging DVDs.
20 September 2016: Issue 225: Hackberry – Sugarberry, Kudzu, Skunk Vine, Foraging Classes, Persimmons, Green Deane DVDs and the Green Deane Forum.
13 September 2016: Issue 224: Water Hyacinth, Panic Grass, Foraging Classes, DVDs, Pindo Wine, the Green Deane Forum
06 September 2016: Issue 223: Learning how to forage, what’s in season now, foraging classes, Green Deane DVDs, the Green Deane Forum.
30 August 2016 was a fifth Tuesday. No newsletter was published.
23 August 2016: Issue 222: Beautyberries, grapes, Pindo Palm, Simpson Stopper, Horsemint, Saw Palmetto, Persimmons, Maine Blueberries, milkweed pods, foraging classes., DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, medicinal and edible mushrooms.
16 August 2016: Issue 221: Horsemint, Pindo Wine, Begonias, Goldenrod, Foraging Classes, Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, Beautyberries,
09 August 2016: Issue 220: Black Cherry, Black Gum, Black Pepper Vine Fruit, the North American Ebony, persimmon, foraging classes, DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum.
02 August 2016: Issue 219: Pindo Palms, White Boerhavia, Water Hyssop and memory, Hackberries, Foraging Classes, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, and Wild Grpaes
26 July 2016: Issue 218: The Jambul Tree, Norfolk Pine, Hairy Cow Pea, Magnifying Glass, Foraging classes, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum, and Simpson Stoppers.
All data on site between April 16 and June 8th were lost because of Hostgator’s incompetence. That included many newsletters.
12 April 2016: Issue 203: Finding Pawpaws, blossoming Eastern Coral Bean, fruiting Mulberries, the Mahoe, Partridgeberries in Florida! Upcoming foraging classes and ForageFest, the Green Deane Forum and DVDs.
5 April 2016: No newsletter because of hacking attempt.
29 March 2016: Issue 202: Ivy Gourd or Tindora, Bidens alba, Fermenting, Loquats, Foraging Classes and DVDs.
22 March 2016: Issue 201: Linden Tree, Fermenting Spiderwort, Avocado Seeds, Foraging Classes, DVDs
15 March 2016: Issue 200: Identifying Garden Weeds, Loquats, Butterweed, New Class Location, Upcoming Foraging Classes, the Green Deane Forum, Foraging DVDs, 200th Newsletter!
8 March 2016: Issue 199: Garden weeds, finding edible weeds, Western Tansy Mustard, Foraging Classes, Sow thistles, Green Deane Forum and DVDs.
1 March 2016: Issue 198: Florida Herbal Conference 2016, Poor Man’s Pepper Grass and Maca, Foraging Classes, Seaweed, Free Mustard Seeds, Green Deane DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum.
23 February 2016: Issue 197: The Eastern Redbud and Chickasaw Plum, Wild Radishes and Mustards, Earthskills and Florida Herbal Conference 2016, Upcoming Foraging Classes, Free Mustard Seeds, Green Deane DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum.
16 February 2016: Issue 196: Sow Thistles, Thorns, Spines and Prickles, the Green Deane Forum, Foraging Classes. Florida Herbal Conference, Free Mustard Seeds, Green Deane’s DVDs.
9 February 2016: Issue 195: Silverthorns, Plantagos, Foraging Classes, Florida Herbal Conference, Foraging DVDs, free Red Mustard seeds.
2 February 2016: Issue 194: Tulips, Mustards, Dandelions, Doveweed, Florida Herbal Conference, Foraging Classes, Green Deane Videos, Free Mustard seeds, and the Green Deane Forum: Did you ever eat a larch?”
26 January 2016: Issue 193: Eastern Gamagrass, Florida Herbal Conference, Sea Blite, Queen and Pindo Palms, Opuntia and Nopales, Foraging Classes, Green Deane DVDs.
19 January 2016: Issue 192: Silverthorn, Sheep’s Sorrel, Free Red Mustard Seeds, Stinging Nettles, Henbit, Chickweed, Foraging Classes, DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum
12 January 2016: Issue 191: Roots revisited: Ivy Gourd. Wild Teas. Foraging Classes, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum.
5 January 2016: Issue 190:Stinging nettles, Purslane, Oxalis, Mystery Root, Foraging classes, DVDs, Green Deane Forum.
29 December 2015: Issue 189:Goosegrass, Christmasberry, Natal Plum, Yaupon Holly, Bananas, Nicker Bean, Ground Cherry, Sea Purslane, Sea Blite, Coral Berry, Gracilaria, CLasses, DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum
22 December 2015: Issue 188: Ringless Honey mushrooms, Deer Mushrooms, Tamarind, Mahoe, Tropical Almond, Fifth Urban Crawl, Foraging Classes, DVDs, Green Deane Forum,
15 December 2015: Issue 187: Silverthorn, Peppergrass, Chickweed, Foraging Classes Green Deane Videos, the Green Deane Forum, fifth annual Urban Crawl.
8 December 2015: Issue 186: Wild lettuce, Osage Orange, Ginkgos, Cashew Trees, Pineapple Guava, Turk’s Cap, Foraging Classes, DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum.
1 December 2015: Issue 185: Tropical Soda Apple aka Horse Nettle, Henbit, Stork’s Bill and Cranesbill,
24 November 2015: Issue 184; Chickweed, pomegranate peelings, pines, homemade mustard, foraging classes, the Green Deane Forum, and DVDs
17 November 2015: Issue 183; Seaweed and Lichen, where to forage, Foraging Classes, DVDs, Green Deane Forum.
10 November 2015: Issue 182:Wild Drinks, a book review; Wax Myrtle Berries, Wild Radish, Foraging Classes, the Green Deane Forum, and DVDs
3 November 2015: Issue 181:Black gum, Seagrapes, Doveweed, Foraging near Roads, Classes, Green Deane Forum, and Videos.
27 October 2015: Issue 180:Foot fruit: Podocarpus and Cashews, Sandspurs, Pony Foot, Foraging Classes, the Green Deane Forum and Videos
20 October 2015: Issue 179:What is a Ceiba and how do you say it? Partridgeberry, Ringless Honey Mushrooms, Red Bays and Magnolias, Laurel Wilt, Pellitory aka Cucumberweed, Foraging Classes, and the Green Deane Forum
7 October 2015 no newsletter published because site had to be backed up because of hackers.
6 October 2015: Issue 178:Tallow plum, White Beautyberries, Sumac, Sea and Wood Oats, Cactus and Nopales, Foraging Classes, Green Deane Forum,
29 September was a fifth Tuesday, no news letter published then.
22 September 2015: Issue 177: Frost, and ripening vegetables and fruit, Foraging Classes, the Green Deane Forum
15 September 2015: Issue 176:Purslane and a look-alike, Pepper Vine, Upcoming Foraging Classes, Heartwing Sorrel, Green Deane Forum,
8 September 2015: Issue 175: 18 edibles along the Seminole-Wekiva Trial, Foraging Class Schedule, and the Green Deane Forum.
1 September 2015: Issue 174: Kudzu, wild apples, mountain foraging, upcoming classes, the Green Deane Forum
18 and 25 August, no newsletters as Green Deane was on vacation hiking in the Carolinas.
11 August 2015: Issue 173:Horsemint, Foraging along railroad tracks, Goldenrod, Swamp Rose Mallow, Foraging Classes, Green Deane Forum.
4 August 2015: Issue 172:Ripening grapes, saw palmetto fruit, Yellow Anise, Green Maypops, Large Boletes, Foraging Classes, Green Deane Forum.
28 July 2015: Issue 171:Citron Melons, three edible mushrooms; Blue Lactarius, the Old Man of the Woods, and Chanterelles. Lone Star Ticks and Armadillos in the news, Foraging Classes and the Green Deane Forum
21 July 2015: Issue 170:Tasty Tamarind, Tropical Almonds, the lesser-known Silk Bay, Foraging Classes, The Green Deane Forum, Are the Seasons Changing?
14 July 2015: Issue 169: Are all Portulacas edible? Which yam is it? Elderberries. Foraging Classes. Taking a Bee Hive Home, and The Green Deane Forum.
7 July 2015: Issue 168: Paper Mulberries, Pindo Palm, Yaupon Holly, The Timucua, Pawpaws, plant books, upcoming foraging classes, the Green Deane Forum.
30 June 2015: Fifth Tuesday, no newsletter.
23 June 2015: Issue 167: Sea Blite, Glasswort, Creeping Fig, Foraging Classes, Green Deane Forum.
16 June 2105: Issue 166:Laco-fermenting, toxic Atamasco Lily, Smilax, Sword Ferns, Foraging Classes, Green Deane Forum,
9 June 2015: Issue 165: Latex Strangler Vine, American Lotus, Dock Seeds, foraging mistakes, early season Podocarpus, Reishi mushrooms, foraging classes, Green Deane Forum
2 June 2015: Issue 164: Ivy gourd, Honey Mushrooms, Wild Food Plants of Hawaii, Classes, Green Deane Forum.
26 May 2015, no newsletter because of hackers.
19 May 2015: Issue 163:Gopher Apples are blossoming as are Groundnuts. Candyroot is getting showy, Blueberries are ripening. The Simpson Stopper has three kinds of leaves. Wild Coffee and Coralberry Confusion, Upcoming Classes, and the Green Deane Forum,
12 May 2015: Issue 162: Watercress, Wild Garlic, Upcoming Foraging Classes, Green Deane Forum, Botany Builder 28, Does anyone want to guess?
5 May 2015: Issue 161:Wild Pineapple, Ground Cherries, Horsemint, Three kinds of wild grapes, upcoming foraging classes, Botany Builder 27, edible Pluteus petasatus, the Green Deane Forum
28 April 2015: Issue 160:Blackberries, Pickling Betony roots, Elderberry, Smilax, Juniper Berries, Upcoming Classes, Green Deane Forum, What Do You See #24.
21 April 2015: Issue 159: Distance and Elevation, Paper Mulberry, Red Mulberry, Basswood, False Hawk’s Beard, Upcoming Foraging Classes, Green Deane Forum, Botany Builder #26,
14 April, 2015: Issue 158: Pineapple Guava, the Tallow Plum, where to look for edible plants, upcoming foraging classes. the Green Deane Forum, and What Do You See #23
7 April 2015: Issue 157: ForageFest 2015, Lantanas, Weeds of Southern Turfgrasses, A Beginner’s Guide of Edible Florida, foraging in Port Charlotte, non-edible Nicker Beans, foraging classes, the Green Deane Forum, and What Do You See #22
31 March 2015: Issue 156: Is it time to reassess Nuphar roots? Identifying the Simpson Stopper. Foraging Instructors. What ’s in Season, Foraging Class Schedule, Green Deane Forum, What do you see #21.
24 March 2015: Issue 155: Mulberries, Wild Cucumbers, Edible Palms, Sea Rocket, Which Blueberry? Green Deane Forum. Upcoming Foraging Classes, What Do You See #20.
17 March 2015: There was no newsletter.
10 March 2015: Issue 154:Paw paws, Pennyroyal, Dandelions, Green Deane Forum, Foraging Classes, Daylight Saving time, What Do You See #19
3 March 2015, Issue 153: Florida Herbal Conference 2015, Turpentine Pines, Banning Mulberries, Foraging Classes, the Green Deane Forums, Bird Peppers, and What Do You See #18
24 February 2015: Issue 152: Eastern Redbud, Plums, Limequat, Foraging Classes, Seasonal changes and Mulberries, Florida Herbal Conference, Green Deane Forum, and What Do You See #17.
17 February 2015: Issue 151: Pepper Grass, Wild Geraniums, Paper Mulberry, Foraging Classes, Guest article: Bees, Butterflies, and Moths, Florida Herbal Conference 2015, the Green Deane Forum, and Winter Buds10 February 2015: Mystery diced root, Florida Earthskills 2015 is history, Florida Herbal Conference 2015 is next, foraging classes, Green Deane Forum, the 150th newsletter.
27 January 2015: The Wax Myrtle, Mustards & Radishes, Hairy Cowpea, Green Deane Forum, Earthskills 2015, Florida Herbal Conferece 2015, How Ungreen of Us.
20 January 2015: Goji berries, Plantagos, Black Medic, Green Deane Forum, Earthskills 2015, Florida Herbal Conference 2015, and Chain of Contamination
13 January 2015: Poorman’s Pepper Grass, Creeping Cucumber, Bulrush, Green Deane Forum, Earthskills 2015, Florida Herbal Conference 2015, classes, Wild Pineapple, Creeping Indigo warning, Calliandra haematocephala, What Do You See #16.
6 January 2015: False Hawk’s Beard, Roses, Earthskills gathering, 2015 Florida Herbal Conference, Foraging Classes, Pellitory, Goosegrass, Less Money More Weeds
30 December 2014: New Year Leaves, Bauhinias, Pansies, Classes, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, Earthskills Conference, Florida Herbal Conference, Janus, the Roman God who looks both ways, 4th Annual Urban Crawl.
23 December 2014: Are cattails really that good? Is the Moss Rose edible? FORAGER! Classes, DVDS and the Green Deane Forum.
16 December 2014: Sycamores, Wild Mustards, When a Description Doesn’t Fit, Upcoming Classes, Green Deane DVDs, The Green Deane Forum, Florida Herbal Conference
9 December 2014: Wild edibles in downtown Savannah, Georgia, Pyracanthas, Ginkgop, Swinecress, Henbit, herbalism vs foraging, upcoming foraging classes, Green Deane DVDs, and the Florida Herbal Conference.
2 December 2014: The Cabbage Palm, Sow Thistle, Weeds vs. Cultivated Crops, DVDs, Green Deane Forum, and the Florida Herbal Conference.
25 November 2014: Pellitory, Usnea, Thanksgiving, foraging classes, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum and the herbal conference.
18 November 2014: Persimmons, Indian Pipes, Cactus fruit, Lantana, foraging classes, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum and the herbal conference.
11 November 2014, no newsletter as Green Deane had dental surgery.
4 November 2014: Making Vinegar, Marlberries, Wintercress, Florida Herbal Conference, Upcoming Classes, DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum, all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.
28 October 2014: Ground Cherries, Cocoplums, Simpson Stopper, Elderberries, Lemon Bacopa, Bananas, Lactarius Indigo, Upcoming Classes, DVDs, The fourth Florida Herbal Conference, and Florida Gulf Coast University.
21 October 2014: Roses, Book Review: The Wild Wisdom of the Weeds, upcoming foraging season, classes, DVDs, and the Green Deane forum.
Oct 7and 14 no newsletter because Green Deane attended an out-of-state memorial service.
30 September 2014: Date Palms, Mushroom Season, Red Tide, Foraging Classes, DVDs, Green Deane Forum.
23 September 2014: Is Portulaca pilosa edible? Gopher Apples, What’s in Season, Class Schedule, DVDs, the Green Deane Forum.
16 September 2014: The Tallow Plum, a neat way to clean tunas, looking for yams, the beautyberry is happy, upcoming classes, DVDs, and the Green Deane Forum
9 September 2014: The passion fruit, where is it safe to forage, the Jambul Fruit, Puss Moth Caterpillar, Classes, DVD, and the Green Deane Forum.
2 September 2014: Sumac, Bananas, Cana, Old Man of The Woods, Podocarpus, Answer to What Do You See #16, Green Deane Forum, DVDs.
26 August 2014: Pine nuts, wild cucumbers, hiking in North Carolina, foraging classes, What Do You See #16, Green Deane Forum and DVDs.
19 August 2014: No newsletter, Green Deane hiking in the Carolinas.
12 August 2014: No newsletter, Green Deane hiking in the Carolinas.
5 August 2014: No newsletter, Green Deane hiking in the Carolinas.
29 July 2014: Bunya Bunya, Ganoderma mushrooms, upcoming classes, where to find the strangler latex vine, the Green Deane Forum and DVDs.
22 July 2014, American lotus, Fifth Annual Mushroom Intensive, Portulacas, Foraging Classes, The Green Deane Forum, and Podocarpus
15 July 2014, Black Cherries, Strawberry Guava, Horsemint, Basswood, Mushroom Workshop, White Indigoberry
July 1st and 8th, no newsletter as Green Deane was on vacation.
24 June 2014: Drehear Park, Jambul, Purslane, Classes, DVDs, changing servers.
17 June 2014: Chickasaw Plums, the deadly Water Hemlock, a Monsoon of Mushrooms, the answer the What Do You See #15, upcoming classes, the Green Deane Forum and DVDs.
10 June 2014: Jack In The Pulpits, Seasonal Changed, Podocarpus, Junipers, What Do You See 15, Answer to What Do You See 14, Foraging Classes, the Green Deane Forum, and DVDs.
3 June 2014: No newsletter because of attempted hacking.
27 May 2014: Memorial Day and the Corn Poppy. Where do you forage? What Do You See #14.
2o May 2014: Discovering Chaya; a new loop; Florida’s Wild Edibles, a book review; classes and DVDs.
13 May 2014: Caloric staples: Cattails, Kudzu, Acorns; Seasonal Changes; “Giant Hog Weed” on the Green Deane Forum; Upcoming Foraging Classes; DVDs; What Do You See 13 Answers, all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.
6 May 2014: Blackberries, the Water Hyacinth, Of Butterflies and Bees, What Do You See #12 and 13, Green Deane Forum and DVDS.
29 April 2014: Fifth Tuesday of the month. No newsletter published that date.
22 April 2014: Wild Garlic and Onions, Fleabane, Surinam Cherries and Mulberries, What Do You See 12, the answer to What Do You See 11, the Green Deane Forum, Classes and DVDs.
15 April 2014: Florida pennyroyal, Pawpaws, A new edible Redvein Abutilon, Birds and Loquats, What Do You See #11, answer to What Do You See #10, upcoming classes, DVDs
8 April 2014: Mulberries, Magnolia Vinegar, Surinam Cherries, What Do You See 10, answer to What Do You See 09, Upcoming Foraging classes, Book Review: Foraging With Kids, DVDs.
1 April 2014: The Tropical Chestnut, the Eastern Redbud, Miner’s Lettuce, Upcoming Foraging Classes, What do You See #09, answers to What Do You See 08, Book Review: Guide To Wild Foods And Useful Plants, DVDs, Barbie…
25 March 2014: Finding “wild” edibles, Wild Cucumber, Basswood, Black Medic and Hop Clover, Upcoming Classes, Brevard Botanical Garden Plant sale, What Do You See 08, answer for What Do You See 07, and DVDs.
18 March 2014: Golf courses revisited, rain brings the mushrooms, spring greens are putting on, got an article for the newsletter? Classes, DVDs, What Do You See #07, answers to #06, Birmingham Plant Sale, Book Review: Foraging & Feasting.
11 March 2014: Finding wild edibles, Dandelions, False Dandelions, Time Change, What Do You See #06, Spring is Here, Upcoming Classes, DVDs, Guest Articles Request.
4 March, 2014: Winging it with maple seeds, Turk’s Caps, Florida Herbal Conference 2014 is history, how to avoid the toxic Cherry Laurel, What Do You See? #05 and the answers to #04, looking for a travel trailer and holding classes in west Florida and beyond.
25 February, 2014: Sheep Sorrel, mystery mushroom, upcoming classes, Botany Builder 39, What Do You See? #04, Answer to What Do You See 03, DVDs and close encounters of the slithering kind.
18 February 2014: Nettle season, the evergreen Water Hyssop, White Clover, Boletes, our guest article: Plant Nutrition, upcoming classes, the Florida Herbal Conference nears, What Do You See #3 and the answer to What Do You See #2,
11 February 2014: Blewit Mushroom, Wild Garlic, Botany Builder #38, Plantago Power, Guest Article: Is it really Global Warming? What Do You See #2 and last week’s answer and more all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.
4 February 2014: What is White Snow? The Silverthorns are fruiting. Which Ganoderma is it? Botany Builder #37. What Do You See #1, and new feature. EarthSkills gathering Florida is this week, Florida Herbal Conference is this month, all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.
28 January, 2014: Cooking up mustard roots, Botany Builder #36, why doesn’t epazote freeze? Class Schedule, EarthSkills 2014, Florida Herbal Conference, DVDs, looking for Mr. Good Transportation, and guest writers.
21 January 2014: Tansy Mustard, Swine Cress, Botany Builder #35, Part II of guest writer Dewayne Allday’s To Shroom or not to Shroom, EarthSkills 2014 gathering, Florida Herbal Conference 2014, and upcoming foraging classes.
14 January 2014: Start looking for Silverthorn fruit, Henbit, Amaranth and Bitter Cress in local garden, Botany Builder #34, guest writer Dewayne Allday, To Shroom or not to Shroom, EarthSkills 2014 gathering, Florida Herbal Conference 2014, and upcoming foraging classes,
7 January 2014: Plantagos are ready for harvesting, Chickweed by Heather Pierce with recipes, Botany Builder 33, How safe is foraging? Class schedule, the Florida Herbal Conference, and Green Deane’s DVDs.
31 December 2013: No newsletter published that date.
24 December 2013: Vibrant chickweed, abundant pellitory, eat your Christmas tree? The Third Annual Urban Crawl with violet recipe, the common sow thistle, Botany Builder #32, Bottled scallions and the Green Deane Forum, what is foraging? upcoming classes and DVDs,
17 December 2013: The Green Deane Forum, the Tropical Almond, Botany Builder 31, Over Foraging, ETWs Archive, Mushrooms to be found, three thefts, Green Deane DVDs.
10 December 2013: Wild Radishes and Mustards, Juniper Berries, Amelia Island, Egan Creek Greenway, The Blue Heron Inn, and Botany Builder #30: Peltate. From the Archive: Is this Plant Edible?
3 December 2013: Sow thistles are sprouting, the wild lettuce is up. How many raw elderberries should you eat? The Silverthorn is in blossom, swinecress will soon be here, and Botany Builder #29.
26 November 2013: Strangler Latex Vine still fruiting, seasonal Little Mustards, Stinging Nettles, Forest Kindergarten, a dear visitor, Florida Herbal Conference, Foraging DVDs, and Botany Builder #28: Lianas.
19 November 2013: Chickweed is back! Along with stinkhorns, train wreckers, making dandelion wine, walnuts in the news, Florida Herbal Conference, DVDs, and foraging instructor updates.
12 November 2013: Sargassum, other sea veteables, eating jellyfish, cooking with sea purslane, the wood oats alternative, classes, DVDs, Florida Herbal Conference and an insect invasion.
5 November 2013: The seasonal change is upon us and winter foraging should be picking up. There’s acorns to be collected, a yam blossom to see, and a luffa surprise. The Florida Herbal Conference is coming up, and shoveling snow all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.
29 October 2013: No newsletter published that date.
22 October 2013: The Tropical Almond, Smartweed, Dudaim Melon, Polyporus Tenuiculus, Florida Herbal Conference, and Green Deane’s DVDs.
15 October 2013: A new edible, Perennial Pea; early-season cucumber weed; going out of season sea-grapes, persimmons, coco-plums, simpson stopper; begonias-hemlock, honey mushrooms, a calculating cat, Florida Herbal Conference, and DVDs.
8 October 2013: Black Gum, eating Anoles, the Green Deane Forum, Chestnut Bolete, 2014 Florida herbal conference, Green Deane’s DVDs, and 2000-year old seed sprouts.
1 October 2013: Sumac’s in season, persimmons, saw palmettos, creeping cucumbers, three iffy edibles, trust, the genus Lactarius, language and grazing.
24 Septemner 2013: Ever eat a Norfolk Pine? Snacking on Hairy Cowpeas blossoms. Dare you eat a Saw Palmetto berry? Persimmons are coming into season. Sign up early for the Florida Herbal Conference. Recent rains will stimulate mushroom sightings. Change in the newsletter policy. DVDs as selling.
17 September 2013: Cereus fruit, ground nuts, 5,000 questions, upcoming classes, herbal conference, my mystery mushroom, DVDS.
10 September 2013: Remembering wild apples, the aroma of wild plants, coming to terms with botanical names, a purslane recipe, the Florida Herbal Conference and DVDs,
3 September 2013: Blooming horsemint, Kudzu, classes, Ganoderma curtisii, make a berry picking bucket, upcoming conferences and DVDs.
27 August, 2013: Blossoming Coral Vine, Eastern Gamagrass, Grapes, Foraging Classes, Rattlesnakes, Poison Sumac, and Puffballs
20 August 2013: Podocarpus and fruit wines, thank you cards, class schedule, DVDs, and for what it’s worth.
13 August 2013: Fireweed is gourmet? Pindo Palms, Bitter Gourd, native grapes, Mt. Washington, Blueberries, persimmons, upcoming foraging classes and a common toxic mushroom the Green Parasol.
6 August 2013: Osage Orange, Saw Palmettos, foraging teachers, upcoming foraging classes, seasonal mushrooms, and how we love our pets.
30 July 2013: Getting Cereus about blooming cactus, the Monadas for medicine and spice, DVDs, our native Anise trees and remembering Dick Deuerling.
23 July 2013, Where to look for weeds, Pineapple weed, Toe Biters, 2 million views, DVDs, and a tribute to mom, Mae Lydia Putney Jordan.
9 July and 16 July 2013 no newsletter due to a death in the family.
2 July 2013: The tasty Bunya Pine Cone, natal plums, willows, botany builder, classes and your pick for a new vegetable.
25 June 2013: The orange Paper Mulberry, the orange Hackberry, Green Deane’s DVDs, Environmentalism, upcoming classes, and the Tree of Heaven all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green
18 June 2013: Chickasaw plums, ivy gourd, the false roselle, toxic daturas, hand lenses, classes, and who’s manipulating whom?
11 June 2013: Getting food out of the Chinese Tallow Tree, harvesting young wild yams, pickled Betony root, the deer are raining what? And upcoming classes.
4 June 2013: The maypops and pawpaws are putting on fruit, yucca are blossoming, black cherries are ripe and the black nightshade berries are ripening. That and a new class location, Seminole-Wekiva.
28 May 2013: Sea purslane, sea oats and wood oats, a profusion of coco-plums, easterngammagrass and how to eat cicadas
21 May 2013: The Prunus are a fruiting, the winged yam, where to find sea blite, should you eat Black Medic, Smilax are in blossom, and new video about Wild garlic/Onions.
14 May 2013: No newsletter that week
7 May 2013: Blackberries, Lemon Bacopa, Surinam Cherries, Basswood, Linden Tree, recent articles and the city of Winter Park spraying cattails because they are not aestheticallypleasing in the park.
30 April 2013: How to tell sow thistles apart, creeping fig, lawns, and why can’t I eat this?
23 April 2013: The sweet aroma of the candyroot, the surprising relative of the Hairy Cowpea, Barnyard Grass, the Rose Apple and releasing bio-controls.
16 April 2013: St. Nicholas Monastery and Tropical Almonds, Pellitory Itch, Vacant Lots, Bamboo Cove, Botany Builder #26, and the calming effects of nature.
9 April 2013: Pawpaws are blossoming, are there any poisonous look alikes, the bugs are coming, cold weather, and $1.6 million for a frog phobia.
2 April 2013: The wild onions/garlic are fruiting, how to tell the edible Black Cherry from the toxic Laurel Cherry, toxicity in Elderberries, and more Grass is God rebellion.
26 March 2013: Finding fireweed, digging up betony roots, drying loquats, Botany Builder #25, Coppicing, Road Kill, and spreading seeds.
19 March 2013: The Queen Palm, changing weeds from edible to noxious, velvet leaf, crabgrass, Botany Builder #24, Samaras, New Articles, House Calls, Suriname Cherries, Nopales, and The Drunken Botanist all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.
12 March 2013: Mulberries, Creeping Cucumber, Coco-plums, Smartgrass, Botany Builder 23, pinna, winter plant facts, time change, GD videos coming.
5 March 2013: Goosegrass, pawpaws, Christmasberry, Botany Builder 22 stipules, cultivating wild plants, Apps, Scrub jays.
26 February 2013: Sheep’s Sorrel, White Snow, new articles, shocking news about bees, the Australian Pine, hydrilla, and worms
19 February 2013: Loquats, poison hemlock, turkey berries, toxic tomatoes, conferences, Lake Woodruff, osage orange and turtle travails.
12 February 2013: The ever elusive chickweed, solar oven and nut sheller, the tale of two nettles, wild lettuce, more hard-headed government, new mushroom book, the Maslin technique, ragweed, upcoming classes and loss of habitat
5 February 2013: A close up of usnea, a likeable lichen. The silverthorn is in full fruit, find aromatic wild garlic, identify watercress. There’s also the Thistle Epistle, Frostbites, Mulberries, the herbal conference and up coming classes, all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.
29 January 2013: Smilax, non-edible nicker beans, seasonal eating, naughty knotweed, front yard gardening and decapitated grass, pool fish pond, and upcoming class schedule in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green
22 January 2013: What you can do with a wild wing yam, Florida Pennyroyal, a special Hawthorn you should know about, my latest videos and articles, is eating nutrition good for you? Don’t eat the rattlebox. Sugar Cane and winning environmental bar bets.
15 January 2013: Haulover Canal, Seablite, classifing plants, clovers, thistles, sow thistles, wild lettuce, Florida Herbal Conference, rising wheat prices.
8 January 2013: Maples are beginning to seed, find local Goosefoots, where the wild food is, the taste test, Florida Herbal Conference, microscopes, and Eugene Handsacker’s shell game

1 January 2013: Chickweed, sublimed sulfur, herbal conference, Green Deane’s DVDs, Weeds of Southern Turfgrasses, Turks Cap, Oxalis, Violets, Plantagos, and the prime mistake foragers make.

25 December 2012: Christmas in Florida, identifying chestnuts, what about ground cherries, winter vines, the toxic Mexican Poppy, the annual urban crawl and natal plums, Canada’s maple syrup much-to-do,

18 December, 2012: How to tell a mustard from a radish. Which cactus pad should you pick? The February Florida Herbal Conference, a traditional urban crawl

11 December 2012: Finding sumacs, magnolia blossoms as spice, the Florida Herbal Conference, follow ups on pollination and Featherstonehaugh, fertilizer, Maygyver and Nefertiti.

4 December 2012: Finding Winged Yams, our little winter mustards, pollenating creatures, Florida Herbal Conference, the Green Deane Forum, Mushrooms a la David Spahr and Dr. Kimbrough, Alligators with marijuana and Featherstonehaugh, all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

27 November 2012: The mustards of wintertime, how to sort out hollies, learning about mushrooms, growing weeds from seeds, dandelions, and the fate of Edward Archboldall all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.
20 November 2012: It’s holly season, and wild mustard time along with seasonal little mustards. Also in the newsletter: The Pond Apple, Florida’s Herbal Conference, Thanksgiving lore, wild pumpkins, Botany Builder 21 and faded underwear, all From The Village Green.

13 November 2012: Going nuts with hickories and acorns;, Spanish Needle tea, good for some of what ails you, why bumble bees can’t fly, and the Florida Herbal Conference,

6 November 2012: Hackberries (Sugarberries) Fireweed, “bad” landscape trees, weighty issues, bikes, time and the 2013 Florida Herbal Conference, all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

30 October 2012: Which came first, grains or tubers? Groundnuts, wild rice, armadillos, clouds, a follow up on snails and Oh Deer, all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

23 October 2012: Oak trees are masting (dropping acorns) new articles, mushrooms, snails, turtles, False Hawk’s Beard, and more in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

16 October 2012: The winter greens of chickweed, bittercress and poor man’s pepper grass; Solanum americanum, when not to eat; solar oven update, Halloween rant, the impact of weeds, updated articles, the Untouchables, and ginkgo gastronomics.

9 October 2012: A new crop of sandspurs, confusing Poke berries and Elderberries, nettles for clothes, blue honey, new article about Pandanus, preserving fall foliage, cooking with pine needles and a cockroach eating contest.

2 October 2012: Pandanus and Ivy Gourd, digging sticks, growing zones and recording setting pumpkin.

25 September 2012: Chaya, confusing nettles, winter weeds, new articles, yams, the dangers of foraging, tales of a city lot.

18 September 2012: Fuzzy marbles, sweet and sour maypops, food and medicine, recently added articles, sumac hiar, vultures and belladona.

11 September 2012: Finding tart food, a look at sumac and the false roselle, a new herbalism book and resource, the Green Deane Forum, Sea-Grapes, and scorpions

4 September 2012: Get Gopher Apples while you can, Getting High, the effect of elevation on plant seasons, a yam for colder weather, a bike with no pedals, and is you cat making you ill?

14 August 2012: Maypops are coming into season; what do you know about cyanide; how to get rid of chiggers; Man of the Earth big root deep down; sorting out wild grapes, and earthworms.

7 August 2012: Eastern Gamagrass, Asian Clams, new articles posted, Creeping Cucumbers, Upcoming classes, Chinese Tallow Tree, Green Dean Forum, What’s the Buzz.

31 July 2012: Sea Purslane on the grill, when is a clover not a clover? What to do about spices. Archiving newsletters. Class schedule. Growing Patio Potatoes and yams. Fined for growing food and holding birthday party
all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

24 July 2012 : The Podocarpus is coming into season, grapes are early this year, where to hold a foraging class. my class schedule, making friction fire, is that really a strawberry and sonar sex… all in this week’s newsletter, From The Village Green by Green Deane

17 July 2012 : Coco-plums are in season, as is Silverhead. Why is Black Point in Maine called that and where does Bidens grow in Brazil? American Holly, scorpions, armadillos and how to make your own sourdough bread, all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

10 July 2012: A flower that tastes like a mushroom, fear of foraging, nutrition, what is a pirogue, and my class schedule, all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

3 July 2012: Sorting out ground cherries, hairs on plants and why we need to know them, Class Schedule, an upcoming road trip, a great garden party, and Lichen In Space, all in this week’s Green Deane’s Newsletter, From The Village Green.

26 June 2012: Sorting out blueberries, or, how to figure out what the plant is. Is This Plant Edible and changing views on edibility. And upcoming classes all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

19 June 2012: What to eat strawberry guavas, which wild edibles should pregnant women avoid, are you collecting seaweed for supper? Lawn grass and code enforcement. Upcoming classes all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

29 May 2012: Surinam Cherries are ripening but they aren’t cherries. Firethorn berries are green but wait a few weeks. Botany builder #20. What’s barnyard grass? Visit the Green Deane Forum. Bicycles in the news. How to tattoo a banana, all in this week’s Green Deane newsletter From The Village Green.

21 May 2012: Pineapples that don’t exist, Guerrilla Gardening, upcoming classes and exactly what is the meristem stage? All in this week’s newsletter “From The Village Green” by Green Deane.

7 May 2012: Can Rescuegrass rescue you? Why forage and what are “naked” seeds? This an more in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green by Green Deane.

23 April 2012: Wild Garlic is heading, spurge nettles are rooting, sea blite is ready for picking, and eastern coral beans are showing you where they are. Did Green Deane actually get poison sumac and what did the spam filter catch? That and more in this weeks newsletter From The Village Green.

9 April 2012: Peppery smartweed, the “yuck” factor, kudzu, the winged yam, pennyroyal, budget cut benefits, and more in this week’s From The Village Green, Green Deane’s Newsletter.

2 April 2012: Where the weeds are. Going to a gym. Compound leaves. Rumex, Topi mambo, Water Lettuce, Duckweed, Edible Flowers Part 19, Classes, Green Deane Forum and “For What It’s worth” all in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

26 March 2012: What’s in and out of season? The Florida Herbal Conference. How do you find edible plants? Pictures or drawings? Upcoming Classes, and more in From the Village Green, Green Deane’s newsletter.

19 March 2012: Where to find papaws. Can you eat grass? Four new articles: Sida, False Roselle, Edible Flowers Part 18, Gout Weed. Can you eat tropical sage? Botany Builder #14, that and more in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green.

5 March 2012: The Eastern Redbuds are confused. A 30,000 year old flower? What might you do if you catch the flu. Sorting out the Perseas. Five new articles. Arrest made in burning down the world’s oldest Cypress. Class schedule. Green Deane Forum update, all in From the Village Green, Green Deane’s Newsletter

20 February 2012: Wild Radish is turning fields yellow, harvesting nopales, milkweed vine and the evolution of the garden, two new articles, a forum update, this week’s classes, and ducks, all in “From the Village Green” this week’s Green Deane Newsletter.

6 February 2012: The Green Deane Forum, a place to meet other foragers and share questions and successes, Brazilian Pepper, a staple that grows in teh shade, Botany Builder 14, Herbal Conferencem, Cliamate change. All in this Green Deane’s newsletter this week, From The Village Green.

23 January 2012: What to do with Brazilian Pepper. Tapping Trees a new way. What’s the difference between a tree and a shrub? Herbal Conference, and I didn’t know that all in this weeks newsletter From The Village Green.

16 January 2012: Persimmons and frost, saving weed seeds, Botany Builder #12, an herbal invitation, African bees and more in this weeks newsletter from Green Deane.

9 January 2012: The stinging dwarf is back, who is Sunny Savage? Passiflora, epiphany and manatees; new articles, what’s the difference between roots and rhizomes? Wild cucumbers, upcoming classes and the newsletter.

2 January 2012: Pigging out on swinecress. A prescription for walnuts? Snow. New articles on reeds, dahlias, nutrias and edible flowers part nine; Botany builder #10, classes, and how many wild edibles should you know, in Green Deane’s newsletter this week From The Village Green

26 December 2011: A yam what am a yam; peppergrass; Janus the god of gates; Did you know? New articles; Urban Crawl and upcoming classes; Botany Builder; a Christmas memory and more in Green Deane’s newsletter this week, From The Village Green.

19 December 2011: Chickweed is up locally. Here’s another good reason to forage. What does -ifera mean? Turtle Mound. Canna Island update. Wild Radishes, and more in Green Deane’s newsletter this week, From The Village Green

12 December 2011: Pellitory’s in season. How many apple seeds can you really eat? Botany Builder #7, monocots and dicots. Classes this week. Why are two wheels not part of the green movement? All in Green Deane’s newsletter this week From The Village Green.

6 December 2011: The controversy over Palmer Amaranth, Tools of the Trail, Poison Plant Handbook, Botany Builder, Did You Know, and upcoming classes, in this week’s newsletter From The Village Green

28 November 2011: Crowfoot Grass, A grass dictionary, Botany Builder: blade and margin; Thanksgiving.

21 November 2011: The Chinese Elms are fruiting, what about what the animals eat, a chickweed relative, what is a pappus, a look at a yellow passion flower and a bit of reminiscing in Green Deane’s latest newsletter, From The Village Green.

14 November 2011: Telling the difference between a wild radish and a wild mustard. How many wild edibles are there? What do you need to know to get started? Why cook bamboo shoots? Botany Builder and this week’s classes, all in Green Deane’s latest newsletter.

8 November 2011: Look alikes, tell the difference between edible elderberry and toxic water hemlock, discoveries found during this week’s class, what’s peltate?

31 October 2011: The Halloween and foraging connection…. Seedlings… I.T.E.M.-izing. Battery Acid and pokeweed. Rev7, the Botany Builder and more in Green Deane’s newsletter this week, From The Village Green.

24 October 2011: Fresh this week: The new website is up. Are you harvesting sumac berries now or young sow thistles? A “new” edible was found during our foraging class. What about genetically modified foods? What every runner or bicyclist should hear about. And did Green Deane really get poison ivy and how you can avoid it. All in Green Deane’s latest newsletter.

1 September 2010 Cost of food, paper mulberry, liatris, pokeweed, wasabi

1 August 2010 Watervine, Smilax, Does’t Grow Here, Pomegranates

1 July 2010 Jelly Palm, Cactus, Clockwise, Birch Allergies

1 June 2010 Why forage, How safe is foraging, Sea Blite, Ilex vomitoria

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Newsletter 10 February 2015

by Green Deane

Any guesses what this diced root is? It could be from two closely related plants both edible. You can learn about one here, and the other here. Photo by Green Deane.

It wasn’t chickweed as far as the eye could see, but almost. The location: Little Orange Creek Nature Park, Hawthorne, Florida. The event: The Florida Earthskills 2015 gathering. I taught two wild edible plant classes there then a separate class in Gainesville.

Chickweed, Stellaria media, has five deeply incised petals. Photo by Green Deane

As for seasonal edibles they were abundant: Chickweed, Pellitory, Cleavers, Wild Radishes, Wild Garlic/Onions, Hensbit, Nettles, Maypops, Oxalis, Sweet Clover, even some frost-brave Poke Weed. At least one plum was flowering — probably the Flatwood — and one could find Blackberries in bloom as well as the Eastern Redbud. Just because there might be some frost on the palm don’t think there isn’t any food foraging this time of year. It is prime season for many species that are spring and summer plants up north. They find our winters just right and the summers too hot.

In Central Florida one does not find an acre of chickweed, but 150 some miles to the north it was quite abundant. Chickweed is highly seasonal and is easy to identify. The main elements we are looking for are a line of hair on the stem that changes sides at every leaf node, a stretchy inner core, five white petals that look like 10 because the are deeply incised, and it tastes like corn silk. If you want to read more about chickweed you can go here.

Forager and storyteller Doug Elliott. Photo by Green Deane.

Naturalist and storyteller Doug Elliott. Photo by Green Deane.

Earthskills gathering are humbling: You meet a lot of well-informed and talented folks many of whom have spent a life time accumulating their specialized knowledge or craft. When many people study the same thing they are like different spotlights looking in slightly different places. You don’t all learn exactly the same thing though the core can be the same. So while you can indeed have your handful of facts about an edible plant a friend can have a different handful about the same plant. Thus you can learn more and also enjoy being a student again. I was thinking that when Doug Elliott was showing his edible wild plants class Spanish Moss which he reminded us is neither Spanish nor Moss. While I focus on the (marginal) edibility of Spanish Moss Doug goes past that and entertains us as well with folklore and song.

Mushroom expert Ken Crouse of Peaceful Valley Farms, North Carolina. Photo by Green Deane

My personal challenge is learning mushrooms. As I tell my classes I knew a mushroom expert many years ago but I knew him long before I knew he was also a mushroom expert. And while he indeed knew his mushrooms (dying of natural causes) he was so irresponsible in the rest of his life that I could never quite believe him when he said a mushroomswas edible. I knew too much about the man. The non-mushroom part of his life engendered a severe credibility issue. So I came to study mushrooms later in life. This is why I attend classes by Mycol Stevens in Gainesville and Benjamin Dion in Ft. Myers. At Earthskill gatherings I get to hang out with fungiphiles such as Ken Crouse and Todd Elliott. Ken, like Doug and Todd, lives North Carolina not far from where I spend August trying to conquer the Appalachian Trail and stuff local plant knowledge into my head.

Gainesville Mushroomer Mycol Stevens. Photo by Green Deane

Earthskill conferences are also a time for feedback. Two things you can’t control in life are the unexpected and unintended consequences. No matter how much one can plan the unexpected can and will happen. Indeed, knowing the unexpected will happen and coping with the it is perhaps one of the hallmarks of becoming a fully functional competent adult. Unintended consequences can range from bad to good. Governmental bodies are well-known for unintentional conswquenes such as requiring all business to have a tax stamp and license thus outlawing and fining children’s lemonade stands. Unintended consequences, however, can also be good.

When I started EatTheWeeds seven years ago my goal was to help some friends. It has unintentionally gone beyond that. Because of this website and You Tube videos I’ve had many million visits and views. At the gathering I had a fellow tell me I have saved him a lot of work. He explained a lot of weeds he used to labor out of his garden now get eaten. That’s a win win. Another said he started his specialty farm because of the knowledge he learned on this site. That is gratifying. Another surprised me by saying I was the reason why he became an ecologist. Sometimes putting good out into the universe does make a difference (which is also what President John Adams instructed his children: “Be good. Do good.”)

Florida Herbal Conference 2015

The next life experience in the schedule is the Florida Herbal Conference, Feb 27 to March 1st, organized by herbalist Emily Ruff. I’ve taught edible plants there for the last three years and will be there again this year. In fact I plan to spend a lot of time there. It’s a must for all southern herbalists and well as those northern ones who want to escape freezing cold and study their craft in the dead of winter. It always has interesting speakers and great classes. While there is some cross over between Earthskills and Herbalism the conferences are sufficiently different to justify attending both. For more information and to register go here.

Foraging Classes: Sunday, February 22nd, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. Meet to the right (east) of the Bartram sign. For more information or to sign up for a class go here.

Green Deane Forum

In nearly every class and daily on line I am asked if I can identify a plant if a picture is sent to me. I say I will try and also suggest the sender join the Green Deane Forum. There’s a UFO page there, Unidentified Flowering Objects. On the forum we chat about foraging — and other topics — every day along with techniques to harvest and use the bounty you have found. And it’s not just about Florida or the southeast. There are members from all around North America and the world. The link to join is on this page just to the right of this article. You do have to pick a screen name and the forum let members private message each other. There are only three rules: Keep it civil, keep it clean, and try to avoid mentioning Wikipedia (which Green Deane has a significant dislike for.) Recent topics include Witches Butter, Braiding Natural Cordage, Smilax-Asparagus alternative, Loquats Pie and Grappa, Wild Possum Grape Jelly, Young People Want Healthier Food, Leather Root? Horsemint, Blueberries in January? UFO Weed, Darryl Patton Herbalist, Duckweed, Shaggy Mushy, Mystery Tree, and Gnarly Mushroom.

I’m sure no one has been counting but this is Eat The Weeds 150th newsletter. The first newsletter was nearly five years ago in June 2010. They were monthly then and mailed individually (thus the number of subscribers were intentionally kept small and restricted to only those who actually read the publication regularly.) The newsletters went to weekly in late 2011 but were still more difficult to mail than write. Some two years ago a mailing service was hired. Now the mailing is handled by them and costs $100 a month for the time being. Vacations, skipping fifth Tuesdays, occasional illness, and on-the-road teaching reduced the number of editions slightly. They are all archived, however, under “newsletters” and arranged by date with a brief description of each. The newsletter is published on Tuesday afternoons because research showed that was the time it was mostly likely to be read once sent. And indeed it is read about four times as much as other newsletters in its class.

There was no doubt in 2010 that an Eat The Weeds newsletter should be written but clearly once a month was not often enough. I changed to the weekly newsletter with great hesitation. Some 30 years ago I had to write a weekly column for a daily newspaper. It was an interruptive burden. The biggest problem then was finding something to write about. Fortunately that is not an issue with wild edibles, even in the winter. Republished below, this time with pictures and a little updating, is the inaugural newsletter from five years ago.

Often I am asked “why forage for wild food?” That question is asked is probably worthy of an article unto itself. But here let’s focus on one answer out of several, cost.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released recently their March (2010) number crunching. Food prices in March rose 2.4%, the sixth month in a row food prices have gone up, and the largest jump since 1984. But that’s counting everything. If you look at specific categories the numbers are more revealing.

In 2014 food prices averaged up 3.7% while many items rose much more.

Fresh and dry vegetables went up up 56.1%, fresh fruits and melons 28.8%, fresh eggs 33.6%, pork 19.1%, beef and veal up 10.7% and dairy products up 9.7%. All of that makes the Bidens pilosa growing in my yard all the more attractive, maybe even that pesky squirrel. Some think “food inflation” will continue even if the economy improves. Apparently that is what is happening in India now. Some investment gurus are talking about investing in, literally, food, and others like Warren Buffet are recommending investment in agriculture or countries with a lot of agriculture.
It’s interesting the price of plant products rose more than animal products, though animal products are also dependent on plants, however not necessarily plants that man grows. The difference is commercial plants for people need chemicals and tending whereas many plants for animals — range grass for example — do not nor do most of the weeds we eat. However, contrary to what most folks think foraging is not free. There are costs. Discounting time, one has to get to a place to forage. One has to transport the collected food and the food has to be cleaned. That requires some cost, from calories to bike tires to gasoline to clean water.

Books in our non-village world are still an essential part of learning how to forage.

One also needs to know which plants to pick. That knowledge can come free, and/or from lessons, books, and internet services. My personal plant library of some six dozen books cost me about $1,000. You may never own more than one foraging book but my point is wild food is not totally free. But, it is the next thing to free, and the cost a lot less than store-bought food and is less subject to inflation and taxes. Once you have foraging knowledge inside your head any cost gets pro-rated over time to the point of being negligible. A $20 course and a $30 book totals up to $50 but if you and yours can eat for a lifetime it’s a good investment. It’s also a certain measure of independence and security.

Earthskills students learning to forage. Photo by Green Deane

I’m not suggesting foraging an answer to the growing food problem. With unemployment hovering near 17% (depending who’s counting and how they count) there are nearly 40 million Americans on food stamps, up 22.4% over this time last year. The government is now paying out more in benefits than it is taking in. At some point entitlement programs will be cut back. However, 40 million people can’t go out and forage even if they knew how. The impact on the environment would be devastating. The realty is not even one percent of them (400,000) are interested in foraging. I doubt that even one tenth of one percent (40,000) are interested. Maybe one hundredth of one percent might be interested, 4,000, which is close to my number of subscribers. See how uncommon you are?

This we know: Food prices are rising, sharply. There is some cost associated with learning how to forage, and most people are not interested in foraging — at least not now. I think that adds up to a strong argument that not only is it economical to forage but that it will be a steady food supply because others don’t see the value it represents, and even if they did they are far behind you in the learning curve. Learning to forage can mean you have something to eat when they don’t. You certainly have more variety and better nutrition.

When you learn to forage you are doing more than identifying edible wild plants. You are also developing a skill and confidence. No matter how dire the need, those cannot be learned overnight. Foraging is like rigging, you learn mostly by doing and that cannot be rushed. You’re already way ahead of millions.

A NEW VEGETABLE

Seablite, Suaeda linearis

If you could choose one wild plant to become a commercial product, what would it be? Many people have tried to make Poke Weed (Phytolacca americana) a green in your local grocery but toxicity and the required two-boilings has always plagued its commercialization. The Ground Nut (Apios americana) was one of the original exports from colonial America but it has at least a two-year growth cycle. Louisiana State University (1984-96) developed a commercial variety but the program disappeared when the professor-in-charge, Bill Blackmon, changed colleges. In 1962 Professor Julia Morton of the University of Miami recommended Spanish Needles (Bidens pilosa) become a commercial product. Nearly a half a century later that hasn’t happened, perhaps because of flavor or the fact it can grow almost anywhere as a weed. My candidate would be Suaeda linearis, Sea Blite, and if I could figure out how to do it I would.

Sea Blite has everything going for it except perhaps for its name. It’s mild but tasty, has excellent texture, can be eaten raw or cooked though cooked is the usual way. It’s nutritious, stores well, looks good, easily grows in salty ground (read unused land) and even feels good to handle. About the only downside, for me, is that I have to drive about 55 miles to get some. I need to introduce it to my garden.

Think of Sea Blite as a Chinopodium that likes to grow in salty places, either near the ocean or salt licks. It has a high sodium content but boiling reduces that significantly. If you live anywhere near the ocean or inland salty areas, now and the next few months is the time to go looking for seablight and seepweeds. To read more about Sea Blite click here.

HOW SAFE IS FORAGING?

Rosary Peas are the most toxic seed on earth.

Excluding mushroom hunters, plant foragers have a good track record of staying alive. Plant foragers have about one accidental death every 20 years, and usually that’s from eating some member of the poison hemlock crowd. That should be a word to the wise. Locally, the nemesis is the Water Hemlock and it grows exactly where Watercress grows. When I collect Watercress I look at every piece before I collect or cook it, every single piece. Actually, there are several deadly local plants: Water Hemlock, the Yew, Oleander, Castor Beans, and the Rosary Pea, the most toxic seed on earth. I have been asked to do a video on toxic plants but I am afraid some idiot will not understand what the video is about and eat the wrong plant.

Most plant poisonings involve toddlers eating from the landscaping around their home, with the next highest incidence is toddlers eating the landscaping from their neighbor’s yard. Why we fill our home space with toxic plants rather than edible landscaping is beyond me.

Excluding suicides, adult poisonings are extremely rare. So, don’t be afraid of foraging. Just be careful. Study. Take lessons. Go with a friend and ITEMize!

CAN A FORAGER FIND TRUE LOVE?

There is a “Green” Dating service where you can meet a similar carbon footprint as yours.

According to the Timberland Company they can. The New Hampshire-based outfitting company has released the results of their 2010 eco-love survey. Oddly, it was male-centric. Apparently men are looking for love in all the green places. (Don’t shoot this messenger.)

Must Love the Earth. Fifty-four percent of men would question whether to start a relationship with a woman someone who litters. Others would ponder if a woman was worth dating if she doesn’t recycle (25%), leaves the lights on when not at home (23%) or drives a gas-guzzler (21%).

Guys Dig Green. One-quarter of men think “green” women make better life partners (24%) or friends (27%) than those who aren’t so environmentally responsible.

Plan an Eco-date. 41% of men would be more interested in an “adventure” date like hiking or rock climbing or a charity or service-focused date like tree planting, rather than the traditional “dinner and a movie” date.

Green eco-lebrities. Men say Cameron Diaz (27%) and Kate Hudson (26%) would inspire them to go green. Feelings are mixed on eco-celeb Jessica Biel. Twenty-one percent of men say she’s an inspiring green celeb, but only 13 percent of women agree.

Going Green. Almost a third of Americans (30%) feel they need to make more of an effort to purchase eco-friendly clothing over the next year. And, before you set out on your eco-date, consider eating locally grown food. More than half (53%) of Americans think that eating locally grown foods should be a priority in the next year. Almost three-quarters (72%) think Americans need to switch to energy-efficient light bulbs, 57 percent think Americans need to green their daily commutes by carpooling, walking or biking to work and 47 percent want others to take showers instead of baths to save water (showering with someone even saves more water.)

SALT SELLER

Five years later and Pepsi is still exploring the issue.

There’s less salt in your future but not less salt flavor, so it is claimed. PepsiCO did some research and found that only 20% of the salt on their products contributed to taste whereas 80% got swallowed undissolved, read untasted. So the company successfully set out to reshape salt crystals to melted faster on the tongue thus giving the same salty flavor but using 25% less salt. That would clearly cut costs for them in the future but the question is how will that be positioned on the label? 25% LESS SALT! LESS SALT MORE FLAVOR! Heck they might make an extra salty tasting product but claim it has normal salt levels. Quite a few possibilities. The new salt needs no approval, says PepsiCo, because it is just reshaped salt.

SPROUTS

The Weeping Holly (Ilex vomitoria “pendula”) has more caffeine in its leaves than any plant in North America.

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Newsletter 27 January 2015

by Green Deane

Southern Wax Myrtle Berries. Photo by Green Deane.

Perhaps only Californians and Texans can appreciate the issues of living in a state more than 400 miles long. The changes in climate and plant life can be significant. Florida goes from temperate to tropical. Mid-state and north this time of year Wax Myrtles are berry-less. Go south two or three hundred miles and you have a tree happily fruiting like the one above in Port Charlotte.

Wax myrtle berries are hard, bitter and waxy. Despite that they do have a couple of uses. One is as a spice. They can be dried, put in a pepper mill, and used on strong-flavored meats such as game. The berries’ wax can also be used to make a smokeless candle that keeps away insects, the original Bayberry Candle. Harvesting the wax however is a messy chore and I suspect only done out of necessity which means only when the insects were really bad did you try to make the candle. I’ve also heard of people making wine out of the berries but I suspect that was desperate prisoners. The shrub’s leaves are also useful. To read more about the Wax Myrtle go here.

Wild Radish in bloom

Locally the tallish yellow bloom you see roadside this time of year will probably be Wild Radish or Wild Mustard. You will usually find one or the other, not both in the same patch though they can hybridized. Mid-state I see a lot of Wild Radish, along the west coast and southern part of the state it is usually Wild Mustard but those locations are not exclusionary. They are used the same way, resemble each other well, and have the same season. But there are several small differences including growth pattern, blossom placement, veins on blossom petals and position of seeds in their tooth-pick like pods. Each of the articles highlighted above mentions the ways to tell them apart.

Hairy Cowpea, Vigna luteola

Another plant with a yellow blossom starting to be seen again this year is the Hairy Cowpea. Related to Mung Beans and the Black-eye Pea, the Hairy Cowpea is unusual in that it likes to be near water. It doesn’t grow in water but it is rare to find it more than 100 feet or so way from water. Perhaps it likes a certain level or humidity. While the peas are edible cooked they are not great. However, the yellow blossom is edible raw or cooked and tastes like raw peas or green beans. To read more about the Hairy Cowpea go here.

Green Deane Forum

In nearly every class and daily on line I am asked if I can identify a plant if a picture is sent to me. I say I will try and also suggest the sender join the Green Deane Forum. There’s a UFO page there, Unidentified Flowering Objects. On the forum we chat about foraging — and other topics — every day along with techniques to harvest and use the bounty you have found. And it’s not just about Florida or the southeast. There are members from all around North America and the world. The link to join is on this page just to the right of this article. You do have to pick a screen name and the forum let members private message each other. There are only three rules: Keep it civil, keep it clean, and try to avoid mentioning Wikipedia (which Green Deane has a significant dislike for.) Recent topics include Wild Possum Grape Jelly, Young People Want Healthier Food, Leather Root? Horsemint, Blueberries in January? UFO Weed, Darryl Patton Herbalist, Duckweed, Shaggy Mushy, Mystery Tree, Gnarly Mushroom, Brain Tan, and Linguist Overdrive.

Florida Earthskills 2015

We’re a little less than two weeks away from the Florida Earthskills gathering in Hawthorn Florida, Feb 5-8. It’s an opportunity to learn, share and experience sustainable living skills. I have taught there for the last two years and will be there again this year, teaching on Friday morning and Saturday morning. That’s intentional so I can attend two mushroom classes in the afternoon. There are virtually dozens of classes to sign up. Other classes include wild medicine, wild foods, didgeridoo making and playing, buckskin sewing, fire making, yoga, insect study, cabbage palm basketry, bow making, bird songs, atlati throwing, permaculture, mushrooms and a whole lot more, several somethings for everyone. To learn more about this Florida Earthskills gathering and sign up go here.

Florida Herbal Conference 2015

Later in February is the Florida Herbal Conference, Feb 27 to March 1st, I’ve taught edible plants there for the last three years and will be there again this year with three classes. I wake folks up with a 7 a.m. class on Saturday and Sunday and a second class on Saturday a 9 a.m. The conference is a must for all southern herbalists and well as those northern ones who want to escape the cold and study their craft in the dead of winter. It always has interesting speakers and great classes. While there is some cross over between Earthskills and Herbalism the conferences are sufficiently different to justify attending both. For more information and to register go here.

Green Deane showing seeds during a foraging class. Photo by Kelly Fagan.

Foraging Classes: Most of the next six weeks I am attending conferences and the like so my class schedule between now and March will be light. Sunday, February 8th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St., Gainesville, FL 32641. 9 a.m. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house. Bring tick spray. Sunday, February 22nd, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. Meet to the right (east) of the Bartram sign. For more information or to sign up for a class go here.

I’m past retirement age. I’m also past the point of being tired of being told how green we are today and how ungreen we were in the past. Oh? When I was a kid:

One milk truck, many deliveries.

We didn’t all drive en mass to the store to buy milk. Milk was delivered, by one man in a milk truck. And milk came in reusable, recyclable bottles that you could also use for other things. Baked goods were delivered the same way. And vacuum cleaners! How ungreen of us.

Diapers had pins, not tabs

Our neighbor, who raised seven kids, washed cloth diapers because there weren’t disposables then. I wonder why no one champions recycling disposable diapers? We just toss them in land fills, vertical septic systems. And those cloth diapers were dried on a clothes line, an artifact found only in museums and my backyard. We did not use a 220 volt soon-to-wear out machine to dry clothes or start house fires. And kids got hand-me-down clothes, not the latest designed-for-them fashion seasonally. I got new clothes once a year, ordered out of a catalog for school. Rummage sales were community recycling. How ungreen of us.

Three channels in good weather

We didn’t get a TV until I was nine, a small black and white set we put on the window sill. It got three channels if the weather was good and you held the antenna just right. A PSB channel would not be added for a decade. Programming was wholesome and no censoring was needed for kids or grandma. We actually watched it as a family. One TV, not one in every room. It did not have a digital color screen twice the size of the window. How ungreen of us.

Food came from jars not cans

In the kitchen stuff was mixed, blended, chopped and beaten into submission by hand. No blenders, no food processors, no mixers. How many folks are willing to blend their environmentally healthy nutritious smoothies by hand? What’s the collective carbon footprint of all those blender macerating food from halfway around the world? We prepared our food by hand rather than buying it prepared. We never bought vegetables in a package, or hardly anything else. We put up food in reusable glass containers. It was called canning, a verb I don’t hear too often these days. Nearly everyone cooked their own food, at at home and ate together. Today most people do not cook, do not eat at home and do not eat together. We also packaged fragile items for mailing with old newspaper not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. We didn’t own plastic or paper cups or “sporks.” Anything beyond use that could burn was put in the kitchen stove, broken chairs to chicken bones. It cooked our food and warmed the house. How ungreen of us.

Nothing was thrown away

The only stuff we threw away was stuff that would grow fungus and smell. And before that happened it was put outside for the animals. Dead motors were kept for parts, old appliances were cannibalized for cords and wire. All manner of things were taken apart and the nuts and bolts saved. We actually took down a three-car garage and used the boards and timber to build our barn. We pulled nails out of boards, pounded them straight, and reused them at a time when nails were a couple of dollars for a 50-pound keg. My mother made rugs out of rags and had a huge button box filled with buttons off every piece of clothing destined to be a rug. How ungreen of us.

You kept a razor for decades

Pens and cigarette lighters were refilled. We put new blades in razors, put tape on the old blades and used them around the house. The whole razor was not thrown away just because the blade was too dull to shave with. I still own and use two straight razors. Typewriter ribbons were re-inked, and typewriter technology barely changed every half century rather than computer seasonally. How ungreen of us.

Push Lawn Mower

We walked up stairs because stores did not have elevators or escalators. We mowed the lawn by hand with a push mower. We bought local because it was what we had. Every home had a summer garden and us kids collected return bottles for pocket change. We rolled pennies by hand. Now a machine charges you 8% to do that. I walked or rode my bike several miles to school even the in winter, and shoveled the driveway by hand. We played board game with real humans during those long winters rather than buying a new game when we got bored. How ungreen of us.

Get lost, it makes life interesting

And we didn’t get a phone until I was 20 and in the Army. Overseas I got to call home once a year. Once. We wrote letters, now a dead art. Not every one had a cell phone or a personal computer in every pocket. We were not throwing away billions of hand-held personal devices annually. How ungreen of us.

And we didn’t need two or more devices bouncing and triangulating signals over thousands of miles to find the nearest pizza place. We used our nose. How ungreen of us.

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Newsletter 20 January 2015

by Green Deane

Goji Berry growing near Daytona Beach. Photo by Green Deane

There are probably as many “Christmas Berries” as there are “Indian Potatoes.” Both are very over used and misapplied names. Locally we have at least two Christmasberries with red berries that can fruit over the holiday season. Lycium carolinianum will produce from now into spring. Technically it can fruit anytime but the plants I’ve seen favor the springtime. Its claim to minor fame is that it is our local Goji berry.

I marvel at the odd characteristics of this species every time I see it. First, it’s salt-tolerant. The only place I’ve seen it growing is on land often flooded by brackish water. Next, is it is always covered with Ramalina lichen. Perhaps there is a symbiotic relationship going on. Maybe the acidic Ramalina keeps certain insects away, or other fungi. Third is in the Solanaceae family although it’s a shrub. And fourthly it has an edible berry which just might be very good for you nutritionally. To read more about our local Goji go here. A video I made four years ago is here. Note in the video I had a senior moment and called the lichen Usnea instead of Ramalina.

Plantago major. Photo by Green Deane

Our local Plantagos are happy now. The native, P. virginica can be spotted nearly everywhere. I have not seen any seeding yet so there is still a good amount of season left. Later in the year we will see the English or Strap Plantain sending out its long seed spike. This past weekend in two different locations there were plenty of P. major to see (around the Orlando Museum of Art and at the Education Center in Spruce Creek Park at Port Orange.) An import from Europe it is common in parks or where turf has been imported for ground cover. There are reports our P. virginica is invading Asia. All Plantagos have edible young leaves, raw or cooked, as well as the seed spike and seeds. To read more about the Plantagos go here.

Black Medic, a doppelgänger for Hop Clover. Photo by Green Deane

Mass botanical confusion this time of year is large patches of Black Medic which also looks a lot like Hop Clover. I often write there are no “look-alikes” if one looks closely enough, and that is true. However, with Black Medic and Hop Clover you have to look very, close. Fortunately it is mostly just Black Medic growing this time of year locally. In time it will produce black seeds, which makes it quite obvious. Hop Clover produces brown seeds. Black Medic is listed as a Native American food but it’s from the area of Iran and was first mentioned in seed catalogues in the United States in the early 19th century. You can read more about Black Medic here.

Green Deane Forum

In nearly every class and daily on line I am asked if I can identify a plant if a picture is sent to me. I say I will try and also suggest the sender join the Green Deane Forum. There’s a UFO page there, Unidentified Flowering Objects. On the forum we chat about foraging — and other topics — every day along with techniques to harvest and use the bounty you have found. And it’s not just about Florida or the southeast. There are members from all around North America and the world. The link to join is on this page just to the right of this article. You do have to pick a screen name and the forum let members private message each other. There are only three rules: Keep it civil, keep it clean, and try to avoid mentioning Wikipedia (which Green Deane has a significant dislike for.) Recent topics include Blueberries in January? UFO Weed, Darryl Patton Herbalist, Duckweed, Shaggy Mushy, Mystery Tree, Gnarly Mushroom, Brain Tan, Vegetarian Nightmare, Linguist Overdrive, and From the Frightening Mailbag.

Florida Earthskills 2015

We’re a little more than two weeks away from the Florida Earthskills gathering in Hawthorn Florida, Feb 5-8. It’s an opportunity to learn, share and experience sustainable living skills. I have taught there for the last two years and will be there again this year, teaching on Friday morning and Saturday morning. That’s intentional so I can attend two mushroom classes in the afternoon. There are virtually dozens of classes to sign up. Other classes include wild medicine, wild foods, didgeridoo making and playing, buckskin sewing, fire making, yoga, insect study, cabbage palm basketry, bow making, bird songs, atlati throwing, permaculture, mushrooms and a whole lot more, several somethings for everyone. To learn more about this Florida Earthskills gathering and sign up go here.

Florida Herbal Conference 2015

Foraging Classes: Saturday, January 24th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233, 9 a.m.; Sunday, January 25th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, 23000 Bayshore Rd., Port Charlotte, FL 33980, 9 a.m., meet at the parking lot at the intersection of Bayshore Road and Ganyard Street. For more information or to sign up for a class go here.

In police work there is Chain of Possession. Evidence is never out of custody. The information on where and when the evidence is collected, who has it, and where it’s kept is constantly recorded. With food we might call it the Chain of Contamination and it might frighten us.

First it could be a genetically modified plant, one that has not been proven safe by being eaten over centuries by hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. Apples have been proven safe. GMO corn or soybeans have not. Then there is the soil and water. They could be polluted by a variety of means. The ground might also have real old fashion manure on it, dog to human — think Ebola, Cholera — or it might be artificial manure called fertilizer. As for water, is there any fresh, wholesome water any more? If you are not pumping from your own well, someone is putting something into your water somewhere.

The plant could be raised in a second or third world country where sanitation is still in the Dark Ages, or by a first-world businesses trying to cut corners. Then there are the pesticides, herbicides and growth hormones. Let’s not forget as well all the people who handle the plant from the ground to the store shelf. There’s a lot of opportunity there for the plant to not be wholesome by the time it gets to you. The Chain of Contamination can be quite long.

That said, what of the wild plant? I walk in the woods or field and harvest it. My hands are the only ones that touch it. Neither the soil nor it have been treated with anything. The only water is rainwater. And the plant is genetically original and nutritionally superior to the store-bought equivalents. That is perhaps the best case scenario and not impossible. The chances for contamination are much less.

I used to know an old Italian organic gardener in Deltona, Florida, named Rudy Picconi. He was doing organic gardening decades before it was fashionable. The state used to send agents to his little backyard to see why he was such a successful gardener who did not use pesticides or fertilizer (his solution to fire ants was novel.) I asked him back in the early 80?s about insects bothering his plants. He said he used a wide variety of natural ways to keep them at bay. But, he said, “you have to let the insects win some of the time.” There is more wisdom in that than one first assumes.

Think of the person who will not eat the wild apple because it has a worm hole. The worm hole tells you the apple is wholesome, as do a few holes in spinach leaves, or a blemish here and there on a beet. Do you really think chemicalized food that kills other creatures is more wholesome than natural food? If the insect can live off it so can you. If it kills the insect you might want to reconsider that as food. Also when our ancestors found a worm in an apple it was extra protein, not something to be tossed away.

I am not saying insects and humans are alike or affected by the same things. Clearly we are different creatures but we share being alive and that makes us vulnerable. Given the bad record of food chemicals it seems prudent to lessen the chemist in the kitchen, and the environment.

As for irradiated food… it might just be another form of sterilization, but I prefer food that has retained its natural ability to rot. If it can’t support something as simple as a bacteria I’m not sure it is good for me. Like genetically modified crops, irradiated food has not been around for centuries to prove it is wholesome. Perhaps in a century or two there will be enough of such food consumed for a good decision to be made. But right now the safety and any possible effects is a for-profit guess.

Setting aside bad food advice from dogmatic doctors — read Good Calorie Bad Calorie by Gary Taubs, and his new book is Why We Get Fat – one of the main problems we have is a lot of our food really isn’t food. It is preprocessed stuff and additives. An amalgamation in a box needs a label that says new, improved and healthy. An apple doesn’t. However, another problem is much of the real food is also cursed by the chemist. The only sustenance untouched is wild food, and it looks better every day.

I’m not against progress or science but I have lived enough to know that empiricism and science are great but limited tools. Their ability to be descriptive of reality is often woefully exaggerated. That’s when the for-profit guessing begins. And that’s when our health suffers.

What Do You See #16: Last week the major edible in the picture were False Hawk’s Beard, Pellitory and Bitter Cress.

What do you see #16

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{ 9 comments }

Newsletter 2 April 2012

by Green Deane

Central Park, New York City, where foraging is illegal but enforcement spotty.

There is little doubt that man has been foraging for food for a long time. As one might guess, in different places he foraged for different plants. He also foraged before there were cities and suburbia. Foraging continued well into the 1900’s, and of course, selectively today.

Willie Sutton

Among the challenges of teaching foraging is finding suitable sites. In my classes I tend to visit the same areas, at least four times a year, usually more often. Almost all of these sites are in suburbia, not in the wild. This surprises people because they assume wild food is out in the wilderness. When the famous Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he supposedly said “because that’s where the money is.” I teach foraging in suburbia because that’s where the plants are. It’s also where the people are.

That said, I have to qualify that comment. There are edibles in the wilds, but they tend to be different than those found in population centers and represent more a subsistence living than variety. Many edible weeds, perhaps the majority, are not native. They are from somewhere else. They came with humans and humans went to population centers. They spread out a bit from there but in density suburbia is ground zero.

In an old city park I can usually find 60 to 100 edible species and I usually have to walk only a mile or so. In a state park I can walk 10 miles and find perhaps 20 edible species. This is not to say native food is inferior or rare. It is better to say the choice is limited. But when you combine native and imported plants (and edible ornamentals) then one has a much larger menu in suburbia, which is conveniently where the people live. (In agricultural areas, farm land substitutes for suburbia. Read where man is active there are weeds.)

The other reason I use city parks is because most of the species we find there most folks can also find in their own yard or neighborhood. It’s good to learn what the natives ate to survive but most folks want to find food around their own home, not a distant state park (where foraging is often illegal.)

Foraging in suburbia does raise the issue of pollution, and that has to be taken into consideration. Despite that complication foraging in suburbia is where more people forage today. It is where most people find their wild food, and that is where I teach the most. Willie Sutton would understand.

(By the way, what Sutton really said was: “Why did I rob banks? Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life. I enjoyed everything about it so much that one or two weeks later I’d be out looking for the next job. But to me the money was the chips, that’s all.”

Ilex vomitoria

♣ An Observation: A friend has been taking me to a gym in hopes I will become a member. I presume the goal of a gym is to improve ones health. At the gym exit, on the inside, there is a smoothie bar of sorts with about three dozen concoctions on the menu. The names hide that they are all simple sugar, some with formulated fortification to make you more of a man or woman or whatever you want to be. Others boast a pick me up, a caffeine boost. For these healthy sounding non-healthy drinks one pays dearly. It’s all rather curious: Go in the gym to burn calories and before leaving replenish them. Meanwhile directly right outside the door to the main entrance is a source of antioxidants and caffeine for free, the Ilex vomitoria var. pendula. All that is required is a few leaves in hot water for a few minutes.

If you visit the Green Deane Forum, mentioned below, you will see some discussions about primitive skills, plants as medicine, and the paleo diet and related issues as they pertain to edible plants. Our ancestors got their nutriments and antioxidants and the like from their wild diet, and getting the food was exercise enough. At the gym I was struck by the antithetical dichotomy: Artificial exercise and empty nutrition inside the gym, real nutrition and real exercise outside the gym. We’ve gone so far away from who we are with all that artificial stuff on sale, yet the real deal is right outside the door.

(And I will add, do you know what gymnasium means? It’s Greek meaning where people exercise naked… because people used to exercise and train naked. Why get clothes dirty? … the Olympics were naked as well… Snow skiing wasn’t a sport then… Don’t know if I’d like to go to a naked gym… nudist colonies give ample reason why clothes were invented. That said, I’ve been asked to teach a class in a nudist colony… definitely stay away from the stinging nettles….)

Simple and compound leaves

♣ Botany Builder #16: Compound leaves can be confusing. Leaves are either simple or compound. A simple leaf is one leaf whereas a compound leaf is comprised of several leaflets. Compound leaves are divided into two to several dozen leaflets.

A leaf is attached to a stem. There is also a bud there. When it is attached to the main stem it is simple. When it is attached to a stem which is in turn attached to a main stem with a bud it is compound. Where the bud is, is the key. Oaks have simple leaves as do birches, sycamores, and elms. Hickories have compound leaves, as do many trees in the greater pea family. Compound leaves can also be called pinnate, which means feather because someone thought they looked featherish. Compound leaves can be bipinnated and tripinnated. And they can be palmately pinnated.

Odd, Even and Palmate Compound Leaves

In the diagram above left there is a simple leaf, a compound leaf, and a doubly (bipinnated) leaf. It would be tempting to call all the green things leaves but they are not. The simple single leaf is a leaf, but the rest are leaflets. They can also be even or odd depending on whether there is a leaflet at the end, see diagram two at right. Also they can be palmate (think like a palm and fingers.) Clover and oxalis are two more examples of compound leaves. In the clover there are three leaves at the end of the stem, shaped like a T. In the oxalis there are three leaves at the end equally distributed around the stem. That is sometimes called a terminal compound leaf.

♣ Articles added: Rumex Ruminations, Topi Tambo, Water Lettuce, Duckweed, Edible Flowers Part Nineteen.

♣ Classes This Week: It was a road tour weekend with a Saturday class in Port Charlotte and West Palm Beach on Sunday. Round trip it was a total of 533 miles for the weekend on the big red motorcycle. I always enjoy these two locations because they have species not found even 200 miles to the north.

Non-edible Nickerbean

At Port Charlotte we saw a gray Nickernut, Caesalpinia bonduc. It’s included among the “sea beans” that float north on ocean currents from Central and South America. However, the gray Nickernut is actually a Florida native. I have not found any reference to this legume vine being edible however the seeds have been used medicinally for many applications. As the plant was used extensively to combat malaria, it’s also been called the “quinine of the poor.” The non-edible seeds float and stay viable for at least 30 years. They have been found as far away as Scotland where they are called Molucca Beans. Oddly the Scots call all sea beans that come ashore arna Moire, or in Gaelic, Mary’s Kidney. One relative of the Nickernut is edible. That is the C. pulcherrima, whose young seeds are eaten fresh or cooked.

Silverhead, a seaside edible

And I had a rare moment in Port Charlotte which was not being able to remember the exact botanical name of a seasonal shore plant. I don’t see it too often. The last time I carried some home was several years ago in Daytona Beach. In fact, I’ve been casually looking for it since. I knew it when we found it and did manage to remember that the botanical name had to do with worms. It’s Blutaparon vermiculare which means, roughly, “amaranth worm-like.” Of course the most important thing is recognizing a plant and knowing that it is edible. Humans got along for a long time without scientific names for plants. Its common names are Silverweed, Beach Carpet, Silverhead, and Samphire. The latter is unfortunate because there are other edibles also called Samphire. The stems and leaves are edible boiled (though I do snack on leaves raw.) You can read about it here.

Fruit of the Milkweed Vine, Morrenia odorata

While I don’t eat at McDonalds I do like their decaffeinated coffee, or in Saturday’s case a large serving of iced tea (no sugar.) One of their franchises is near where the class meets in Port Charlotte. While in the southwest corner of that parking lot, getting my load ready for the ride east across the state, I saw a Milkweed Vine, Morrenia odorata. It’s a wonderful wild edible and in that part of the state produces food year round. The state of Florida has tried mightily to get rid of it but this edible is here to stay. In fact, I picked a fruit and took it with me for show and tell at my Sunday class in West Palm Beach. (Properly disposed of course.) You can read about the M. odorata here.

We got off to a rocky start Sunday at Dreher Park in West Palm Beach. A foot race closed the north half of the park where we normally meet. So we had to park wherever and make our way to the rendezvous point. We got started late but around a dozen brave folks made it through the athletic extravaganza.

Sugary Queen Palm Fruit

Though roughly at the same latitude on the west coast the same species have slightly different seasons on the east coast. Coco-plums (Chrysobalanus icaco) are a good example. They are just forming buds in Port Charlotte but growing fruit in West Palm Beach. One nice find was a fruiting Queen Palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana.) Tall and stately Queen Palm fruit start out green then turn to light orange then dark orange and then fall to the ground. They are very sweet and gooey with a large non-edible seed (though its oil is edible.) They’re kind of like eating sugary paste with some fiber tossed in. The fruit can be made into jelly and wine, the latter won’t clear because of the high pectin content. (Pindo palm [Butia capitata] fruit are also edible. Those palms are short and squat with yellow fruit)

Teaching about Begonias under a Gumbo Limbo tree in Dreher Park, West Palm Beach, photo by Kelly Fagan

An after-class discussion raised the topic of what are some local staple wild foods to learn about, foods that produce a lot of calories for the collection effort. I promised I would make a list. They are: The Winged Yam (Dioscorea alata) Milkweed Vine (Morrenia odorata) Ground Nuts (Apios americana) American Lotus seeds (Nelumbo lutea) Spurge Nettle root (Cnidoscolus stimulosus) Bull thistle Root (Cirsium vulgare or nearly any Cirsium) Cattails (Typha species) Coconuts ( Cocos nucifera) and Acorns (Quercus species.) One could add to that Queen Palm Fruit, Pindo Palm fruit, Pine Tree cambium (all Pinus species, Crowfoot Grass seeds (Dactyloctenium aegyptium) and in the right place and right time of year, Barnyard Grass seed (Echinochloa crus-galli.) Add a palm grub or two and you have a balanced meal. And do I dare mention Saw Palmetto berries, Serenoa repens? They do taste like vomit but are very nutritious.

Foraging at Wekiva Springs State Park, Apopka

Upcoming this weekend are classes at Cassadaga and Wekiva State Park, both a bit unusual. Cassadaga is a nice little park that tends to get overlooked as a good place to learn about wild edibles. Wekiva State Park requires a shift in mindset. There are more edible plant species in suburbia than out in the wild. So visiting the state park is more along the lines of learning what the natives did. There are less edible species but we see them often which increases retention. Pretty spot though. Nice Easter morning option.

Saturday, April 7th Colby-Alderman Park: 1099 Massachusetts Street, Cassadaga. Fla. 32706, 9 a.m.

Sunday, April 8th,Wekiva State Park, 1800 Wekiwa Circle, Apopka, Florida 32712. 9 a.m.

A great place for foragers to meet.

♣ The Green Deane Forum: 3,000 posts, 500 topics, 300 members, not bad for a couple of months old. UFOS (unidentified flowering objects) Primitive Skills, What’s in Season, Edible Plants, Herbal Medicine, Beginning Foragers, References, that and much more. Join the Green Deane Forum and chat with other foragers. Go to the Eat The Weeds Home page and join via the button on the upper right, or click here.

Chicken Factory

♣ For What It’s Worth: If you’ve ever raised chickens one of the standard procedures of husbandry is to feed them arsenic. It’s a disease preventative, according to the experts. Kind of makes one wonder how chickens managed to survive before arsenic was introduced into their food. Some 55% of chicken meat sold in supermarkets have detectable traces of arsenic but so do some of the plants we eat such as mulberries and loquats. Detectable and rising to the level of toxic are two different and debatable issues. The arsenic problem raised its crested head lately in Maryland where chicken farmers defeated a bill to remove arsenic from chicken feed. Apparently the arsenic moves from the feed to the chickens’ waste (and waists) and then ends up in the environment. In this particular case Chesapeake Bay. You can run but you cannot hide.

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{ 15 comments }

Eat The Weeds Archive

by Green Deane

Articles

Ackee

Delicious and deadly, that’s ackee

Acorn Grubs: Bait, Trailside Nibble (2)
Yes, this is about eating grubs. Deal with it.

Without the expertise of Charles E. Williams and the Michigan Entomological Society, Department of entomology,…
Acorns, or Oak Nuts? (1)
It seem like a little thing that grew into a big problem, just like the edible I was writing about.

I had several requests to do something about acorns.…
Acorns: The Inside Story (27)
Acorn: More than a survival food
The first time you eat an acorn it makes you wonder what the squirrels are going nuts about. As the bitterness twists…
Agave, Century Plant
Century Plant: Edible Agave Americana

If you like tequila, thank a bat. If that’s not possible, thank a humming bird or a moth. Those three pollinate the…
Alligator a la Carte (5)
I caught a small alligator once. I was fishing for bass in a golf course water trap behind an apartment complex in Titusville, Florida (that’s west across…
Alligator Weed
Alternanthera philoxeroides: Exotic Munch

If you have alligators you have alligator weed. That’s a little odd because alligator weed is a native of…
Alternate Pepper of Brazilian Pest? Brazilian Pepper is a personal unknown
Amapola, Sea Hibiscus, Rope Mangrove
Hibiscus pernambucensis: Walking Lunch

The Amapola is on the go, but unlike the “walking” mangrove, the Amapola crawls.

There is something of a…
Amaranth: Grain, Vegetable, Icon (3)
Amaranth, the forgotten food

A book could be written about amaranth, and probably has, if not several.

A grain, a green, a cultural icon, a religious…
Amaranth Identification:
Sorting out some amaranths
A Matter of Attitude
“Yuck.”

That word has been in my mailbox lately, sprinkled through like spice on an entree. It reminds me of what a great language English is.

English…
American Lotus: Worth Getting Wet For (1)
More American than apple pie
Nature fights back.

Much of Florida is giving way to housing. For several years I passed a large abandoned pasture with a dry…
American Nightshade: A Much Maligned Edible (5)
Solanum americanum: Food or Poison?

Anyone who’s done some foraging has seen the “Black Nightshade” also called the “Common Nightshade” and (DRUM ROLLLLLLLL…
Annona Quartet
The Annonas Four: Sugar, Sour, Custard, Pond
Many species and a few family of plants sit on the cusp of edible, non-edible, among them the Annonas, tropicals…
Antikythera Mechanism
The Antikythera Mechanism is unique, kind of like a monotypic genus plant. In fact, this short article was originally written as the introduction for the…

A Pitch For Spruce Gum: Real spruce gum is not easy to chew. It is not soft or sweet. Hard and crumbly is more accurate along with pieces of bark and bits of insects.

Apples, Wild Crabapples
Malus sieversii, Hard-Core Apples
Wild Apples are one of the most common over-looked foraging foods. People take one taste, spit it out, and go on their…
Are Raw Vegetables Healthy for Humans? (4)
The quick answer by most would be yes, the presumption being man ate raw vegetables for a long time and is better suited to them, and them to him. But, whether…
Are You A Cook Or A Baker?
I am often asked about herbal medicine. My answer to the inquirer is often a question: Are you a cook or a baker? Their answer is instructive.

While one…
Armadillo: Possum on the Half Shell (2)
Armadillo Cuisine: Cooking a Hoover Hog
Armadillos are an overlooked food animal, not protected by law, available throughout the year, and good tasting. And…
Attitude Makes The Difference
Facts don’t disappear in life, but in the end attitude is their equal. Water hyacinths can demonstrate that.

If you know much about the state of Florida…
Australian Pine (1)
Casuarina equisetifolia: Dreaded Edible
It is truly fitting that the Australian Pine ends up on a site dedicated to edible plants because where it has been…
What do you do when the description of a plant doesn’t fit? The answer depends on how far off the description is: You might have the wrong plant.

If it is…
Balloon Vine, Heart Vine, Heart Seed
Cardiospermum halicacabum: Edible Leaves

For a tropical plant, the Balloon Vine can take cold weather, growing from west Texas north to Montana, Florida…
Bamboo Doesn’t Bamboozle You
Bambusa
Do not tell me you don’t live near bamboo. I grew up in 50-below zero Maine and we had bamboo in front of the house for decades. In fact, the…
Bananas: More Than A Yellow Frou Frou Fruit (5)
Bananas Trees: Survival Food
Yes, everyone knows bananas are edible, as are their starchy cousins, the plantains. One doesn’t think of banana or plantain…
Barnyard Grass (8)
The first time I saw Barnyard Grass was decades ago in a real barnyard near a drain spout. I was with forager Dick Deuerling who identified it for me.…

Basswood Tree, Linden, Lime Tree
Tilia americana: Forest Fast Food
My first recollection of basswood was not on the supper table but rather helping my father make pipes.

First we’d…
Bauhinia: Pretty Eats
Bauhinias’ Beauty

It’s called the Camel Foot Tree, the Cow Foot Tree, the Mountain Ebony Tree, the Orchid Tree, and the Hong Kong Orchid Tree. I ignored it…
Birches: One could easily write a book about Birches because they are so valuable to foragers.

Beach Bean, Bay Bean (2)
Canavalia maritima, Rosea, Beach Bean
It’s the tank of beans: Three inches long, an inch wide and very thick. And with good reason, it lives near the…
Beach Orach, Crested Salt Bush
Atriplex cristata: Pigweed by the Sea

Anyone familiar with the Goosefoot family will see the Beach Orach and presume it is probably edible, and it is.

A…
Beautyberry: Jelly on a Roll (23)
Beautyberry: Callicarpa Americana
The Beautyberry is squirrel’s version of take out.

Squirrels will often break off a branch a foot or two long and…
Beech, American
Fagus grandifolia: The All-American Beech

Tree trivia: Beechnut chewing gum had nothing to do with the Beech tree or the seeds it produces. It was, however,…
Bees In Litigation
The last time I visited relatives in Greece, September 2006, I had “tea” with one of two then-living first cousins of my grandmother, both in their 90s,…
Before There Were Baked Beans
Baked beans is about as traditional a New England meal as one can get… That and boiled dinners. Every Sunday for decades we had boiled dinner. Potatoes,…
Begonia Bonanza
Waxing about Edible Begonias
It was on Rock Springs Run, some 20 years ago here in Florida, when I first saw them, just above the variable water line. I…
Betony: Rich Root, Poor Root (5)
Stachys Floridana, Culinary Pretender
I have read from a good source that all Stachys are edible. I politely doubt that for three reasons. First there are 300…
Big Caltrop: If you’re an adult with aging eyesight Kallstroemia maxima when first spied can look like purslane. A closer examination shows it is not.
Binomial Nomenclature
Most of us go by two names. So do plants. That’s Binomial Nomenclature. That is both good and bad. It’s good in that two people on different sides of the…
Birches: One could easily write a book about Birches because they are so valuable to foragers.

Bird Peppers
Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum: Hot Eats

Did y0u know hot peppers grow in the wild? From Central American north to Arizona east to Florida then up the…
Bitter Melon (6)
Bitter Melon, Bitter Gourd, Balsam Pear: Momordica Charantia
If the Balsam Pear did not exist a pharmaceutical company would invent it. In fact, there…
Bitter Lettuce
Launea intybacea: Edible Bitter Lettuce

The plant came first, and it’s anybody’s guess to what its scientific name is.

Every botanical wonderkin thinks…
Bittercress and Kissing Crucifer Cousins
Cardamine pensylvanica: Petite Pot Herb
The first time I saw Bittercress I knew it had to be an edible. I just didn’t know which one.

How did I know? Plants…
Black Calabash: It started with spotting a blossom while teaching a foraging class.
Black Cherry: Chokecherry’s Better Cousin (3)
Prunus serotina: Better Late than Never Cherry

Think of the Black Cherry as a chokecherry with some of the choke removed.

Not a 100 feet from the…
Black Ironwood, Leadwood
Krugiodendron ferreum: Ironwood M&MsGreen twigs of Black Ironwood will sink in salt water. It’s that dense.The Black Ironwood was…

Black Medic (2)
Medicago Lupulina: Grain and Potherb
I debated a long time whether to include Black Medic as an edible. There are several plants in that category and over…
Black Walnuts and Butternut
Juglans nigra and butternut, too!

I didn’t see my first Black Walnut tree until about 16 years ago. It so happened that the two places I lived the longest,…
Blackberries, A Forager’s Companion (1)
Blackberries: Robust Rubus, Food & Weed
Anyone who forages will eventually collect a few blackberries, and thorns. Blackberries are among the best known…
Bladderwrack
Fucus vesiculosus: Edible Bladderwrack
Bladderwrack can wrack your brain.

Why? Because in some places it has bladders and is textbook perfect. And in others…
Blolly, Beeftree
Guapira discolor: A Blolly by Golly
The Blolly confounded me when I first saw the tree for it was growing by itself in a park. The fruit is quite distinct, a…
Blue Porterweed, Bottom Up!
Stachytarpheta jamaicensis: Near Beer
Should the civilized world come to an end and you have a hankering for a stout beer you’re in luck: You can make one…
Blueberries, or Huckleberry’s Kin
Vacciniums: Am I Blue?

Blueberrying was a family tradition. The only debate was did you pick them clean, or did you pick leaves, bugs and all then clean…
Botanical Bachelor
As a seasoned life-long bachelor I had my pickup line all crafted and rehearsed, so I could say it naturally at the right moment when my Dream Lady came near.…
Bottlebrush Tree:
Bougainvilleas: Bougainvilleas are often referred to as a toxic plant.

I’m often asked during my classes why I mention many plants that can be used to make tea. There are two answers:

Brookweed: Brookweed is an edible plant few know a lot about these days. Even Professor Daniel Austin, who managed to write 909 pages about ethnobotany, could only scrape up one paragraph.

Brown Anoles (3)
“Did you clean them” I asked a friend who might want to remain anonymous.

“No” he said.

“You cooked them whole?”

“Yes.”

“You ate them head, tail and…
Browne’s Savory: Clinopodium Browneii
The Mighty Minty Micromeria Browneii

Sometimes in central Florida you will drive past a car accident on the interstate, or another road, and smell…
Budget Cut Benefits
Two effects of the economic times are influencing foraging. First is an increase in the number of people who are putting food on the table by foraging. The…
Bug-a-Boo’s or Grubs Up (5)
On this site are several articles about edible insects (among other creatures.) Below is an expanding collection of more than 50 edible insects. I plan to…

Bulrush Bonanza (3)
Cattail’s Maligned Companion: The bulrush has a public relations problem. It found in the same environment as the cattail, can be used the same way, and tastes…
Bunchberry Brunch
Munching Cornus canadensis/unalaschkensis
Discussing things little ears shouldn’t hear, they barely interrupt their conversations to pick a low Bunchberry from…
Bunya Pine: The Australian Aboriginals knew a good thing when they tasted it. So did the immigrants. It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t like the taste of Bunya Pine nuts. But you will find people who don’t like to clean up after it because the ancient species sheds sharp leaves and heavy cones.
Burdock Banquet
Arctium minus: Burdock’s Plus Side
I have a confession to make: When I was a kid I had a miniature corn cob pipe. And in it I smoked dried burdock leaf… I…
Buttercups: Buttercups are usually considered not edible.

Cabbage Palm, Sabal Palmetto (4)
Heart of Palm and Controversy
The state tree of Florida isn’t a tree, but it is a weed of many edible parts.

The Sabal palmetto, actually an overgrown…
Cactus: Don’t Be Spineless (3)
Nopalea Cochenillifera: Cactus Cuisine
Be brave when you collect cactus.

Of course, good gloves and tongs help. With those tools you can have a very…
Caesar Weed Sampler (5)
Urena Lobata: Cash crop to noxious weed
Once it was an invited money-maker, now it is a hunted money spender: Caesar weed, cash crop to noxious weed.

We have…
Camphor Tree: Cinnamon’s Smelly Cousin
Campy Camphor: Not Just For Grandma

One would never guess Camphor trees are not native to Florida, or the South. One also probably wouldn’t guess they…
Candlestick Tree: If you are meandering through a botanical garden in a warm climate and you see a tree growing four-foot-long candles it might be Parmentiera cereifera.
Candyroot
I will be the first to admit my experience with Candyroot is very limited. In a flower book I carried with me on field trips some 20 years ago with Florida…

Canna Confusion (1)
How many species of Canna are there? Used to be perhaps 100 but now there are 20 or so, plus one Scottish island with a …ah.. population problem. And…

Cannibalism
There is no way to approach the topic of cannibalism without offending someone. Apologies offered. Cannibalism, the last great social taboo, is committed…

Canoeing Rock Spring’s Run & The Wekiva
Canoes are the best way for you to sneak up on deer, unless of course you’re the kind of canoeist who uses the paddle and canoe like a drum set.On a…

Can We Eat Grass? That simple question has a complex answer: Yes, no, and maybe. It’s a topic I explored in a recent Green Deane Newsletter and the basis for this article.

Carolina Bristle Mallow (1)
Modiola caroliniana: A Bristly Drink
No one knows how many species of edible plants there are in the world, or in North America. In the former the guess is…
Carpetweed (3)
When it comes to Carpetweed you need to know only two things: It grows nearly everywhere, or will. And the plant above ground is edible. To quote Cornucopia…

Cassia Clan aka Senna
Cassia occidentalis: Faux Coffee & Greens
You either cook the Cassia Clan right or they make you sick. Any questions?

Now that I have your attention,…
Cast Iron Cookery, Buying and Restoring (3)
Cast Iron Pans: Yesterday is tomorrow
Many books have been written about cast iron cookware. I will try to say a few things here perhaps not said elsewhere.

B…
Cast Net Junkie
I will admit to being a cast net junkie.

Some people collect coins or stamps. I collect cast nets. I started throwing nets some 30 years ago and have been…
Cast Nets: Throwing Your Weights Around
Throwing Your Trouble Away
I love cast netting. I own five of them and rarely come home empty handed. I also never throw for bait: I go for the…
Cattails – A Survival Dinner (3)
Cattails: Swamp Supermarket
The United States almost won WWII with cattails.

No green plant produces more edible starch per acre than the Cat O’ Nine…
Caulerpa
Caulerpa: Warm-Water Salad and Pest
Caulerpa ssp.would seem to be a paradox. Eaten around the world by thousands for thousands of years but called a killer…
Cereus Today Not Tomorrow
Getting Down To Cereus Business

There are three things irritating about Cereus other than their spines: 1) several botanical names for the same plant; 2)…
Ceriman, Delicious Monster
Monstera deliciosa: Hmm Hmm Good!
Large Delight. That’s what Monstera deliciosa means…. It was an edible I did not know about until pointed out to me by my…
Chain of Contamination
In police work there is the chain of possession. When evidence is collected, who has it, and where it’s kept is recorded constantly. With food we might call it…
Chaya: The Spinach Tree (7)
Cnidoscolus aconitifolius: Tree Pot Herb
I knew about Chaya long before I ever saw one.

It’s in the Cnidoscolus genus and has two relatives in the…

Che: Che is not the tree it used to be.

Checkerberry cum Wintergreen
The Teaberry Shuffle
I saw Gary Vickerson eat an earthworm I found near a checkerberry plant. Personally I preferred the Checkerberry.

Before I go any…
Chestnuts: Chestnuts have done more than just disappear from the landscape: They have dropped out of our lives save for a token appearance at Christmas.

Chewstick, White Root
Gouania lupuloides: How to Get Chewed Out

The modern toothbrush was unknown in Europe until 1498, the year it came from China. Before that people…
Chickasaw Plum: Yum (5)
Chickasaw Plum: First Springtime Blossom

Every spring, three wild plums put on a show locally: The Chickasaw, the Flatwood, and the American. They…
Chickweed Chic (11)
Chickweed Connoisseurs
My being green really paid off this spring: For the first time (2009) I have chickweed in my lawn. I don’t know how it got there but it…
Chicory History
Cichorium intybus: Burned to a Crisp
Chicory was not a common plant where I grew up or where I live. But I remember the first time I saw it, in 1990, in a…
Chinese Box-Orange, Tsau Ping Lak
Atalantia buxifolia: Wine-Cake Thorn
The Chinese Box-Orange is one of my botanical mysteries. I know it is edible but I don’t know how… But I may still…
Chinese Elm Take out
Chinese Elm: A tree that doesn’t go Dutch
Sometimes a wild edible can be under your feet and you never notice, or in this case, over your head.

Anyone with…
Chinese Tallow Tree (1)
Popcorn Tree, Florida Aspen, Tallow Tree

There is a lot of debate whether the white waxy aril of the Chinese Tallow Tree is edible or not…
Chocolate Vine, Abeki: Any plant with “chocolate” in the name is sure to get attention. And when it’s also called an invasive species then even more so.

Christmas & Maiden berries
Crossopetalums: Edible Berries & Medicine

When I was an undergrad in music it was a revelation to learn that by studying music you also studied history:…
Christmasberry, Wolfberry, Goji (1)
Christmas, Wolf, Goji, They’re All Berries
It’s called the Christmasberry even though it fruits in April, and while it is one of several “Christmas Berries”…
Chufa For Two (1)
Cyperus esculentus, C. rotundus: Serious Sedges
There are two edible Cyperus locally: One that tastes like hazelnuts and one that smells and tastes to me…
Cider Barrel Rules (2)
My mother was a horrible cook.I used to joke she thought I was a Greek god: Every meal was either a burnt offering or a sacrifice.I learned to cook…

Cider Hard, But Quick and Easy (22)
How To Make Hard Cider
You can make hard apple cider the difficult way, or the quick and easy way. I prefer the easy quick way. I’ve made a lot of beer and…
Citron Melon, Tsamma (6)
Citron Melons: Abandoned Preserves
Are they edible?

Even people who do not forage want to know if the little watermelons they see in citrus groves are…
Civilized Food
While making my purslane video I was thinking back to a family friend who refused to eat purslane because it was a “weed.”

It had taken over about one third…
Climbing Fig, Creeping Fig (3)
If there is one thing about the Internet that irritates the sap out of me it is how mistakes proliferate rather than get corrected. I have ranted about…

Clover, Available Around The World (7)
Clover, Available Around The World
Hay may be for horses, but clover is for people…well…. almost.

I was forever nibbling on clover blossoms when I…
Coco-Plums
Chrysobalanus icaco: Multi-Colored Fruit
Coco-plums are three quarters patriotic: They can be red, white, or blue ( and yellow.)

Actually, the “blue” is deep…
Coconuts: It’s A Matter of Degrees
Coconut, An Equatorial Palm
Popular media and commercial production have made the coconut a common cultural item, even if you live thousands of miles away…
Codium Compendium
Codiums: Edible around the world
Oceanographers like to call Codium a minor seaweed because it is not commercially exploitable. Yet where it is found around…
Common Reed (1)
Some 20 years ago I pondered upon the identity of what appeared to be a very tall grass in a former marlpit in Port Orange, a few miles south of Daytona…

- Cooking Like A Caveman
  The Mesolithic Era is not a sexy topic that will win friends and influence people at parties. But, it is something foragers should think about. If you are a…
- Cooking without Pots or Pans (2)
  Mesolithic Cooking: It’s the Pitshttps://www.eattheweeds.com
  How do you cook without pots or pans?
  
  It’s a question our distant ancestors never asked because pots and pans didn’t…

www.eattheweeds.com

Coontie Courage
Zamia Floridana: Making Toxins Edible
This plant is included here in case 1) society falls apart; 2) You live in Georgia or Florida and need starch…
Coquina: Tasty Tiny Clam
Coquina: Donax: Good Eats
Ounce for ounce there is probably no more delicious seafood than Coquina. The problem is getting an ounce of it, so we usually…

Coral Bean: Humming Bird Fast Food
Erythrina herbacea: Part Edible, Part NotThe (eastern) Coral Bean is one of those damned if you do, and damned if you don’t kind of things. Parts of…

Coral Vine
Antigonon leptopus: Creeping Cuisine
The Antigonon leptopus ( an-TIG-oh-non LEP-toh-puss) inspires local names everywhere it grows: Tallahassee Vine, Honolulu…
Corn Poppy
Several plants have relatives whose reputations are difficult to live down. The Natal Plum is one. Related to the oleander the delicious plum suffers from…

Corn Smut: Mexican Truffles. Corn Smut. Raven Scat. Ustilago maydis gets more unappetizing the further one goes down its list of names. The Aztecs called it huitlacoche. The Mexicans call it a delicacy.

Crabgrass Was King (3)
Forage, Grain, Flour, Manna, Pest
Americans did two interesting things when they moved from the farm to suburbia: They surrounded their homes with toxic…
Cranberries, Lingonberries
Get Your Annual Vaccinium Every Year
Frozen cranberries are just as sour as fresh ones.

I know that because when I was a kid skating on frozen ponds in Maine…
Creeping Cucumber: Melothria Pendula (2)
Cute Cuke! Melothria Pendula

The Melothria pendula is a little cucumber with a big reputation.

That said, when it comes to the “creeping cucumber”…
Crowfoot Grass, True Grits
Dactyloctenium aegyptium: Staple Grain
Grasses can be a pain in the …ah… grass…

First, books about grasses are few and incredibly expensive. Next,…
Dad’s Applewood Pipes (3)
Time edits your memories. It sands off the rough edges that were once painfully sharp. It makes some moments clearer by evaporating the fog of being…

Dahlia Pinnata
Here’s the good news: At least one species of Dalhia has edible roots. Here’s the bad news, there are some 20,000 cultivars, maybe even thousands more. A…

Dandelions: Hear Them Roar (3)
Dandelion Wine and Coffee and SaladDandelions and I go back a long ways, more than half a century.When I was very young in Maine my mother…

Dayflowers, Often One Petal Shy (4)
Commelina diffusa: What a day for a dayflower
Common names can be a headache when one is trying to index a plant. The plant to the lower right is commonly…
Daylily Dilemma (3)
Daylily: Just Cloning Around
The daylily, a standard plant in foraging for a century or more, has become too much of a good thing and now presents a significan…
Dead Man’s Fingers
Decaisnea fargesii: True Ghoul Blue
There are three Dead Man’s Fingers: A seaweed, a mushroom, and a shrub, all so-called because of the way they…

Does Anyone Know What Time It Is? (2)
It is time for my semi-annual rant and wish that G.V. Hudson had a different hobby. Hudson, a New Zealander, collected insects and was a shift worker. In…

Does The Nose Know?
What Does a Word Smell Like?

During nearly every class I have students smell three or four plants — depending upon the season — and I ask them what common…
Dog and Cat (1)
Most Westerners would starve than eat their pet, and understandably so. There is a tacit agreement between pets and their owners. In exchange for putting…

Doveweed
Murdannia nudiflora: Tiny Dayflower Kin
In India the Doveweed is a famine food. That should give you some idea of how it lines up in the culinary kingdom. The…
Drymaria Cordata, Tropical Chickweed (3)
Drymaria cordata: Kissing cousin chickweed
Drymaria cordata is one of those plants that confounds the mind. You know what it resembles: Chickweed. It has one…
Duckweed

A Weed Most Fowl. Do ducks eat duckweed? Yes and no. Do humans eat duckweed? Yes and no. Domestic ducks tend to eat duckweed, wild ones don’t.…

Dulse for Dinner

Foragers tend to ignore seaweed.

Ear Tree, Sound Food
Lend Me An Ear Tree

Just about anyone who has spent anytime in a warm climate will some day find on a sidewalk a black seed pod that looks like a human…
Earthworms (7)
Cooking with Earthworms
The cartoon strip BC once had its peg-leg poet write: “The bravest man I ever saw was the first one to eat an oyster raw.”
Eastern Gamma Grass: Someone who supposedly knew their grasses wrote there are no toxic native North American grasses.

Eastern Red Bud: Pea Pods Tree (5)
Cercis canadensis: In The Bud of TimeIt’s one of those trees that if you don’t see it at the right time you’re not looking for it the rest of the year.…

Eating In Season (1)
There is little doubt that eating certain fiddlehead greens can significantly increase ones chances of cancer. In fact, science says they cause cancer. On…

Edible Cultivated Flowers: All 20 articles in one article

Edible Flowers: Part One (1)Nasturtium, Calendula, Spanish Needles, Arugula, Squash, Cilanto, Bee Balm, Carnation, Dandelion, Lilac
Which blossom will be your favorite edible…

Edible Flowers: Part Two (9)Tulips, Yucca, Begonias, Blue Porterweed, Queen Ann’s Lace, Dill, Gladiolas, Wapato, Impatiens, CitrusTulips are one of those wonderful flowers you…

Edible Flowers: Part Three (2)Mayflower, Chrysanthemum, Cornflower, Rose, Daylily, Elderberry, Chicory, Johnny-Jump-Ups, Linden, BananaA rite of spring in the frozen north, or at…

Edible Flowers: Part Four

Spiderwort, Marigolds, Rosemary, Smartweed, Pineapple Weed, Chamomile, False Roselle, Lavender, Forsythia, Borage

Edible Flowers: Part Five

Apple, Fuchsia, Sweet Goldenrod, Basil, Gorse, Bauhinia, Eastern Redbud, Angelica, Honeysuckle, Eastern Coral Bean
Apple Blossom
Every seed in every apple…

Edible Flowers: Part Six (1)Burnet, Magnolia, Fennel, Garden Sorrel, Tansy, Pink Wood Sorrel, Sunflower, Pineapple Guava, Prickly Pear, PansiesBurnet (Sanguisorba minor) is…

Edible Flowers: Part Seven (1)Scarlet Runner Bean, Peony, Hyacinth Bean, Clover, Jasmine, Chervil, Water Hyacinth, Plantain Lily, Meadowsweet, Perennial PhloxScarlet Runner Bean is…

Edible Flowers: Part Eight
Society Garlic, Anise Hyssop, Black Locust, Gardenia, Fragrant Water Lily, Strawberry, Marsh Mallow, Maypops, Milkweed, Hollyhocks

It’s clearly not…

Edible Flowers: Part Nine (1)Mahoe, Moringa, Pineapple Sage, Plum, Hawthorn, Cattail, Papaya, Purslane, Tuberose, Wisteria
Mahoe’s Blossoms Change Color
One of the more fascinating…

Edible Flowers: Part Ten

Alliums, Oregano, Pinks, Peas, Okra, Galium, Ginger, Scented Geraniums, Primrose, Mustard/RadishThe author of “Florida’s Incredible Wild Edibles” Dick…

Edible Flowers: Part Eleven

Coral Vine, Citron Melon, Milkweed Vine, Dayflower, Evening Primrose, Kudzu, Stock, Dame’s Rocket, Freesia, Dendrobium phalaenopsisThe Coral Vine has…

Edible Flowers: Part Twelve (2)Forget-Me-Nots, Calamint, Mimosa Silk Tree, Clary Sage, Petunia x hybrid, Balloon Flower, Yarrow, Corn Poppy, Daisy, Sweet AlyssumThe story I heard…

Edible Flowers: Part Thirteen (1)Sesbania Grandifolia, Lemon Verbena, Szechaun Buttons, Horseradish, Tea Olive, Tiger Lily, Currants, Honewort, Thyme, Indian Paint BrushSesbania…

Edible Flowers: Part Fourteen (2)
Manzanita, Rose of Sharon, Tea, Campanula, Artichoke, Saffron, Samphire, Sage, Parsley, Common MallowWestern states often seem to get short-changed in…

Edible Flowers: Part Fifteen

Mango, Catnip, Pignut, Lovage, Salsify, Hairy Cowpea, Fritillary, Mint, Cow Slip, BirchDid you know mangoes and poison ivy are botanical kissing…

Edible Flowers: Part Sixteen

Oregon Holly Grape, Snapdragon, Caesar’s Weed, Golden Alexanders, Loroco, Safflower, White Sagebrush, Puget Balsam Root, Yellow Commelina, Bitter Gourd

Edible Flowers: Part Seventeen

Black Salsify, Coltsfoot, Yellow Pond Lily, Mexican Hyssop, Carambola, Baobob, Kapok, Durian, Italian Bugloss, BlueweedEdible plants collect a lot of…

Edible Flowers: Part Eighteen (7)
Spring Beauty, Chickweed, Alpine Cress, High Bush Cranberry, Columbine, Hyssop, Musk Hyacinth, White Trout Lily, Yellow Adder’s Tongue, Aloe

The Spring…
Edible Flowers: Part Nineteen (2)
Tulip Tree, Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, King’s Spear, Gunnison Mariposa, Sego Lily, Star of Bethleham, Forest Lily, Guinea Arrowroot, Neem Tree

The blossom…
Edible Flowers: Part Twenty

Chinese Perfume Plant, Queensland Silver Wattle, Cloves, Chinese Lotus, Blue Lotus, Screwpine, Turpentine Tree, Sweet Autum Clematis, St. Anthony’s Turnip, Quince

Edible Wild Flowers:

All 20 articles in one article

Eels
Eels: Lunch, Slip Sliding Away…
I can remember the first time I caught an eel. It was in the Royal River in Pownal Maine, using an earthworm on the…

Eggs

Eggs for Survival and Food
Eggs would seem like a simple foraging topic and it is, and it is not. My copy of the U.S Department of the Army…

Elaeagnus Et Cetera
Edible Elaeagnus
First it was “poisonous.” Then it was “not edible.” Later it was edible but “not worth eating.” Actually, it’s not toxic but tasty, and easy…
Elderberries: Red, White and Blue (10)
Sambuca’s Fine For Elderberry Wine
Start your New Year off right with a glass of elderberry wine or elderberry blossom champagne. Don’t have any?…
Epazote: Smelly Food of the Gods
Mexican Tea, Dewormer: EpazoteHere is my dedication to being comprehensive: I am going to write about a plant I do not like.Why don’t I like…

Eryngo, Tough Sweetie
Eryngiums: Elizabethan Eryngo Candy

While the edible versions are not widely distributed in North America, Eryngo (ERR-in-go) was too pretty a name to be…
Evening Primrose (5)
Oenothera biennis: Foraging Standby

The Common Evening Primrose has long been a foraging standby and for a century or so was a common vegetable found in…
Experience and Judgment
Sometimes a toxic plant can give even an experienced forager reason to pause.

When I was making a video last week I saw a beautiful growth of watercress,…
False Dandelions For Lunch (2)
Pyrrhopappus, Hypochoeris: Dandelion Impostors
Most people don’t notice False Dandelions because they have the real thing. But here in the South where…
False Hawksbeard
Crepis Japonica: Seasonal Potherb
If the Crepis fits….wear….ah…eat it

Crepis japonica gets no respect. You won’t find it in field guides on edible…
False Roselle (1)I can’t do a stir-fry without visiting a tree. Actually, the False Roselle is a shrub not a tree but the point is made. Its leaves have just the…

Fiddlehead Ferns, Signs of Spring
Fiddlehead Fanatics
If poke weed tests your foraging bravery, fiddleheads test your foraging philosophy.

Pokeweed can kill you within hours if you make a…
Fiddlewood (1)
Citharexylum fruticosum: Edible Guitar
The Fiddlewood tree is not high on the list of edibles. As some authors state, only kids eat the fruit, lots of seed,…
Field Testing Plants for Edibility (7)
I am dead set against it because it can kill you. I will make a large argument against it, and a small argument for it.

“Field testing” is running through a…
Figs, Strangler, Banyan and Strangler (4)
Wild Ficus: Who Gives An Edible Fig?
It’s only 90 miles to the east, and 117 to the west, but the Strangler Fig and Banyan trees will grow farther south and…
Finding Caloric Staples (8)
An Australian study tells us that modern day hunter gatherers get two thirds of their food from animals, one third form plants.

Firebush:
The Firebush is probably one of the most commonly planted unknown edibles. They are usually arranged in the landscape…

Fireweed Sale (1)
Erechtites hieraciifolia: Edible Pile Driver

When I go to Greece I always stay a few days in Athens to get used to the time change and visit in-town…
Fish Sauce and Rotten MeatFish Sauce, Rotten Meat, and Other Garbage
There was a great scene from an episode of Barney Miller, a popular sitcom in the 70’s based in a…

Fishtail Palms (3)
Caryota: Fishy Toxic Palms

Often the botanical name of a species tells you nothing about the plant. Magnolia comes to mind. It’s a person’s name. However…
Five Mile Walk
Can you live off the land? Can anyone these days? I suppose the answer depends on what land, what you know, and whose else is also trying to live off it.

Whe…
Flamboyant FuchsiaMention “fuchsia” and most folks who recognize the word will think of a bright color. Personally I think of Fuchsia’s edible fruit and flowers.…

Flowering Rush
In one area of its native range — Israel — it’s endangered becauses of dwindling habitat. In another part of the world it is an invasive weed, and you can…
Foraging After Dark
I took a residential walk this evening to identify trees after dark. Yes, after dark. Now why do a silly thing like that?

I know someone who has his foraging…
Foraging Before There Was Botany
Foraging before there was botany had to be a lot easier than after botany. Someone showed you what was edible and that was that. Of course somewhere back along…
Foraging for Beginners
I was asked to write a short piece for a survivalist blog on getting started in foraging:
How are a Musician and a Botanist Alike?
As a professional musician I…
Foraging in Florida (1)
Of all the “survival” skills foraging is probably the most difficult to learn, or certainly the one that takes the most time and personal fortitude. It is one…
Foraging Myth Busting (3)
As many of you already know I am highly critical of the Internet as a source of information on foraging. This is not to say there isn’t quality information…
Forsythia Foraging For Forsythia
If you study the eating habits of North American Indians you learn one thing quite quickly. They weren’t mono-green eaters.…

Garlic Mustard: Gather Garlic Mustard now for pesto or it may disappear presto… well… maybe not immediately but if one university succeeds Garlic Mustard will become hard to find or extinct in North America.

Galinsoga’s Gallant Soldiers
Galinsoga ciliata: Quickweed is fast foodQuickweed does not look edible or gallant. In fact, it looks like a daisy that lost a fight. But it, and a…

Gar: Treasured Trash Fish (1)
Eating Gar, a Taste of the Primitive
There are two things you need to know about the Gar. The first is that it is very edible, really. The second is that…
Geiger Tree, Scarlet Cordia
Cordia sebestena: Foraging Geiger Counter
Foragers eat the mild fruit of the Geiger Tree and care not about the particulars. Botanists care about particular…

Getting To The Leaf Of The Problem
Why sudy with someone? Because student foragers see what they want to see rather than what’s in front of them. Let me give you consistent example.

There are…
Giant Taro
One can ignore large leaves for only so long, and the Alocasia macrorrhiza has big leaves, up to four feet long. As one might suspect, it also has a large…

Ginkgo: Putrid Perfection
Going Nuts Over Ginkgo Biloba Nuts

Though the Army sent me to Japan I didn’t see my first Ginkgo biloba (GINK-go bye-LOW-buh) tree until I attended the…
Glasswort Galore (3)
Salicornia bigelovii, Brackish Nibble
Glasswort does not sound like breaking glass at all, though it does crunch a bit.

Salicornia bigelovii (sa-li-KOR-nee-a…
Golden Dead Nettle (1)
Lamiastrum is in the eye of the beholder.If you want a ground cover that will grow in dry, shady places, Lamiastrum is exactly what you’re looking for.…

Golden Rain Tree
Showers of Golden Rain Tree

The scallions didn’t have a chance.

My Taiwanese friend liked to grow scallions in a postage stamp garden in her back…
Goldenrod Glorified (1)
Solidago Odora: Liberty Tea

After the Boston Tea Party of 1773 the colonists had only one good alternative: Goldenrod tea, and not just any Goldenrod,…
Gooseberries

A century can make a lot of difference.

Goosegrass, Cleavers, Bedstraw (1)

Galium aparine: Goosegrass on the Loose

You don’t find Goosegrass. It finds you.

Covered with a multitude of small hooks, Goosegrass, Galium…

Gopher Apples: Not Just For Tortoises Anymore
If you like the taste of pink bubble gum, you’ll like gopher apples, if you can find themWhy can’t you find them? Because nearly every woodland…

Gorse, of Course
Ulex europaeus: Edible Gorse or Furze Pas
Gorse has edible flowers. It also has thorns… Really bad thorns.

In August 2005 an Englishman, Dean Bowen,…
Gout Weed (6)
Gout Weed does not sound too appetizing. Nor do some of its other names: Ground Ash, Ashweed, Pot Ash, White Ash, Ground Elder, Dog Elder, Dwarf Elder,…

Gracilaria, Graceful Redweed
Gracilaria: The pot thickens
People eat a lot of seaweed. They just don’t know it. In the industry it is called covert consumption vs overt consumption. What…
Grapes of Path (3)
Vitis: Wild Grapes
Who ever first wrote the phrase “grapes of wrath” certainly must have been trying to identify a particular grape vine.

Grapes are at the…
Grass and Tree War (1)
Point of view, thinking differently… Consider:What if plants are more goal-orientated than we think them to be? After all, we put ourselves on the…

Great Grandmother Cat (1)
One of the reasons why Eat The Weeds exists is to advocate eating the wild foods around you but also to be another voice in the growing chorus that is…
Green Deane’s Bio, and Oliver, Too (1)
If you have any comments or suggestions please send them to GreenDeane@gmail.com. The B&W picture is from a Christmas long ago. That’s Tinkerbell on my…
Green Deane’s Videos On You Tube
While these videos are still on You Tube and will soon be on DVDs, these links below do not work. In creating the page one character was dropped from every…

Ground Cherry, Wild Husk Tomatoes, Almost (2)
Physalis: Tomato’s Wild Cousin
I discovered ground cherries quite by accident.

It was back in the last century. I raided a particular field…
Ground Ivy (2)
Most of the time when someone mentions Ground Ivy the comment usually is something like “How do I get rid of the damned stuff?” Here at ETW we have have…

Groundnuts and Bridge Diving
For the second time recently I was reminded of development. My favorite field of lamb’s quarters is now an upscale gated community. And where I used to forage…
Groundnuts: Anti-Cancer Treat (3)
Groundnuts: Dig ’em
I will never forget the first time I dug up Apios americana, groundnuts. I got poison ivy. Oddly it showed up in the crook of one elbow,…
Grub-A-Dub-Dub
It had to happen. If you forage for wild foods at some point you run in to grubs and related insects and you wonder… edible? And once you’re past…

Guinea Grass Panic Attack
Panicum maximum and then some
I eat grass. Actually we all do — rice, wheat — but my local trail nibble is Guinea grass, a relative to millet. I’d like to…
Guinea Pigs, Cavy, Cuy
Peruvians eat more than 65 million guinea pigs every year. That should answer any question about edibility.Sixty-five million guinea pigs (a 2005…

Hairy Cowpea (4)
It’s called a Cowpea but it’s not THAT cowpea, and it has a famous relative that no one calls by its botanical name.So which Cowpea is it? Vigna…

Halloween Editorial (2)
Halloween today is the most debatable of non-holiday holidays. With a past that perhaps goes back to Roman times it became in the Christian era All Hallows…
Hardy Orange: Is the Hardy Orange edible? That depends on how hungry you are, or which century you live in.

Have Dewberry, Will Travel
Dewberries: Rubus Trivialis

Dewberries go far in the world, for a lowly vine. They can reach up to 15 feet long, one node root at a time.

Essentially a…
Hawthorne Harvest
The Crataegus Clan: Food & Poison
The very first Hawthorn I ever saw — and the only one I knew for quite a while — grew on the other side of the dirt…
Henbit: Top of the pecking order (2)
Henbit: Springtime Salad Green and More

It was a zig and a zag for me. I heard the name as an edible for many years and saw the plant often but never…
Hercules’ Club: Speak Softly But…
Hercules’ Club: Zanthoxylum Clava-Herculis

I sometimes feel sorry for my neighbors, who have lawns of decapitated grass. I’m sure my wild-looking…
Hickory Harvest (2)
Cayra coffee, or Hickory Java
Hickories are not a migraine, but when you’re learning trees hickories can be a headache.

Just as plums and cherries are bothin…
High Bush Cranberry (1)
I miss High Bush Cranberries. They don’t grow within a thousand miles of here, and they aren’t really cranberries. But they are hearty and familiar fare in…

Hit With A Plank (1)
There’s an old joke. A man had a mule sit down under a load. Mules can be very stubborn. And despite all his efforts the man couldn’t get the mule to get up. I…
Hollies: Caffein & Antioxidants (4)
Holly Tea With Vitamins A & C

This time of year in the South — late fall, early winter —some of the hollies are so scarlet with berries that even…
Honeysuckle Heaven
Lonicera japonica: Sweet Treat
The honeysuckle family is iffy for foragers. It has edible members and toxic members, edible parts, toxic parts, and they mix…
Hornbeam, Ironwood, Blue Beech
Carpinus caroliniana: Musclewood
British author Ray Mears must have been thinking of the Hornbeam when he said a forager mustn’t pass up food no matter how…
Horse Meat
“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”We’ve all heard the phrase, and it comes from when horse was on the menu. It was rather significant phrase to me as…

Horsemint, Spotted Beebalm
Monarda Punctata: Bergamot’s Bud
First the good news: Horsemint makes a nice, intentionally weak tea. Stronger brews are used in herbal medicine. The…
Horseweed, Mare’s Tail (1)
Conyza canadensis: Herb, Fire, Food
Conyza will light your fire!

If you’ve ever made fire with a bow and drill — you know, the Boy Scout way — you also know…
How Do Things Pan Out?
When Europeans began to migrate into tracts of North America what was the one thing they had the native Americans wanted more than anything else? Rifles?…

How Ungreen Of Us (29)
I’m reaching retirement age. I’m also reaching the point of being tired of being told how green we are today and how ungreen we were in the past. Oh? When…

Huckleberry, Blueberries Kissing Cousin
Gaylussacia: Huckleberry History
What’s the difference between a blueberry and a huckleberry?There’s almost an easy answer. The huckleberry…

Hyacinth Bean
Hyacinth Bean: Purple Protein, and More
I’ve never understood the brouhaha over the Hyacinth Bean. Is it edible or is it not?
Hydrilla: There is only one species of Hydrilla, verticillata.

Ignite of the Iguana (6)
The cookbook’s title says it all. South Florida, parts of Texas and Hawaii have iguana issues. While teaching a class in West Palm Beach last fall I could not…
Indian Pipes, Gold, and Emily Dickinson (8)
Monotropa is almost a monotypic genus. Instead of having one species in the genus there are two: Monotropa uniflora and Monotropa hypopithys.Most…

Indian Strawberry (5)
Potentilla indica: Mistaken Identity
One of the first things my uncle’s second wife said to me when I moved from Maine to Florida was “they have strawberri…
Ipomoea: Water, Land & See in Gardens
Glorifying Morning Glories
Three of the pictures below are are not of the same Ipomoea. It’s three different species, but that should tell you something.…
Is This Plant Edible?
For a surprisingly simple question there is often a complicated answer. If it’s sea kale, then the answer is yes, top to bottom. It is edible. It is…

Is wild taro in Florida edible? (10)
IS WILD TARO IN FLORIDA EDIBLE?
“Wild Taro.” My research to date (fall, 2011)

Is the wild taro in Florida edible? In one word, no. In two… may……
It’s About Time (1)
I spend a lot of times in the woods, and also afloat. Three things you should always know in such environments are the cardinal directions, time of day, and…
Ivy Gourd, Scarlet Gourd, Tindora (2)
Coccinia grandis: Cucumber’s Versatile Kin
I was riding my motorcycle one day when I rumbled over a raised railroad track in an industrial area and to my…
Jabuticaba: In it’s native Brazil the Jabuticaba is by far the most popular fruit.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and Jill
Arisaema triphyllum: Jack and Jill and No Hill
For a little plant there’s a lot to write about with the Jack-In-The-Pulpit. Where does one start? What does…
Jambul (1)Syzygium: A Jumble of Jambul
The Jambul tree makes you wonder what people were thinking.For a half a century or so the United States Department of…

Japanese Knotweed: Dreadable Edible (9)Japanese Knotweed gets no respect. Nearly everywhere it grows it’s listed as a prolific, noxious, invasive, dangerous bad-for-the-world,…

Jelly Palm, Pindo’s Alter Ego (4)
Pindo Palm: Jelly, Wine and Good Eats

Soon it will be time to go to the cemeteries. My visits are not memorial but rather culinary: I’ve got…
Jellyfish

Stomolophus meleagris: Edible Jellyfish
“Music to the teeth” is what the Malaysians call them.Americans may not eat jellyfish, but the…

Jerusalem Artichoke: Root Them Out (5)
There used to be a huge patch of Jerusalem Artichokes here in Central Florida beside the Interstate. Now they’re under a new exit ramp, and that was the…

Jerusalem Thorn, Paloverde
Parkensonia aculeata’s Thorny Past
As foragers we are indebted to past writers and at the same time constrained by them.

People who chronicled how Native…
Jujube TreeZiziphus zizyphys: The Misspelled Jujube
If you don’t find the Jujube tree, it will find you. The Jujube is covered with long, sharp thorns. They…

Jumbie Bean, White Lead Tree (2)
Leucaena leucocephala: Food and Fodder
Professor Julia Morton, the grand dame of toxic and edible plants in Florida, had this to say about the Jumbie…
Juneberry
Amelanchier arborea: Busting Out All Over
Juneberries are as American as apple pie. In fact, they are more American than apples.
Junipers: In the cobweb recesses of my mind I have two memories of junipers

Katuk Kontroversy (2)
Edible Katuk: Sauropus androgynus

Katuk grows reluctantly in my yard. It likes truly tropical climes and I am on the subtropical/temperate line. But it’s…
Kochia
Immigration brought weeds from around the old world to the new world. Quite a few of them came from southern Russia — the grassy steppes — to the…

Kousa Dogwood (2)
Cornus kousa: A Dog-gone-good Dogwood

The Kousa Dogwood is one of those plants that makes you ask: What is it?Its large, bumpy, red fruit looks like a…

Kudzu Quickie (4)Kudzu: Pueraria montana var. lobataThe government tells me that what grows up the street isn’t there.It’s kudzu, you know, the plant that…

Landmarks
Landmarks — accomplishments — are like a melody. Regardless of your taste in music, music is more than organized sound. Music firmly places you in time. When…
Language of Flowers: A flower is a flower is a flower. But in Victorian England, one of the most self-repressed societies in modern times, the practice of using flowers to communicate was developed.

Lantana (3)
Lantana camara: Much Maligned Nibble

Ask anyone who has heard of the Lantana camara and they will tell you it is poisonous. And they are right. Unripe…
Lawn Garden
Can you have a “garden” that you ignore?

I don’t see why not.
Is That A Garden?
Indeed, some might argue that is what my front lawn currently is. I really…
Lemon Bacopa: Let’s Call It Lime Instead
Lemon Bacopa, a misnamed edible nativeCall me cranky, but I think Lemon Bacopa has the wrong name.And, since it is wrongly named and no one comments on…

Lemon Grass
Cymbopogon citratus: A Real Lemon
Technically Lemon Grass is naturalized in only one county in Florida, but you can find it in many yards and landscaping, and…
Less Was Far More (4)
West of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, I stopped today and collected some thistle and took a few pictures. More than 50 years ago I marveled at the same plant…
Lettuce Labyrinth (9)
Sorting Out Species
Sorting out wild lettuce is one of the more difficult foraging tasks and may require you to watch a plant all season.
Lion’s Mane

I see Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus) on the same oak log every fall at the same time to the day.

Litchi Tomato

Foraging is a treasure hunt because with perhaps 6,000 edible species in North America there is always a surprise now and then such as the Litchi Tomato.

Living off the Foraged Land
I am not a survivalist per se, though every day I do break my personal best record of consecutive days alive.

That said, I know many survivalists. They tend…
Locusberry
Byrsonima lucida: Food and Medicine

The Locusberry rises to the occasion. When the soil is poor it is a foot-high tree. When the soil is good, it can be…
Looking for Lettuce
I like my 14,000 subscribers, and the email I get. Many of the questions I can answer or I can refer the writer to where the answer can be found. But….…

Loquat: Getting A Grip on Grappa (2)
Lovin’ Loquats: Eriobotryae Japonicae
Long before there were couch potatoes there were couch Loquats.Loquats are homebodies. Most people who live beyond…

Madeira Vine, Lamb’s Tail, Mignonette Vine (1)
Anredera cordifolia: Pest or Food Crop?
The Madeira Vine is a love/hate relationship. You will either hate it — as many land owners and governments do — or…
Mahoe, Sea Hibiscus
Hibiscus tiliaceus: Edible Chameleon
It’s difficult to find a hibiscus you don’t like, including the Mahoe.

In fact, to this writer’s knowledge all…
Mahonia Malange: When I first heard of the Mahonias it was a bit irritating. They’re widespread shrubs in the western United States and here I was in Florida. But as time revealed, we have a Mahonia here, just not a native.

Make My Day
It was one of those moments. I was biking along a rails to trails, stopping and taking pictures of this and that plant for past and future blogs. Better…
Mallow Madness (2)
Lunch Landscaping: HibiscusMy mother’s favorite flower is the Rose of Sharon, which of course didn’t even go in one of my ears and out the…
Mangrove Mystery (1)
Mangroves: Marvelous Muck Masters

I did an unknown favor years ago that may stump some stuffy botanist in the near or distant future, and a mangrove…
Maple Manna (1)
Maples: How Sweet It Is
Maple Walnut Ice Cream. It’s amazing what you can do with two trees and a cow. It was the prime ice cream of choice when I was young.…
Marijuana Machinations: You can’t rummage around the woods as a forager without running into someone’s marijuana patch.
Marlberries and Ardisias kin
Ardisias: Berries on the cusp of edible
The Ardisias are a confusing family in Florida.

There is the native Marlberry (Ardisia escallonioides) that has…
Mayapple, Mandrake (2)
Podophyllum peltatum: Forgotten Fruit
The first time I saw a mayapple I was certain something that strange had to be toxic, and it is, unless totally…
Mayflowers, Trailing Arbutus
Epigaea repens: Spring Sentinel and Nibble
It was an annual family ritual. Every spring when the snow had finally melted we’d go through the low Maine…
Maypops Mania (6)
Maypops: Food, Fun, Medicine
As popular as they are, Maypops get stepped on a lot, but that doesn’t keep them down.

They are one of five hundred kin in…
Media Interviews With Green Deane
This is Green Deane being interview for the local PBS station for Thanksgiving, 2009. This show was voted their best episode of the year. http://www.wmfe.org/au…
Melaleuca, Tea Tree, Sweetener, Pharmacy
The Melaleuca tree is the most invasive “weed” in the state of Florida, quite a feat when you consider there are…
Mesquite (1)
Mesquite’s More Than Flavoring: It’s Food
If Euell Gibbons was still around he might ask, “have you ever eaten a Mesquite tree?” rather than his famous…
Milkweed Vine, Latexplant, Strangler Vine (13)
Morrenia odorata: Menace or Manna?
One spring I was looking for poke weed when I spied a liana I had not seen before. It had a large fruit that looked…
Milkweed, Common (3)
Asclepias: Some like it hot, some like it cold
The question is to boil or not to boil.

Actually that’s not quite accurate. There is general agreement…
Milo, Portia Tree, Seaside Mahoe (2)
Thespesia populnea: Coastal Cuisine
One of my uncles had the type of personality that where ever he hung his hat, that was home. The Milo is much the same…
Mimosa Silk Tree (7)
Albizia julibrissin: Tripinnated Lunch
I was drinking “Mimosas” — orange juice and champagne — about 20 years before I discovered the Mimosa tree was…
Mole Crabs (8)
Emerita: Mole Crab Munchy Crunchies
Mole crabs are probably the most common ugly food there is, though most people don’t know they’re edible.

Fishermen…
Mole Crickets and Lawns
The name of my website is “Eat The Weeds (and other things too.)” If you wander around the long index — or click on the category “critter cuisine” — you…
Mole Crickets, Kamaro (1)
Mole Crickets: Digging Your Lunch
Nearly everyone knows crickets are edible — cooked — but few ever mention the ugliest of them all, the mole cricket.
Monkey’s Apple: Monkey’s Apple is proof kids will eat anything.
Monkey Puzzle Tree
Lunch Drops In

My good friend Saul is a luthier. He repairs premium wooden instruments. It is not unusual for him to be working on a Stradivarius or a…
Monkeys and Weeds
Put five monkeys in a large cage. Then put a step ladder in the cage with a banana on top. Soon the monkeys learn to go up the step ladder and get the…
Moringa, More Than You Can Handle (6)
Moringa oleifera ….Monster…. Almost
If you have a warm back yard, think twice before you plant a Moringa tree.
Morels are perhaps the most foraged and prized fungi in North America.
Motorcyclists and Mushroomists. I used to have a friend named Randy Armentrout. He died about 20 years ago of a brain tumor. We knew each other well and attended many a social function…
Mountain Ash, Rowan: Long before Henry Potter Rowanwood wands were popular ancients carried talismans of the tree to ward off evil and ate the fruit.
Mugwort (3)
Like some other plants with famous relatives Mugwort gets lost in the negative publicity.Mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris, is completely over shadowed…
Mulberry Express
Mulberries: Glucose-controlling hallucinogen

I used to get a lot of dates using mulberries.

Not to sound sexist, but women like sweet food. And when…
Musseling In: His name was Hap Davis, gardener, woodsman, hunter, fisherman, teller of tall tales.
Mustard, Wild, Tender And Tough (2)
Cutting the Wild Mustard: Brassica & Sinapis
Lorenzo’s Oil and Canola, Too
If you can’t find a wild mustard growing near you, you must be living in…
Mustards, The Little
Coronopus, Descurainia, Cardamine, Erucastrum & Sibara
There are numerous “little mustards” that show up seasonally, to populate lawns and local…
Nagi Tree, Japan’s Calm Tree
Nageia nagi: Forgotten Landscape Edible

I discovered the Nagi tree quite by accident, and added another edible to the list. I was in Mead Gardens in Winter…
Nandina Not Bamboo
Not So Heavenly Bamboo: Nandina
It’s not heavenly nor is it a bamboo, but Heavenly Bamboo is an edible, barely.

Naturalized in many part of the world…
Nasturtiums: Nature’s Nose Nabber
Peppery Nasturtiums Natives of Peru. Do the peppery nasturtiums make your nose twitch? Then you know how they got their common name. “Nasturtium” means…
Natal Plums Num Num (4)
Natal Plum: Incredible Edible Landscaping

A good reputation is hard to maintain when your closest relative has a reputation for killing people. That’s…
New Jersey Tea
Ceanothus americanus: Revolutionary Tea
New Jersey Tea wasn’t always called that. It was Red Root Tea until the Boston Tea Party. With no tea from China…

Non-Green Environmentalism (1)
Early on I developed two interests. One was foraging for wild plants. It assured me food where ever I went. The other was watching clouds, one of the few…

Nostoc Num Nums
Nostoc: Nasal Nostalgia and Edible, Too
My website is “Eat The Weeds and other things, too.” Well this one of those other things. While I have put seaweed…
Nutria, Coypu (1)
I have a close friend who’s Cajun. He said his family was so poor growing up in the bayou that if it moved they cooked it and threw it on rice. That…

Nutrition or Food?
The 20th century was a hundred years of significant changes in what we eat. In 1900 food was … well… food, and real. No food pretended to be something it…
Oaxaca lemon verbena
Lippia alba: Oaxaca lemon verbena
It all started with a little tour of his back yard.

He’s an aging Greek professor and doesn’t like lawn, so his back yard…
Only Plant In Its Genus (16)
Call it an occupational hazard but I began to wonder one day how many genera were unique, that is, they had just one edible species in them, the so called…

Osage Orange (13)
Maclura pomifera: The Edible Inedible
Sometimes everybody is almost wrong.

If you google “Osage Orange” or “Maclura pomifera” (mak-LOOR-uh pom-EE-fer-uh…
Oxalis: How To Drown Your Sorrels (2)
Sorrels are like McDonald’s restaurants: No matter where you are on earth there’s one nearby.That’s because the sorrels, properly…

Palmer Amaranth (1)
A farmer’s headache is not necessarily a forager’s delight.Palmer Amaranth (Amaranthus Palmeri) has been a foraged food for a long time. It was used…

Palmetto Weevil Grub: Grugru
Rhynchophorus cruentatus: Raw or Fried?
Here’s what you’re looking for: A palm or plametto that is dying. The growing tip is dead, bent or otherwise…
Pandanus: During several visits over the course of a year it looked like a large berm of tall grass, about the size and height of a one-story house.

Papaya Proliferation
Carica papaya: Survivalist plant

Papaya comes from the grocery store, unless you live where it seldom freezes. Then it is another wild edible, naturalized in…
Paper Mulberry (2)
Broussonetia papyrifera: Paper Chase
If you are a forager, you will be told two things constantly: One is that the plant of your admiration is “poisonous.”…
Partridgeberry: Split personality (1)
Mitchella repens: Madder BerryThe Partridgeberry will not save you from starving but it can make your salad prettier and might keep you alive or ease…

Pawpaw picking up is rare (8)
Pawpaw Panache

Finding your first pawpaw is a thrilling moment.

I can remember exactly where it happened and when. It was the summer of 1987 in…
Pellitory, Up Against The Wall Weed
Pellitory: Parietaria is a Whiz
Finding greens locally in the cooler months isn’t much of a challenge unless you’re looking for Pellitory . It likes to hid…
Pennyroyal Florida Style (2)
Florida Pennyroyal: Piloblephis Rigida
You will thoroughly enjoy tea made by Florida’s native pennyroyal, or maybe even a Mint Julep Floridana.

An…
Pennyworts Making Sense (12)
A Pennywort For Your Thoughts
It’s one of those practices of civilization that plants with little flavor or calories — lettuce for example — are…
Peperomia: I went to college in Maine where winter lasts from about November 1st to October 31st.

Peppergrass: Potent Pipsqueak (3)
Lepidium Virginicum: Bottlebrush Peppergrass

There are two ways of thinking about peppergrass, either as a real neat wild treat, or an obnoxious, noxious…
Perilla, Shiso (2)
The first Perilla I ever had came from a can, just like the kind sardines snuggle in. The leaves were very spicy and were used that way, as a spice. Later…

Persimmon Provisions (3)
Persimmons: Pure Pucker Power
About the only bad thing you can say about a persimmon tree is that it has pucker power, if you pick it at the wrong time.
Pick Of The Littering
If flowers could think they would view man as an errand boy. That floral perspective would also explain one of man’s more annoying habits.

Scientist who…
Pickerel Weed
Pontederia cordata: In a PR Pickerel
Pickerel Weed Primer
If the Pickerelweed could commiserate, it would find a friend with the Natal Plum. The Natal…
Pigeon Plums, Dove Plums, Pigeon Seagrape, Tie-TongueCoccoloba diversifolia: Seagrape Sibling
The first time you see a Pigeon Plum it will look familiar. In the same genus as the Seagrape it shares a…

Pigweed Potpourri (7)
Chenopodium album: Getting Goosed!
My first recollection of Chenopodium album, pigweed, came around 1960 via a neighbor named Bill Gowan.

Mr. Gowan was…
Pillbugs, Woodlice, Roly Pollies (4)
Armadillidium vulgare: Land Shrimp
What shall we call them? Roly Pollies? Pill Bugs? Woodlice? Sowbugs, or a half a dozen other names?They are…

Pineapple Weed
Matricaria matricarioides for Your Tea & Salad
A hard-packed gravel driveway is the last place you would expect to find a delicate plant that makes an…
Pining for You (5)
Pines: Not just for breakfast anymore
Euell Gibbons became famous for asking, “have you ever eaten a pine tree?”

A lot of folks had a laugh over…
Plant An Alarm Clock
I don’t need an alarm clock. I have a cardinal.

I don’t know exactly which cardinal it is, and if I did I might be tempted to shoot him. Cardinals are early…
Plants Can’t Run (1)
Plants can’t run. That’s why the vast majority of them are unpalatable or lethal. Guesstimates range from 5 to 10 percent of plants are edible. Let’s split the…
Podocarpus macrophyllus (4)Podocarpus: Your Own Hedge Fund
One can’t learn everything at once, and so I came to know the Podocarpus macrophyllus late in my foraging…

Poison Ivy Ponderings (28)
I did something this past week I have not done in some twenty years. I got poison ivy.Given what I do for a living, running around the wild all the…

Poisonous and Irritating Plants of Florida (4)
Below is a circular published by the state of Florida in 1978. I think it is no longer in print though I have a hard copy. It is reproduced below. Visual…
Pokeweed: Prime Potherb (11)
Can Be Deadly But Oh So Delicious: Pokeweed
Poke weed will challenge your commitment to foraging.

It is not the most commonly eaten food from a poisonous…
Pony Foot: Are they edible? That is often asked about a little lawn plant called Pony Foot, or Dichondra carolinensis.
Poplars and Aspens
Populus deltoides: Popular Poplars and Aspens

I know where there is one (1) Eastern Conttonwood. For a popular Poplar it is not common locally. Fortunately…
Practicing Homelessness
There are less Christmas parties this year than in the past, with economic conditions reducing the usual yuletide cheer. Still, there are some traditions.…
Prepared for Life (2)
We met by accident in the woods. I had hiked for a few miles already and he had just entered the trail.

When ever I go into the woods, or on water, I am…
Prickly Apple, Apple Cactus, Fragrant Apple Cactus
Harrisia Trio: Endangered Edibles All

Just as it is important to know what to eat, it’s as important to know what not to eat, or if you do, how to do it…
Puffballs, Small and Gigantic (2)
Lycoperdon perlatum: Edible Puffballs
I avoided mushrooms for a long time, and with good reasons. Some of them are on par with cyanide and arsenic and…
Purslane: Omega 3 Fatty Weed (8)
Purslane: Any Portulaca In A Storm

Her name was Zona. She was a grand friend-in-law

She had been a friend of the family for about a century. To be…
Pyracantha Jelly and Santa’s Belly
Firethorn: Pyracantha Coccinea
I don’t think it is a coincidence that “ho ho ho bellies and Pyracantha jelly jiggle into the season just before…
Pyrrolizidine on my Mind (4)
How much pyrrolizidine is too much? Or perhaps the better question is how little is too much?First, what is pyrrolizindine? Pyrrolizidine (pie-row-L…

Quack Grass (4)
Plants of little use often have only one common name, or not even that. Plants that are valued or are a pest usually have too many names such Quack…

QueenPalm: The Queen Palm and I got off on the wrong frond. Before I met one I had read it was toxic. There are a few toxic palms but the Queen Palm is not one of them.

Radish, Mustard’s Wild Rough Cousin (7) Raphanus Raphanistrum: Radical Radis. The Wild Radish has an identity problem. It looks similar to it’s equally peppery cousin, the wild mustard. In…

Ragweed: Some 18 generations ago — 600 years ago give or take a few centuries — some Natives Americans stopped cultivating a particular crop and may have moved on to maize. About 150 years ago — five generations — American farmers were raising crabgrass for grain when they, too, moved on to corn, the descendant of maize. So what crop did the Indians stop growing? Ragweed, the most hay-fever causing plant in the world.
Raspberry Razz (3)
Rubus ideaus: Delicate Raspberry. Raspberries were the first wild fruit I noticed on my own and ate as a kid.
Ravishing Radish Greens (2)
I didn’t cut the mustard this morning. I cut the radish… radish greens to be specific, Raphanus raphanistrum, said RA-fa-nus raf-an-ISS-trum.

The only bad…
Real Food Rules! (3)
This blog all started with hot dog relish.

I happen to like sardines on whole wheat toast with onions and mustard. (Regardless of what you think of…

Red Bay for all seasonings
Persea borbonia, palustris, humilis, and americana, too

Having a famous relative can make one grow in the shadows, as three Perseas know too well.There…

Redflower Ragweed: The first time I saw Redflower Ragweed I thought I was seeing two species at once some weird combination of Tassel Flower and Fireweed. It’s way too big and has the wrong leaves to be a Tassel Flower but the blossoms remind one of a Tassel Flower but the rests of the plant looks life Fireweed/Burnweed.
Reindeer Moss (1)
Edible Cladonia: What’s not to Lichen?
Lichen can be harder to tell apart than twins in the dark. My guess my picture above is of Cladonia Evanii…
Resources
The quickest and safest way to learn foraging is with a local expert. You not only learn what there is to know but do not spend time learning things you…
Ringless Honey Mushrooms: The first time I thought I saw the Ringless Honey Mushroom was on my neighbor’s lawn.
Root Beer Rat Killer (1)
It’s not smart or nice to lie about plants. It can get someone hurt. But the truth can sometimes be elusive, even with plants.
Rose Apple: The apple is in the Rose family but the Rose Apple is not though it can sometime taste like rose water… and watermelon… but not apples.
Roses
I’m not sure I found wild roses or they found me.I grew up in Maine. The local soil was usually either ground-up glacial sand, clay, which is decomposed…
Rumex Ruminations (1)
Mainer Merritt Fernald, who was the Harvard wunderkind of botany from around 1900 to 1950, said all of the 17 native Rumex species in North America…
Russian Thistle, Tumbleweed
Salsola kali: Noxious Weed, Nibble & Green
When you first encounter a Russian Thistle it is the very last plant you would consider edible. Wiry, tough,…
Saffron Plum
Sideroxylon: Chewy Ironwood
The Saffron Plum is not yellow or a plum, that is, it is not a Prunus. And it is called a Buckthorn but it isn’t one of those…
Saltwort, Turtle Weed and Reef Banana
Batis Maritima: Salt of the Earth
It has a dozen or more names, but no one is quite sure about its scientific name, Batis maritima, (BAT-is mar-IT-i-ma.)

Fora…
Sandspurs: Sandlot Sadists (2)
Sandspurs: Cenchrus’ Secret

If I were ever to invent a torture it would be dragging someone naked through a field of sandspurs.
Sargassum Sea Vegetable (1)

Sargassum: Not Just for Breakfast Any More
Sargassum — Gulf weed — comprises a huge number of seaweeds in all oceans, both bottom dwelling and free…

Sassafras: Root Beer Rat Killer (7)
Sassafras Albidum: Beaux Gumbo

Bet your sweet sassafras: If you’re on the young side ask anyone not on the young side: Root beer used to taste a lot…
Satinleaf, Olive Plum
Chrysophyllum oliviforme: “Chewy Olives”

“Turn left at the Satinleaf.”

That’s not an unusual direction in an area where Satinleafs grow, they are that…
Saw Palmetto Saga (4)
Serenoa Repens: Weed to Wonder Drug
Rotten cheese steeped in tobacco juice
That’s how starving shipwrecked Quakers described the flavor of the saw palmetto…
Sawgrass, A Cut Below The Rest (1)
Cladium jamaicense: Water finder

In Wekiva Springs state park in Florida there is a high and dry stretch of scrub pine and palmetto bushes, and oddly,…
Scarlet Runner Bean
Two beans are grown for beauty, the Hyacinth Bean, edible with precautions, and the Scarlet Runner Bean, also edible.
Humming Bird at “Emperor” Blossom
It’s…
Scorpions (1)
Southern Fried Scorpions
If I were going to rely on scorpions in Florida for sustenance, I would starve to death.

In over 30 years of rummaging…
Sea Blite, Seepweed
Suaeda linearis, maritima: Edible Blite

While most people find Sea Blite next to the sea, I find Sea Blite on the other side of the barrier…
Sea Buckthorn, SallowberrySea Buckthorn: Sour Source of Vitamin C
If you are collecting Sea Buckthorn you’re probably cold.Just as some edibles are found only in tropical…

Sea Club Rush (2)
Scirpus maritimus: a Tough Root to Crack
If you mention Sea Club Rush among foragers they give you a very blank stare. Understandably so. It was a fall-back…
Sea Kale
Sea kale is nearly the perfect primitive food. It’s difficult to imagine it not being on primitive man’s menu.We know from middens that seafood was…

Sea Lettuce, UlvaUlva: Sea Soup & Salad
Ulva is the greenest seaweed you will ever see from shore, or in the sea for that matter.Ten species, all edible, are…

Sea Oats
Uniola paniculata: Feeling your sea oats
Opinions vary on Sea Oats. Not on flavor. They taste good. The questions are, are they endangered or not, and which…
Sea Oxeye: There are edible plants, and there are inedible plants. Then there are those that sit on the cusp of edibility: Edible but not tasty, edible in small quantities, edible but with a horrible texture, edible but strong-flavored.
Sea Purslane, Salty Nibble, Potherb
Sesuvium portulacastrum: Maritime Munch

It looks like garden purslane on steriods growing in sand. And it grows all over the local beach, and other beaches…
Sea Rocket Siblings
The Cakile Clan: Seaside Edibles

Food is where the water is, be it fresh or salt, and one of the waterway foods of North America is Sea Rocket. There are at…
Sea-Grapes: Maritime Marvels (4)
Sea-Grapes: Costal Caterer

A lifetime ago I spent many a night on a dark Florida beach near the Space Center sleeping out under Sea-Grapes.…
Seminole Pumpkin

Cucurbita muschata: Seminole Edible
Unlike watermelons which are from Africa, pumpkins and their kin are North American. When Panfilo de Narvaez was…

Seminole Wekiva Trail
Seven-Mile Appetizer
The squirrels are in hog heaven, if you’ll pardon the menagerie metaphor.

It’s Thanksgiving, 2007, in central Florida and I…
Sesbania Grandiflora (1)
Any plant called the Vegetable Hummingbird has to be written about.Sesbania grandiflora, has managed to work its way into warmer areas of the world…

Seven Year Apple
Genipa clusiifolia: An Acquired Taste

Like a Suriname Cherry, you’ll either find the Seven Year Apple edible or disgusting. In fact, a lot of folks can’t…
Sida, Wireweed (5)
Sida is barely edible. A member of the Mallow mob it’s an object de interest because it is also a significant herbal medication, of which I am totally…

Silverhead, Beach Carpet (1)
Blutaparon vermiculare: Beach Potherb
My first thought on seeing Silverweed “was what is clover doing growing on the beach.” Well, Silverweed isn’t a clover…
Simpson Stopper
Myricanthes fragrans: Nakedwood Twinberry
I took me about a year to know the Simpson Stopper.

While most people think of Florida as flat there’s actually…
Skunk Vine
Paederia foetida: Much Maligned Skunk Vine
Sometimes botanists go a little too far, or at least Carl Linnaeus did when he named a particular vine Paederia…
Slugs, Snails and Fresh Water Mollusks (1)
Are Slugs edible? What about Snails?
There is only one rule you have to remember: When it comes to land snails, land slugs, and fresh water mollusks you must…
Smartweed
Polygonum punctatum: Smartweed. I can remember my first taste of a smartweed leaf… kind of like trying a piece of burning paper. Indeed,…

Smilax: A Brier And That’s No Bull (40)
For The Edible Love of Krokus and Smilax

No, that is not a “Walking stick” insect. It is the growing end of a Smilax, a choice wild…
Snakewood, Nakedwood, Mauby (1)
Colubrina elliptica: Mauby has Moxie
First there was Moxie, then Mauby… actually it was historically the other way around though few until now would know…
Society Garlic (3)
Because I am asked about it all the time I decided to do an article on it: Yes, you can eat Society Garlic… well… most of it, maybe all of it.The…

Solar Cooking
Solar cooking. Something new under the sun
Once you cook your first solar meal, you’re hooked.
Does it cost less than conventional methods? It can, but…
Sorrel: Not A Sheepish Rumex
Of all the Rumex that grow in the South, Rumex hastatulus is probably the most pleasing. The tart-tasting intensely green leaves are hard…

Sourwood: Sourwood honey is considered by some to be the best-flavored honey in North America, perhaps the world.

Sow Thistle, Prickly, Common, Field (4)
Sonchus: Sow Thistle, In A Pig’s Eye
As I write it is in mid-January in Florida two of three local species of sow thistles are invading my lawn in great…
Spanish Moss (3)
Spanish Moss is not edible. Well, barely an edible. The bottom of the growing tips (pictured above) provide about one eight of an inch of almost tasteless…

Spanish Needles, Pitchfork Weed (13)
Bidens Alba: Medical Beggar Ticks
Some plants just don’t get any respect. If there were a contest for under appreciated plants, Bidens alba , above…

Spiderwisp, Cat’s Whiskers, Spider Flower (6)
The spiderwisp looks like a mustard that lost its way or got some psychedelic-laced fertilizer. It has four-petaled flowers as the mustards do, seed pods…

Spiderwort: Pocahontas and Gamma Rays (4)
There are 404 years, as of Dec 20th, 2012, between the sailing of John Smith to the New World and spiderwort gamma rays, but they are…

Spinach Vine (1)
I like to think of myself as biclimatic, living part of my life (thus far) in a cold climate and part in a warm climate.

Spring Beauty (2)The Spring Beauty is aptly named.Actually there are several “Spring Beauties” and most of them are edible in similar ways. We’ll focus on…

Spurge Nettle: The Nettle With The Mettle (15)
Cnidolscolus Stimulosus: It’s The Real Sting
This is how to not dig up a spurge nettle root: Take a shovel, find a plant, and start digging.When…

Stinging Nettles
Urtica chamaedryoides: Nettle Knowledge
Stinging Nettles Know How
I was hiking one day when I saw what I thought was a mint I had not seen before. I…
Stork’s Bill, Cranesbill
Erodium circutarium, Geranium carolinianum: Two Bills You Want to Get

Stork’s Bill is one of those little plants that’s not supposed to grow locally…
Strawberries of Spring (1)
Fragaria virginiana: Be A Strawberry Sleuth
Fragaria don’t like Florida. Only one northern county in the state reports having wild strawberries. But that’s…
Strawberry GuavaPsidium littorale var. cattleianum: Strawberry Guava
One man’s fruit tree is another man’s weed. My one Strawberry Guava tree is a fruiting…

Strawberry Tree Curse
Strawberry Tree, Koumaria, Koumara, Pacific Madrone, Madrona
Any plant called “strawberry” other than a strawberry is doomed. Strawberries pack a lot of…
Strongback Not strong bark Bourreria succulenta: Soapy Fruit and Viagra
Botanists are feisty in their own way. The Strongback is a good example. Is it B. succulenta or B. ovata? One…
Sugar Cane on The Run (4)
Saccharum officinarum: Sweet Wild Weed
Among the edible wild plants on this site are a few escaped fruit trees and ornamentals that have become naturalized.…
Sugarberries & Hackberries (3)
Sugarberries are Hackberries with a Southern Accent
Sugarberries like to be near water and that’s why it caught my eye as I coasted by: It was growing on top…
Sumac: More Than Just Native Lemonade (4)
Sumac, Rhus Juice, Quallah: Good Drink
Sumacs look edible and toxic at the same time, and with good reason: They’re in a family that has plants we eat and…
Sunflowers: Seeds and More
Sunflowers: Sun Sentinels

His name was Bob Davis and he grew sunflowers some 15-feet high. I dated his niece, Edie May. I remember her and the…
Sunny Savage
I had the pleasure this past week of having the well-know forager Sunny Savage visit two of my classes here in Florida (If you think she is attractive on TV…
Surinam Cherry: Only Ripe Need Apply (18)
Surinam Cherries: You’ll love ‘em or hate ‘em

The Surinam cherry is not a cherry nor is it exclusively from Surinam. It’s also not from…
Swamp Lilly Wrap
Thalia geniculata: Swamp Wrap
You won’t find the “swamp lilly” in many foraging books. For a big plant it receives little attention.

Thalia geniculata…
Sweet Clover
Melitotus: Condiment to Tea to Blood Thinner
When I was growing up we owned horses. Lots of horses. And they eat a lot of hay in the winter. Lots of hay.…
Sweet Gum Tree (4)
The Sweet Gum tree is the sand spur of the forest. You painfully find them with your feet. The vicious seed pods have impaled many a forager and has done…

Sweetbay MagnoliaMagnolia viginiana: How Sweet It Is
Let’s say you want or need to trap a beaver. First you need a trap, but then you need to bait the trap. And…

Swinecress, Wart Cress: Micro MustardsCoronopus didymus/squamatus: Smelly Pot Herbs?
Opinions are mixed on Swinecress. I think it’s a nice walkabout nibble and pot herb. Others…

Sword Fern’s Secret
Nephrolepis cordifolia: Edible Watery Tubers
Edibles are often right under your feet, or my feet as it were.

I had a yard of non-edible ferns. If you like…
Sycamores Get No RespectSycamores: Not Just Another Plane Tree
Sycamore trees are not high on the edible list, unless you’re in need.Actually, sycamores, Platanus occidental…

Take Things Lying Down
Early in life I settled on a hobby I can do on a summer’s day, in a hammock, on my back….. No, it’s not napping. I watch clouds. Call it reclining…
Tallow Plum
Ximenia americana: Known by Many Names
If I listed this edible under its botanical name few would find it. On the other hand it has some three dozen commons…
Tamarind: I drove past a dozen Tamarind trees for a decade or so until I looked up one day. The lumpy brown pods on pretty trees had finally caught my attention.
Tansy Mustard, Western

Descurainia pinnata: Abandoned Seed
What shall we call this little member of the Brassica family? Western Tansy Mustard or Tansy Mustard? We could always…

Tape Seagrass (3)
It is said that all seaweed is edible but that’s not true. There’s at least one species that is not, Desmarestia ligulata. Why? Because it is laced…

Tar Vine, Red SpiderlingBoerhavia diffusa: Catchy Edible
Some times you just can’t identify a plant. Some times you’re frustrated for a few days, other times for a few…

Tassel, Musk and Grape Hyacinths (2)
There are dozens of edible species that are wild in Europe and cultivated or escaped in North America. Three related species with a multitude of names are…

Thistle: It’s That Spine of Year (3)

Thistle: Touch me not, but add butter. Thistles, you’re either going to love ’em or hate em. Of course, I think eating them is the sensible…

Ti, Good Luck Plant
Cordyline fruticosa: Food, Foliage, Booze
Simply called Ti (tee) Cordyline fruticosa spent most of its history with humans as a food, a source of alcohol, or…
Tick Clover (2)
Tick Clover barely makes it into our foraging realm.I have found only one reference to its edibility. In the 47th volume of the Journal…

Tiger Lily
The word “lily” causes more confusion than four letters ought to be able to make. There are true lilies, usually not edible, some of them quite toxic, a…

Tomato Tobacco Hornworms (4)
Manduca Cuisine: Eating Green Gluttons
You’re picking tomatoes and suddenly there it is: Big, ugly and green, a tomato hornworm. To which I say, get or the…
Tools of the Trail
Over the years I have added a few items to my back pack that can make foraging more easier. You might want to add one or two of these items.

The handiest…
Topi Tambo, Leren, Guinea Arrowroot (2)
A lifetime ago off the Maine coast at low tide there were many mussel shoals. The vertical tidal change near the rock-bound coast can be measured in…

Torchwood
One reason to write about the Torchwood is very few people know about it these days yet it was once an esteemed wood and produces an edible, citrusy…

Toxic tomatoes: I rarely write about toxic plants because this site is about edibles. However there are enough prickly nightshades around to justify an article about them and how to identify them even if they aren’t edible.
Traveler’s Palm Travails
Ravenala madagascariensis: Palm, NOT!
The Traveler’s Palm is reportedly known for providing wayfarers water, but it also has some food to offer as well.
Trilliam Trifecta: Every May Day — the first of May — we kids would hang a May Basket on our teacher Arlene Tryon and disappear off the school grounds.
Tropical Almond: I went to Ft. Myers one Friday to look at plants on an 11-acre monastery. On the property there was a large tree they didn’t know nor did I. The following Sunday while teaching a class across the state in West Palm Beach two students knew a tree there that I didn’t know. It was the same tree at the Monastery. Small botanical world. The tree was a Tropical Almond.
Tropical Chestnuts: Pachira aquatica (1)
My foraging existence is slightly schizophrenic. I grew up in a northern climate, and I write about many northern plants, or it is accurate to say that…
Tuberous Pea: Anyone who has mowed fields for hay hates vetch… wild pea. It binds up the machinery and a lot of livestock won’t eat it. That’s a lose lose all around unless the vetch is Lathyrus tuberosus.
Tuckahoe, Arrow Arum (2)Peltandra virginica: Starch Storer
You wouldn’t think there would be a connection between the United States’ Capital and a toxic bog plant, but…

Tulip Tree (9)
Not every edible plant has to be a nutritional powerhouse. Some are “edible” by the barest of means. A good example is the Tulip Tree, Liriodendron…

Tulips (2)
Tulips: Famine Food, Appetizer Assistant
Many years ago a social acquaintance upon learning I ate weeds said she and her mother had eaten tulip bulbs. If I…
Tupelos: Black, Swamp, Bear, Water, OgeecheeNyssus: Tart Botanical Tangles
The Black Tupelo is an old friend from around ponds where I grew up in Maine to around ponds (called lakes) here in…

TurtlesThe Shell Game: Eating Turtles
The evidence is clear: Man has been eating turtle for a long time. But which turtles and how?While land turtles…

Unresolved Botanical Ponderings (2)Cnidoscolus stimulosis: Can the leaves be boiled and eaten like other species in the genus? I personally know of two account of…

Usnea: Likable LichenUSNEA is not an international committee. It’s a likable lichen. In fact all but two of the 20,000 lichen are forager…

Valuable Viburnums: The only significant problem with Viburnums is choosing which one to use, and which ones to write about.
Velvet Leaf: Velvet Leaf is a commercial failure but a successful foreign invader.

Vinegar: Your own unique strain (5)
The vinegar mother above —three inches across and a half in thick — was collected from the wild in Lake Mary, Florida, in 1996 and has been making…

Violets’ Virtues
Viola affinis: Florida’s Sweet Violet
My introduction to violets was seeing my mother eat “Piss-a-beds” in the spring (Viola rafinesquii. VYE-oh-lah…
Wapato: All It’s Quacked Up To Be (2)
Sagittaria Lancifolia: Duck Potatoes, Wapato
Artificial grass is not grass. Non-dairy creamer contains a dairy product. And ducks don’t eat duck potatoes.…
Water Arum, Water Dragon, Wild Calla:
Calla palustris: Missen…Famine Bread. Like so many in the same family the starchy rhizome of the Calla palustris is laced with calcium oxalate crystals…
Water Chestnut: The Water Chestnut is a plant of contradictions.

Water Hyacinth Woes
Water Hyacinth Stir Fry: The state of Florida minces no words about the water hyacinth: “Eichhornia crassipes is one of the worst weeds in the…

Water Lettuce (5)
No one knows if Water Lettuce is native to North America or not. Botanists disagree with some saying it’s from Africa, a few South America. Explorer and…

Water Shield Salad
Brasenia schreberi: Palatable Pond Weed
The Water Shield is edible. The problem is getting it sometimes. It likes water … up to six feet deep. On the good…
Watercress: Ancient Flavor
Florida is the Winter Watercress Capital of the U.S.

Nasturtium officinale (nas-STUR-shum oh-fis-in-AY-lee ) is one of the oldest leaf vegetables…
Wax Myrtle Jewels (1)
Myrica cerifera: A Tree That Makes Scents
Wax Myrtle was the Indians’ minimart of the forest.

Need some spice? Drop by the Wax Myrtle tree. How about a…
Weeds and Wolves (2)
I am often invited to see someone’s vegetable garden, and it’s usually growing well. Then I’m asked if I see any edible weeds, and usually there are some. I…
Weeds of Southern Turfgrasses
The link to the university’s site to buy the book — I do not get a cut — is here.The list of known edibles in the book is below. Many of…

Welcome to EatTheWeeds.com (28)
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What’s Green and What’s Not?
An arctic express of frigid air recently sped down and across the United States. Here in Florida it snowed for the second time in 33 years, delivering a week…
When Is A Lawn A Lake? (2)
It sounds like a trick question, when is a lake a lawn, but there is a non-tricky answer: When it is in Florida.

Regular followers of this writer know I am…
When Scholarship Isn’t Enough
I saw a religion-themed movie once that actually holds an instructive point for us foragers.

In it a Catholic priest is facing a moral decision that could…
Where Do You Forage?
It’s a simple question with a complex answer. When I was younger the 1000 acres behind the house and the 2000 across the road answered that question. Today it…
Where the Weeds Are
There is little doubt that man has been foraging for food for a long time. As one might guess, in different places he foraged for different plants. He also…
White Indigo Berry Has A Dark Side
Randia aculeata
The White Indigo Berry is not high on the food list. Dr. Daniel Austin, author of Florida Ethnobotany, has this to say on page 562:
White man’s Little Foot: Dwarf PlantainWhite man’s Little Foot: Dwarf Plantain
Plantain, Plantagos To Go
When I was about 10 a bee stung my hand while I was being a pest in the…

Who’s Manipulating Whom?
I don’t care for Salvia coccinea. It’s not edible and it likes to crowd out my herbs. I’m forever removing it from flower pots. The other day I was about…

Why Forage? (1)
Often I am asked “why forage for wild food?” Why that question is asked is probably worthy of an article unto itself. But here let’s focus on one answer (out…
Wild Carrots and Queen Ann’s LaceDaucus Carota & Pusillus: Edible Wild Carrots
I’ve never understood the confusion over identifying the Wild Carrot also called Queen Ann’s…

Wild Citrus, Footloose Plants
Feral Citrus: Snack, Seasoning and Soap
Citrus, like apples when left unattended by man, tend to revert to their natural state of being sour and acidic. A lot…
Wild Coffee But Not Kentucky (5)
Psychotria nervosa Florida Style
Because I am constantly asked about it: Yes, you can eat the pulp off the seeds of the wild coffee, and yes, you can make a…
Wild Dilly, Wild Sapodilla
Wild Dilly: Almost Chique
If the Natal Plum and the Wild Dilly could sit down and have a conversation they would probably agree that having a famous…
Wild Fennel: One of the outstanding sensory experiences of hiking in Greece is smelling in the wild herbs one usually buys in little plastic containers.

Wild Flours (8)
A wild flour is different than a starchy root. The Spurge Nettle has a starchy root that tastes like pasta but it does not lend itself to being processed…

Wild Ginger: Wild Ginger is cantharophilic, sometimes myophilic or sapromyophilic.

Wild Lettuce, Woodland Lettuce
Lactuca floridana: Let Us Eat Wild Lettuce

Wild lettuce is not as tame as garden lettuce.

Garden lettuce is one of those nearly flavorless nearly…
Wild Onion, Wild Garlic (2)
Allium canadense: The Stinking Rose
Garlic and onions don’t like to set underground bulbs here in hot Florida. I got around it by growing wild onions,…
Wild Pineapple (2)
Bromelia pinguin: Wild Pineapple
I took the picture directly above while out bicycling on a Christmas Day, 2008. But, didn’t identified the object de green…
Wild Rice (4)
Love and marriage, horse and carriage, Zizania and canoe… not exactly lyrical but you get the idea. If you want Wild Rice you have to go where the Wild…

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I have long criticized what I call chemists in the kitchen. They brought us such things as cancer-causing additives, artery-damaging trans-fats, insulin-skewing…
Willow Weep For Me (1)
Salix caroliniana: Nothing Would Be Finer
The willow is not prime eats. It’s not even secondary eats. In fact, it is famine food, but, willow can also cure…
Winter Foraging: The thermometer was near zero one day when I was on ice skates collecting frozen cranberries.

Winter Soul-stice
On the shortest day of the year one should take a long look around. It’s the inventory time of year, a bit of soul searching. That requires a little looking…
Wisteria Criteria (3)Wisteria, Wistaria
There is a duality to Wisteria, starting with those who think it is an invasive weed and those who like to eat its sweet, fragrant…

Wood Oats
Chasmanthium latifolium: Edible Wood Oats
Most people discover Wood Oats by mistake. They’re traipsing through the forest, come across a plant, and wonder…
Yacon (1)
Is it a Polymnia or a Smallanthus? Botanists took some 70 years to make up their minds. Let’s call it Yacon like the natives.In publications before…

Yam A: The Alata (6)
The Dioscorea Dilemma: Which ones are edible, and what parts?

One wouldn’t think wild yams would be hard to sort out. It only took me about a dozen…
Yam B: The Bulbifera (9)
The “Cheeky Yam, or Yam on the Lamb
Yam B, Dioscorea bulbifera, is definitely second best to Yam A, Dioscorea alata. Why is Yam B, the D. bulbifera second…
Yam C: The Chinese
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Just like Rambo movies, there is Yam A, Yam B and, yes, a Yam C, the Chinese Wild Yam or the Cinnamon Vine yam, either way we…
Yaupon Holly, Ilex vomitoria (10)
History has many layers and shades. It’s not a straight timeline of great clarity but more like a meandering muddy river with much confluence, influence…

Yellow Pond Lilly: Raising A Wokas
Picking Pond Lillies: Nuphar Luteum subsp. advena

Once upon a time there was just one Nuphar luteum… and it was good.

The yellow pond lilly…
Yew: The Yew can kill you.

You Can Learn To Forage For Wild Edibles
There is such a thing as a free lunch, or almost free: The edible wild plants around you.

With a little specialized knowledge and a “guidance” system…
Your Choice for a New Vegetable (2)
If you could choose one wild plant to become a commercial product, what would it be?

Many people have tried to make poke weed (Phytolacca americana) a green…
Yucca’s Not Yucky (5)Yucca, Yuca: Which is Edible?
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{ 21 comments }

Classes

by Green Deane

Green Deane leading a foraging plant walk atSlough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road Florida Earth Skills gathering 2013. Photo by Ralph Giunta — Green Deane leading a foraging plant walk at Florida Earth Skills gathering. Photo by Ralph Giunta

Foraging Class Schedule

Below is my upcoming class schedule which is updated weekly. Please make reservations. For payment methods, see below. Walk-in’s are accepted if the class is not full. To make your reservation send me an email. Please include date(s) desired, number of people, and contact information. Class size is limited to assure personal attention. Cost is $30 per adult.

The class is usually around three hours long or so and covers edible plants, mushroom, and some medicinals that we find that day. Classes are held hot or cold, rain or shine except for hurricanes. Descriptions of each location and where to meet are below under additional information. Times and day of week can differ with each location and time of year. Double check. Hiking and clothes requirements change with each class as do facilities. Again, double check. More details about each individual venue — such as where to meet — are listed below the Pay Now button.

Payment method: Cash on the day of class, $30 per person 18 and over. Or you can pay by credit card by clicking on the Pay Now button below. Or, if you have a Pal Pay account email me and ask for the appropriate email address. No checks please. If you pay by Paypal or credit card there is and additional $5 charge.

Saturday, April 13th, Red Bug Slough 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot.

Sunday, April 14th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Meet at Ganyard Rd and Bayshore. 9 a.m. to noon.

Saturday, April 20th, Blanchard Park, 2451 Dean Rd, Union Park, FL 32817, meet beside the tennis courts, 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday, April 21st, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL, meet at the dog park. 9 a.m. to noon.

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

Sunday, April 28th, Colby-Alderman Park: 1099 Massachusetts Street, Cassadaga. Fla. 32706. meet at the bathrooms, 9 a.m. to noon.

Saturday, May 4th, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park. 9 to noon.

Sunday, May 4th, 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.

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

REGULAR CLASS LOCATIONS

Red Bug Slough 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota. There are about 12 parking places and a residential street across the street that can be used. Among the edible there are pokeweed, pepper grass, pines, sida, tar vine, Spanish needles, fireweed, amaranth, puslane, bitter gourd, horseweed, sow thistles, plantagos, native and non-native grapes, smilax, sumac, cabbage palms, oaks, magnolias, gallberry, caesar weed, beautyberry, willow, sword ferns, hairy cowpea, wax myrtle, elderberry, pellitory, saw grass, true thistles, blackberries, sweet bay, sweet clover, panic grass, water shield, wapato, black medic, day flowers, dollar weed, dock, bottle brush, epazote, silverthorm, saw palmetto, maypops, ground cherries, porter weed, black nightshade, False Hawk’s Beard, Oxalis, creeping cucumber, and a few toxic ones such as poison ivy, coral bean and rosary pea.

Seminole Wekiva Trail, Sanlando Park, 401 West Highland St. Altamonte Springs, Florida 32714 (at the intersection with Laura Avenue.) We meet in the first parking lot on your right immediately after the entrance. This class involves about two miles of walking over several hours , some of it on an active bike trail. There is parking, drinking water and several bathrooms. We visit the immediate park area near tennis courts then north through park woods to a softball park. After that we walk the bike trail south back to the park seeing about 60 edible species depending on the time of year.

Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127. GPS: N 20°05’35.4″ W080°58′.26.2″ Entrance is on the west side of southbound Ridgewood Ave (which is also US 1) Northbound traffic will have to make a U-turn. For southbound traffic, after passing Nova Road and the twin bridges the park entrance is 1/2 mile south on your right. The park, not far from Daytona Beach, has 1,637 acres and three miles of “nature” trails. It combines in a small area three different plant environments; a small patch of weeds common to urban areas, coastal hammock growth, and plants tolerant of the salty environment. Most are noticeable four species of hollies including the infamous Ilex vomitoria, the North American equivalent of Yerba Mate. Two common brackish water edibles, Saltwort and Sea Purslane, are also abundant. We will meet at the restrooms (it’s actually it’s a pavilion but the direction sign says restrooms.)

Tide Views Preserve, 1 Begonia Street, Atlantic Beach Fl 32233 (near Jacksonville Fl.) This is a new location still being explored.

Treaty Park, 1595 Wildwood Drive, St. Augustine, Florida 32086. Go past the dog park, the skate park and the racket ball courts. We’ll meet at the pavilion near the pond.

Turtle Mound: Canaveral National Seashore Park. While there are plenty of plants to look at we will probably have to change locations in the park at least once during the class. Because of parking this may require car pooling. There is also a fee per car to get into the park. For a preview see my video on You Tube entitled Turtle Mound. We will meet at Turtle Mound parking area. Among the edible species growing there are: Ground cherries, saw palmettos, eastern coral bean, wild grapes, seablight, sea purslane, salicornia, searocket, Persea, cabbage palm, smilax, black mangrove, Ilex, feral citrus, spurge nettle, papaya, wild peppers (in season) sea oats (protected) crowfoot grass seaside bean, opuntia, nopalea, toothache tree, seagrapes, purslane, hackberry, sedges, Spanish needles, sweet bay, and oaks,

Urban Crawl Winter Park, a three-mile walk.

Urban Crawl, meet in front of Panera’s, north end, 329 N. Park Avenue, Winter Park. Free parking in the parking garage, levels four and five behind Panera’s. The Urban Crawl is designed to help you identify edibles found in a city environment. We will see edible natives, imports, ornamentals, and neglected landscaping. We’ll also discuss issues with foraging in an urban area. Afterwards we can talk plants over coffee at Panera’s. We will walk approximately 2.5 miles most of it, but not all, on sidewalks. The following edibles can be seen: Dandelions, Podocarpus macrophyllus, false Hawk’s Beard, cabbage palms, white clover, the bottle brush tree, Bidens pilosa, various Oxalis, pellitory, dollarweed, night blooming cereus, oaks, camphor trees, sword ferns, pepper grass, hairy bittercress, roses, cherries/plums. saw palmetto, dwarf and full grown Ilex vomitoria, pines, skunk vine, Turks cap, two species of sow thistle, Nandina, beautyberry, smilax, cattails, koontie, pickerel weed, dock, Micromeria brownii, bulrush, yellow pond lilly, water shield, shell ginger, Chinese elm, natal plum, Stachyis floridana, pansies, canna, lantana, purslane, wax begonia, sedges, pindo palm, American holly, spiderwort, goose grass, mulberry, chickweed, and tansy mustard. Non-edibles worthy of mention: Rosary pea, the most toxic seed on earth, dog fennel and mexican poppies.

Venetian Gardens, 201 E. Dixie Ave, Leesburg, FL 34748. What do you do with low islands that flood regularly? Add some bridges and call the park Venetian Gardens, which is about a half mile west of Leesburg Regional Medical Center. It’s a 100-acre park on Lake Harris and is also adjacent to a ball park. The flat landscape lends itself to easy walking but we’ll cover about three miles during the class walking about the park. As it is lake side the list of foragables leans towards the aquatic and we might get our feet wet. There are also many freeloading birds and squirrels in attendance… will beg for photo opt.

Wekiva State Park, 1800 Wekiwa Circle, Apopka, Florida 32712. There is a park admission Fee: $6 per vehicle. Limit 8 people per vehicle, $4 for a single occupant vehicle, $2 pedestrians or bicyclists. Meet at the Sand Lake parking lot. Unlike city parks or the urban area, Wekiva Park is “wild” Florida. There are very few weeds of urbanization. The edibles are mostly native plants and far between. This class is recommended for anyone interested in what the natives used. We will walk about four miles roundtrip. The plants are sporadically located. We will visit upland scrub and river bottom ecological zones, and then we will retrace our path and ”test” everyone. The walking is on trails and depending on the weather, at times it can be taxing. Bring water, appropriate clothes, and hiking equipment.

Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. 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.) This park is a recreational area more than a wildlife habitat, Wickham Park still offers several dozen edible species in two distinct habitats. We will walk about 1.5 miles. Among the edible species are Oaks, Cabbage palm, Crowfoot grass, Pines, Centella erecta (Asian Dollar Weed) Pennywort, Dollarweed, Plantains, Bidens pilosa (Spanish needles) Saw palmetto, Caesar weed, Grapes, ( native and hybrids) Smilax, Yucca filamentosa, Gopher apples, Wax myrtles, American Beauty Berry, Poke weed, Sumac, Saw grass, Elderberry, False hawks beard, Pellitory, Creeping cucumber, Oxalis, Bitter gourd, Cattails, smooth-leaf bacopa, Gallberry, Wapato, or wapati, Bull thistle, Ground cherry, and Purslane.

**Bayshore Live Oak Park**, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. Part of the original Port Charlotte Harbor this long and narrow park still sports many edible wild plants and ornamentals. There are numerous parking lots and facilities. We will meet at the parking lot east of the last fishing pier. Among the interesting plants we will study are elderberry, caesar weed, palms, sea grapes, Spanish needles, sea purslane, wild cow peas, red and black mangroves, oaks, railroad vine, saw palmettos, firebush, epazote, sida, Ilexes, Canaveral Rose, fig, smilax, crowfoot grass, loquats, coco plums, wild grapes, opuntia, Cereus, pines, horseweed, bitter gourd, and a few toxic plants. There are bathrooms and water at the park. Because of the distance this class has to have 10 confirmed students ahead of time.

Blanchard Park, 2451 Dean Rd, Union Park, FL 32817 This is a large park with a YMCA facility built in as well as play grounds, tennis courts and soccer fields. It also runs along a the Little Econlockhatchee River so there is an opportunity to see some water plants as well. One down side is the only bathroom open a 9 a.m. is about a quarter mile west from where we meet. By the end of the class the YMCA is open. Jay Blanchard Trail runs east-west south of University Boulevard. The park can be entered on the west side by Dean Road (thus you dive by the bathrooms) or from the east side off Rouse Road.

Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St., Gainesville, FL 32641. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house. We start at the park and on a small portion of the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, total distance 1.8 miles. Because of the distance this class has to have confirmed students ahead of time. DIRECTIONS: Take 4th Street off State road 331 (SE Williston Road.) At SE 15th Street (a T-intersection) turn right. In less than a mile you will see the entrance on your right to the Hawthorn Trail, pass that. Take the immediate next right into the Boulware Springs parking lot, adjacent to SE 15th St. Besides studying the area around the spring we also walk along the Hawthorne Trail and side trails.

Colby-Alderman Park: 1099 Massachusetts Street, Cassadaga. Fla. 32706. Situated on Lake Coby and sometimes called Lake Colby/Royal Park, the 124-acre historic site was recently renovated with a quarter million dollar grant. It has a pavilion, bathrooms, boat ramp, plenty of shade, parking and a nature walk. It is the most handicap accessible site for studying wild edibles. A July survey showed at least three dozen edible species growing, from fruiting persimmons to spurge nettle to blossoming kudzu. Directions: Take Interstate-4 to Exit #114 (formerly Exit #54.) Turn west onto Highway 472 (toward Orange City/Deland. That is a left if coming from from the south, a right if coming from the north.) Once on 472 and leaving the interstate behind go to the first traffic light and turn right onto Dr. Martin Luther King Parkway. After you are on the parkway, turn right at the first street, which is Cassadaga Road (Country Road 4139.) Continue 1.5 miles to Cassadaga. You will pass the Cassadaga Hotel on your right. While the main road immediately turns left you will go straight (which is where the GPS puts you.) Go down a short hill where the road bears right and ends in the park. Meet near the restrooms. We will walk 1.8 miles with most of it on a paved walkway or a sand path.

Dreher, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. Take exit 68 (Southern Boulevard) off Interstate 95 and go east. Entrance to the park is an immediate right at the bottom of the interstate bridge. Follow the convoluted signs to the science center (which is not where the GPS puts you.) Park anywhere. We meet 300 feet northwest of the science museum near the banyan tees. It’s a noisy area but early in the morning isn’t too bad. The amount of plants we can see depends upon the season and how much mowing they do. Among them are: American beautyberry, malaleuca, pigeon plum, pines, caesar weed, elderberry, wild grapes, citrus, oxalis, conyza, smilax, passion flowers, sandspurs, koontie, ipomoea, oaks, commelinas, Emilias, purslane, amaranth, figs, Bauhinia, crowfoot grass, surinam cherry, bitter gourd, red spiderling, sea grapes, sida, cattails, yellow pond lillies, Spanish needles, mangos, sedges, wapato, firebush, pickerel weed, sabal palms, royal palms, queen palms, bamboo, traveler palms, coconuts, date palms, dollar weed, water hyssop, mahoe, varigated mahoe, seaside mahoe, fishtail palm, podocarpus, lichen, pellitory, porter weed, pepper grass, smartweed, false hawk’s beard, sow thistles, epazote, sword fern, juniper, Ilex, cocoplums, bittercress, and two of the most toxic seeds on earth and an iguana or two.

Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park. Situated in Largo on the Pinellas peninsula it’s a large park with a variety of different environments. On my first trip there I found: Amaranth, American Beautyberry, Bacopa Monnieri, Bitter Gourd, Brazilian Pepper, Bull Thistle, Burn Weed\Fire Weed, Caesarweed, Camphor Tree, Creeping Cucumber, Crowfoot Grass, Dollar weed, Duckweed, Eastern Cedar/Juniper, Eastern Gamma Grass, Eastern Redbud, Elderberry, False Hawk’s Beard, Ganoderma, Gotu Kola, Lantana, Latex Strangler Vine, Magnolia, Sweet and Southern, Nopales, Oaks, Palm, Panic Grass, Pellitory, Pines, Pokeweed, Pony Foot, Poor Man’s Pepper Grass, Purslane, Red Bay, Saw Palmetto, Simpson Stopper, Smartweed, Sow Thistle, Spiny/Common, Stinging Nettle, Sweet Bay, Sword Fern, Tansy Mustard, Wax Myrtle, Yellow Passionflower, Yellow Pond Lilly, Yaupon Holly.

Florida State College, south campus, 11901 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, 32246. We meet at Building A next to the administration parking lot. This is a pleasant wander around the campus with environments ranging from pond to woods and in between. There are also a good complement of edible ornamentals. We walk about two miles over three hours.

Ft. Desoto Park, 3500 Pinellas Bayway S. St. Petersburg Fl 33715. There is an entrance fee to the park. Meet at the fishing pier parking lot. It’s a large parking lot, meet near the bathrooms. This is a compact area with a lot of poison ivy so we have to be alert. Among the forageables at this location is a hurst of Persimmons, numerous Seagrapes, native Blue Porter Weed and a planted Chaya. We will also see some salt-tolerant edibles and perhaps some seaweed as well.

LaStrange is a primitive area to forage.

George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. The preserve is only about three miles from the junction of the Turnpike and I-95. It has no bathroom or drinking water so take advantage of the various eateries and gas stations at the exit. After exiting either the turnpike or I-95 go east on Okeechobee Road. Turn right onto S. Jenkins Road. Then left on Edwards Road. Then right onto Silvitz Road. After crossing the small St. Lucie River (a small S-curve among those straight roads) turn right onto Ralls Road. Go to the end of Ralls Road then turn left into the preserve. Part of the trails through the preserve take you along ox bows of the St. Lucie River and Ten Mile Creek. During my last visit I saw a lot of Ground Cherries, Amaranth, Purslane, Barnyard Grass, Dollar weed, Spanish Needles, Gopher Apples, Sow Thistles, native and escaped grapes, Smilax, Poor Man’s Pepper Grass, Pellitory, False Hawk’s Beard, Water Hyssop, Coral Bean, Hairy Cow Pea, Southern Wax Myrtle, Fireweed, Epazote, Catails, Willows, Pines and a lot of fish.

Jervey Gantt Recreation Complex, 2390 SE 36th Ave., Ocala, FL, 34471. Meet at the entrance to the pool, aka Aquatic Fun Center. This walk is about a mile long and mostly on well-graded paths. While there are no immediate aquatic plants at this site there are numerous wild edibles. Among them are: plantain, epazote, oxalis, sycamore, pepper grass, hickory, usnea, pines, oaks, amaranth, Chinese elm, Florida elm, Hercules club, smilax, blackberries, wax myrtle, eastern red bud, spurge nettle, sumac, magnolia, tansy mustard, paper mulberry, sow thistles, Florida betony, camphors, ground cherry, red spiderling, podocarpus, Spanish needles, milkweed vine, muscadine grapes, summer grapes, palm, persimmon, beautyberry, dandelion, false hawk’s beard, plum, cherry, hawthorn, and henbit. Because of the distance this class has to have confirmed students ahead of time.

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. This is a very nice, small county park on Lake Tarpon with part of the walk being lakeside. We will walk the Peggy Trail backwards, then visit the boat launch area, then an observation tower, then wend along the board walk lakeside. At the end of the boardwalk we will go through the center of the park back to where we started. That’s about a mile walk. Among the edible species there are: beautyberry, bitter gourd, blackberry, dayflower, caesar weed, cattails, chuffa/sedges, crowfoot grass, dahoon holly, false hawks beard, fireweed, Florida betony, Florida elm, grapes, cultivars, grapes, muscadines, groundnuts, heartleaf drymaria, hickories (water and pignut) dwarf ilex vomitoria, maples, oxalis, palms, panic grass, pennyworts, persimmon, pickerel weed, pines, oaks, reindeer moss, red bay, saw palmetto, smilax, Spanish needles, smart grass, sumac, sycamores, usnea, water hyacinths, wapato, water shields, wax myrtle, and willow.

Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. Meet at the bathrooms. The garden has been around for some 80 years through various stages of attention and neglect. It has over 100 edible species on an annual basis. Mead Garden has natives, exotics, now-banned plants, once-common plants, and just plain old weeds (often removed from more-attended gardens.) Among the edible species in Mead are: Amaranth, American Burnweed, American Eelgrass, Beautyberry, Bee Balm, Bitter Gourd, Blackberries, Black Cherry, Black Tupelo, Bulrush, Cabbage Palm, Caesar Weed, Camphor Tree, Cattails, Ceriman, Chickasaw Plum, Chinese Elm, Commelinas, Crowfoot Grass, Creeping cucumber, Dayflowers, Eastern Coral Bean, Elderberry, Epazota, Feijoa Tree, Florida Elm, False Hawks Beard, Florida Betony, Gallberry, Goose Grass, Goto Kola, Grapes, Ground Nuts, Guinea grass, Heartleaf Drymaria, Hibiscus, Hickory, Ilex vomitoria var nana and pendula, Koontie, Lemon Grass, Lantana, Loquat, Magnolia, Maples, Melaleuca, Micromeia brownii, Monkey Puzzle Tree, Nagi Tree, Night-blooming Cereus, Oaks, Oxalis articulata, intermedia, stricta, Paper Mulberry, Pennyworts, Pickerel Weed, Pindo Palm, Pines, Podocarpus macrophylis, Poke Weed, Queen Palm, Red Bays, Red Bud, Red Mulberry, Reindeer Moss, Rubber Plant, Sand spurs, Saw palmetto, Seagrape, Shell Ginger, Skunk vine, Smartweed, Smilax, Sow Thistle, Spanish Needles, Spiderworts, Surinam Cherry, Swamp lilly, Sweetgum, Sycamore, Tulip Tree, Usnea, Violets, Wapato, Water Bacopa, Wax Myrtle, Wild Pineapple, Willow, Yam, Dioscorea alata.

Tide Views Preserve, 1 Begonia Street, Atlantic Beach Fl 32233 (near Jacksonville Fl.) This is a new location still being explored.

Treaty Park, 1595 Wildwood Drive, St. Augustine, Florida 32086. Go past the dog park, the skate park and the racket ball courts. We’ll meet at the pavilion near the pond.

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