Search: sow thistle

Sow Thistles can turn purple as they age. Photo by Green Deane

Sonchus: Sow Thistle, In A Pig’s Eye

Starting in  mid-January in Florida, later north of here, two of three local species of sow thistles invade my lawn in great number. They are so good they’re worth all the complaints about my untraditional lawn. I can’t eat them fast enough. In fact, right now I am having a bowl with homemade butter, salt and pepper. I threw a couple of plants that were a little too old into the pot but they weren’t too bitter. That bitterness is caused by their white sap.

You cannot eat most plants with white sap (or white berries.) That is one of the general rules of foraging for wild food, besides that and never eating anything wild without positive identification and verification it is edible. There are three or four common exceptions to the white sap rule: Figs, Ground Nuts, Sow thistles and various Wild Lettuce.

Typical Sonchus blossom

There’s a huge variety in sow thistles, from having few or no prickles to having a lot, from a foot high to six feet high, from green to purple, especially older plants. Young sow thistles can just be tossed in the herb pot, where as some older leaves need to be trimmed of the thistles, which is a point of culinary departure. Really old leaves are bitter and not that much fun to eat even if they are edible. Frankly if you have to trim spines off sow thistles you’re better off leaving them alone. Young and tender leaves is a good rule to follow particularly with the rougher species. When young their flavor resembles lettuce and as they age more like Swiss chard. When old they are just bitter. I try to harvest them between four and 12 inches high.  The young stalks peel and cooked are excellent, too. The young root is also edible when cooked but tends to be woody.

Sonchus asper leaf and stem

The three common ones are Sonchus oleraceus, (SON-kus oh-ler-AY-see-us ) Sonchus Asper (SON-kus ASS-pur) and Sonchus arvensis (SON-kus ar-VEN-sis.) They are respectfully the common sow thistle, the spiny sow thistle and the field sow thistle. The Oleraceus has green leaves with a bit of blue, Delta- arrow-shaped end lobes and distinctly pointed lobes where it clasps the stem. The asper has spiny round lobes where it clasps the stem. It also has a lot of spines. It’s the one that can require trimming. The arvensis has more lance shaped leaves, lobes can be irregular, and soft small spines. It is the softest of the three with a tactile feel closer to a wild lettuce.

Sonchus blossom as the insect sees it, photo by Bjørn Rørslett – NN/Nærfoto

As for the sow thistle’s botanical name: Sonchus is the ancient Greek name for the plant and means “hollow” referring to the plant’s hollow stem, a point of identification.  Although grazing animals (and butterflies) actually prefer the Sonchus to grass farmers rant about the plant because it’s a weed amongst their crop.  It is sad to say but a lot of agri-business is not green, or perhaps not so in the United States. In southern Italy Sonchus invades crops there but they have the good sense to pick it and serve it with spaghetti. Oleraceus means it is edible or cultivated.  Asper means rough, and arvensis of the cultivated field.

Sonchus oleraceus leaf and stem

Sow thistles got their name because they were fed to lactating pigs. (Remember the old heuristic way of thinking? If you want to see like a hawk eat hawk eyes. If you want mama pigs to nurse better feed them plants with white sap.)  Anyway, the white sap of the thistle was assumed to be good for nursing sows. As it turned out, pigs love them, as do rabbits which is why they are sometimes called Hare Thistles (they are not true thistles, however, which is another genus altogether. True thistles always draw blood their spines are so sharp. You can read about them here. )

As you can assume, sow thistle is found literally around the world. In Greece, it is used in winter salads, and has been for thousands of years. Pliny wrote that before Theseus went to meet the Bull of Marathon, he was treated by the old woman Hecale (e-KAH-lee in Greek) to a dish of sow thistles. The ancients Greeks considered sow thistle wholesome and strengthening — maybe the Bull of Marathon should have eaten some. Modern Greeks call it Zohos. In New Zealand, Sonchus is called “puha” and is frequently eaten, particularly by the Māori who also used the sap as a gum.  A very nice blog on the  Māori  and the Sonchus can be read here.

Again, young and tender is usually better when it comes to cooking wild greens. Here are some sow thistle recipes from ‘The Essential Hedgerow and Wayside Cookbook’. Incidentally, young Sonchus asper may seem prickly when raw but its soften when cooked (unless you picked them way to old.)

BUTTERED SOW-THISTLE

1 or 2 handfuls sow-thistle leaves – young

Butter or oil

Beef stock or water

Ground nutmeg – pinch

1 tsp. flour

Salt and pepper

 

For this recipe the young 2- to 4-inch leaves of common sow-thistle

[Sonchus oleraceus] are best and when the leaves are not bitter.

Other sow-thistle species may need their spines trimming off and

may be bitter to the taste requiring some preparatory boiling.

 

Heat some butter or oil in a pan and add the leaves. Stir thoroughly to

coat the leaves. Add a good slug of stock or water, reduce the heat to a

simmer and cover. Cook for about 5 to 10 minutes. Add a pinch of nutmeg,

the flour and some seasoning. Stir everything, then add another knob of

butter and melt into the sow-thistle over a low heat.

Serve.

 

STIR-FRIED SOW-THISTLE & PORK

½-1 cup pork meat – shredded / sliced

Light soy sauce

Corn flour – pinch

Water

White wine or dry sherry

Sugar – pinch

Salt and pepper

Sows thistles

 

Begin by slicing the meat into pieces about 2 inches long and 1/10th inch thick. Set aside. Next, make up a marinade from the remainder of the first group of ingredients, using a splash of soy sauce, slugs of water and wine, seasoning and pinches of corn flour and sugar. Mix together well in a bowl and then add the sliced meat. Stir thoroughly so that all the pieces are

coated and leave for 30 minutes. Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the ginger for a couple of minutes, stirring to prevent burning, then add the spring onion. Stir for a minute, then add the meat. Stir-fry until the meat begins to cook. Add the sow-thistle leaves and continue frying for another 3 or 4 minutes, stirring to prevent burning and distribute the heat.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: Plants have milky sap. S. Oleraceus tall with stemless lobed leaves that point past the stem. S. asper prickly-edged stem-less green leaves that wrap around the stem, dandelion-like blossoms more or less arranged in a flat top manner. S. arvenis similar to both but can be very tall.

TIME OF YEAR: In northern climates spring, summer and some times autumn, in the South December through April.

ENVIRONMENT: Lawns, fields, vacant lots, waste areas, parks

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Young leaves in salads, tend to be bitter, older leaves boiled for 10/15 minutes.

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

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

Common Sow Thistle. Photo by Green Deane

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

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

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

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

Silverthorn berries ripen in February.

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

Tender Red Maple Seeds

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

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

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

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

Finally, a physical copy of the book.

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

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

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

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

White mexican poppy, Argemone albiflora. Photo by Green Deane

Yellow Mexican Poppy, Argemone mexicana, photo by Green Deane

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

Violet Photo by Green Deane

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

 

 

 

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

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

Blossoming chickweed east of Tampa. Photo by Green Deane

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Silverthorn berries ripen in Feburary.

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

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

Finally, a physical copy of the book.

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

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

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

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Mulberries resemble over-grown blackberries. Photo by Green Deane

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

Wild Garlic will be cloving soon. Photo by Green Deane

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

Florida Pennyroyal is also in blossom. Photo by Green Deane

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dandelions like cooler weather. PHoto by Green Deane

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

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

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

Clover prefers low nitrogen soil.

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

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

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

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

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

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

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

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

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

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

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

Our mighty stinging nettles are up, we saw some in Largo Saturday. They’re one of the most popular wild edibles.The most powerful stinging nettle is in New Zealand (Urtica ferox) which kills animals and has claimed at least one human life. Our nettle, Urtica chamaedryoides, has a sting like a giant wasp and can burn for days or more. While its common name is a deceptive, “Heartleaf Nettle” its botanical name gets to the point, “Stinging Dwarf.” Quite edible but you must handle it with care. If this particular species stings me it is not only extremely painful but a bloody welt develops and the site is sensitive to temperature changes and any liquid for more than a week. The irritant compounds are histamines and acetocholines.  Apparently I am quite sensitive to them though I can eat the plant raw or cooked (crushing the needles disarms them.) I like to dehydrate them next to a campfire. Also don’t confuse this plant with another stinging plant called the Spurge Nettle, Cnidoscolus stimulosus (video here ).  That has an edible root but the leaves are usually not eaten. To learn more about the Heartleaf Nettle go here. For a video, here.

Common Sow Thistle. Photo by Green Deane

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

Beach Bean Canavalia Rosea

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stinkhorn Mushroom. Photo by Green Deane

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

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is my weekly newsletter #541. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

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

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

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

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

Silverthorn berries ripen in Feburary.

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

The mighty Heart Leaf Nettle. Photo by Green Deane

Our mighty stinging nettles are up. They’re one of the most popular wild edibles.The most powerful stinging nettle is in New Zealand (Urtica ferox) which kills animals and has claimed at least one human life. Our nettle, Urtica chamaedryoides, has a sting like a giant wasp and can burn for days or more. While its common name is a deceptive, “Heartleaf Nettle” its botanical gets to the point, “Stinging Dwarf.” Quite edible but you must handle it with care. If this particular species stings me it is not only extremely painful but a welt develops and the site is sensitive to temperature changes and any contact with any liquid for more than a week. The irritant compounds are histamines and acetocholines.  Apparently I am quite sensitive to them though I can eat the plant raw or cooked (crushing the needles disarms them.) Also don’t confuse this plant with another stinging plant called the Spurge Nettle, Cnidoscolus stimulosus (video here ).  That has an edible root but the leaves are usually not eaten. To learn more about the Heartleaf Nettle go here. For a video, here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

m’i’;l

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

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is my weekly newsletter #538. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.News

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Turkey soup with Peppergrass for flavoring and pot herb. Photo by Green Deane

Your salad days are supposed to be your best days. We saw that for foraging last weekend. Despite the frigid weather it is the salad greenery time of year. Besides salad plants there are also plants for fermentation, tea, and flavoring. As of last week the only seasonal plants we didn’t see were chickweed, henbit, and western tansy mustard.

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

Many of the plants starting their seasonal run are spring or summer plants in more northern climates. It is too hot locally for them to grow in the our spring or summer, so they opt for winter. Several members of the mustard family can easily be fermented into sauerkraut or also dried to preserve them. Wild mustard, photo right, is a good candidate for either. Peppergrass, which is here all year, likes the cooler weather and is more plentiful now. It’s a good green to add to soups or stews for a bit of peppery flavor, magnesium and vitamin C.  Wild comestibles this time of year include young Caesar weed, West Indian chickweed, the aforementioned peppergrass, sow thistle, pony foot, false hawk’s beard, cucumber weed, young Spanish needles, true thistles, and lacebark elm leaves. I fermented some wild mustard this past week. And added some peppergrass to some smoked turkey soup. During our Urban Crawl we also saw many  flushes of Ringless Honey Mushrooms, a bit later in the season than usual, perhaps they were waiting for the cold spell. 

Canna can grow in a wet garden or a pond.

♣ Botany Builder #12. Do you remember the confusion in school over the words immigrant and emigrant? An emigrant is someone leaving a country, and an immigrant is someone entering a country. An emergent plant is one coming out of the water, such as Canna. It likes to grow in about a half a foot of water. It doesn’t like dry land and it doesn’t like deep water. It is emergent. Cattails are emergent, however some species of cattail — there aren’t that many — like to be close to shore and others like deeper water. What it really comes down to, can you get cattails from shore or do you need a canoe? Cann shoots can be cooked like asparagus, the long roasted roots are a staple food in Central America.

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

One foraging class this weekend (Saturday) so we can all, reflect on New Year’s Day. 

Saturday December 31st   Blanchard Park, 2451 N Dean RD
Orlando, FL 32817. Meet at the pavilion next to the tennis courts.

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

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

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

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

Wester Tansy Mustard is an over overlooked wild edible. Photo by Green Deane

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

Eastern Gammagrass in blossom.

Grass and ice cream are usually not considered at the same thought unless it is Eastern Gamagrass. Why? Because livestock like the clumping Tripsacinae so much cattlemen call in Ice Cream Grass. While it can be used like wheat it’s a distant relative of corn and can be popped. Eastern Gamagrass, also called Fakahatchee Grass, is sod-forming and can reach up to eight-feet tall.  Though it is pollinating and seeding now the grass can seed from now to September.  The frilly male flowers occupy the top three-fourths of the seed spike and the stringy female flowers the bottom fourth. In this species the ladies are brown, hair-like structures. Besides fodder Eastern Gamagrass is also a common ornamental found in parks and residential areas. A bunch can live to be 50-years old or more. Fakahatchee, by the way, means either Forked River or Muddy River. Opinions vary.   To read more about Eastern Gamagrass go here.

Begonias’ flavor varies with color and growing medium. Photo by Green Deane

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

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is my weekly newsletter #537. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

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Yet to be spotted this year  Dry-loving Western Tansy Mustard.

It’s the wild salad time of year here. During our classes this past weekend we harvested peppergrass, West Indian chickweed, false hawk’s beard, sow thistle, cucumber weed, Wild Mustard and various sorrels. These same plants can be fermented into a sauerkaraut, which enhances the vitamin C and provides probiotics. The three of the common greens of the season we did not see are Henbit, real Chickweed and western Tansy Mustard.

Malvaviscus pendiflorus. Photo by Green Deane

We saw several species blooming plants this past weekend including the “Sleepy Hibiscus.” It’s a fairly easy shrub to identify because the bright red blossoms never unfurl. Also blossoming was the Bauhinia. It’s a tree that is both easy and challenging at the same time. The blossoms are edible, look nice in salads. Some of the species have edible seeds and some do not. (They are in the pea family and most pea trees — most not all — do not have edible seeds.) Sorting out which Bauhinia you have can be a challenge, nearly as bad as sorting out which Cereus you have. Like the Cereus cactus there are several man-made hybrids and perhaps even some fake botanical names. It can make species identification a real headache though as far as I know all the blossoms are edible. Only “discovered” 111 years ago the blossom of the Bauhinia blakeana is the emblem of Hong Kong. You can read about the Bauhinia here.

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

Because of the holidays there is only one foraging class this week, my annual Urban Crawl which is this Friday, and starts at 10 .m. not the usual 9 a.m. This is the 12th time I’ve had this holiday event. There is no charge and most of the walk is handicap friendly.

December 23rd:  12th Annual Urban Crawl, Winter Park 10 a.m. Meet in front of Panera’s, 329 park avenue There is a free parking garage behind (west of) Panera. If you park on the streets you are likely to get a ticket as there is a two-hour time limit.   

Saturday December 31st   Blanchard Park, 2451 N Dean RD Orlando, FL 32817. Meet at the pavilion next to the tennis courts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our native plantago, Dwarf Plantain. Photo by Green Deane.

 There are Plantains that look like tough bananas and there are Plantains that are low and leafy plants. They are not related. Just two different groups with the same common name. Low-growing Plantains can be native or non-native. The one pictured right is native, the Dwarf Plantain. As a genus the plants are well-known. The leaves are edible raw when young. As they age they become more bitter and stringy. Cooking makes them palatable up to a point. Then they move into the astringent medical realm. As such they are used on bites, stings and to help puncture wounds heal. The seeds are edible once produced and are the source of the commercial dietary fiber, psyllium. When finely ground the seeds are sold under the brand name Metamucil. There are numerous species of Plantagos (Plantains) with at least five common locally, P. virginiana, P. major, P. lanceolata and P. rugelii the latter which strongly resembles P. major. They are all used the same way. (P. rugelii is pink at the base of the stem.) One problem beginning foragers have is confusing young Oakleaf Fleabane leaves for Dwarf Plantain leaves (they are both rosette-ish, low-growing green leaves, hairy with fibrous threads in the stem.) But the Dwarf Plantain is essentially a long skinny hairy leaf with a few teeth. The Oakleaf Fleabane is much fatter, has lobes, and does resemble oak leaves found on more northern species. You can read about the Plantains here and I have a video here.

Calliandra haematocephala, the red powder puff. Photo by Green Deane

A toxic powder puff shrub we see this time of year is  a native of Malaysia. It’s a small tree that was in the pea family but has been moved to the Mimosa group. It is not edible in any way. It’s just pretty, which has its own value. The name is slightly interesting in that it is all Living Greek mangled by new Dead Latin. Calliandra is a combination of Kallos (beautiful) and Andros (man) but is to mean — when poetically translated — “pretty stamen” (the male part of the flower which creates the powder puff.) Haematocephala means “blood head” or in this case “red head.” Thus pretty stamen red head. You could even stretch it to “pretty redheaded man.” The common name is Red Powder Puff. 

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is my weekly newsletter #536. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

 

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Goji berries are in the nightshade family and taste like tomotos. Photo by Green Deane

We might see some Christmasberries, above, during our Sunday class in Port Orange (Spruce Creek.)  When I was there about a month ago, some bushes were blossoming we’ll check them out Sunday (a it’s bit of a walk.) Christmasberries are our local Goji Berry and yes they are edible. They like to grow in areas with brackish water. To read more about them go here. And I have a video here.  

One of our winter comestibles is over due. Chickweed is a spring edible up north but it’s just too warm most of the year here for Chickweed to sprout. It takes several cold nights to chill the top couple of inches of ground for it to start growing. Another winter annual, Pellitory, is well up and several inches high in many places. We haven’t seen our third winter Musketeer, Stinging Nettles but it will be soon. We’ve also spotted Swine Cress, and and Sow Thistle. To read more about Chickweed go here.

This time of year two wintertime foragables come up, one quite esteemed the other barely edible. They can at first glance look similar so I’ll mention them together.

Henbit likes cool weather

Henbit likes cooler weather. Photo by Green Deane

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

Cranesbill is barely edible

Cranesbill is barely edible. Photo by Green Deane

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

Common Sow Thistle. Photo by Green Deane

As mentioned above Sunday we saw young Common Sow Thistles in Port Charlotte. Not a true thistle it is one of the more milder seasonal greens with only perhaps Amaranth being more mild. Although Sow Thistles are commonly called “thistles” they are not in the thistle genus and do now draw blood like true thistles. True thistles are well-armed with needle-sharp spines. While the Sow Thistle can look intimidating it’s mostly just show in that most spines are soft. There are two species locally, the Common Sow Thistle and the Spiny Sow Thistle. The latter is a bit rougher than the former but no where near as abusive as true thistles. Both are slightly bitter raw. A few minutes of boiling takes away the bitterness completely (unlike wild lettuce which always stays slightly bitter.)  I have a video on the sow thistles and to read more about them go here. My wild mustard video is here, and 106 videos later my Wild Radish video. 

Foraging Classes, this week are near orlando and Daytona Beach. 

Saturday December 10th Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. meet by the tennis courts.

Sunday December 11th Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127. 9 a.m. Meet at the pavilion.

For more information about the classes, to pre-pay, or to sign up go here.    For all communication with me use GreenDeane@gmail.com

FRIDAY December 23rd: 12th Urban Crawl it is  time to mark your calendar for my 12th annual Urban Crawl. It will be Friday December 23rd at 10 a.m. in Winter Park, Florida. We meet in front of Panera’s on Park Avenue. It’s difficult to believe I’ve had that walk for twelve years now. The Urban Crawl is free to all, and is wheel chair friendly.

The Glory Bower is not edible but has some relatives that might be. Photo by Green Deane

The Harlequin GlorybowerClerodendrum Trichotomum, has a very showy calyx. A native of Asia, Clerodendrum means fate tree, referencing questionable medical uses, and trichotomum which means three trunks, which it apparently has often. But it has edible relatives: C. serratum: Young leaves and tops eaten raw as a side dish or roasted briefly and served with a hot pepper sauce. C. paniculatum, the Pagoda Flower, is also listed by some as having edible parts and is a common ornamental locally. I’ve never investigate it. 

You get the USB, not the key.

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

This is weekly newsletter #534. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. This newsletter is late because I’ve been suffering from several colds.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

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Swinecress is an easy to identify winter mustards.

It’s our mustard time of year. Harvested this week were half a dozen related species: hairy bitter cress, wild mustard, wild radish, pepper grass and swine cress. Hairy bittercress (above) is the mildest and smallest of the lineup, swinecress (right) s the strongest (in fact its taste grows stronger the more you chew it.) These mustards can be pickled and or dried for later use.  Not surprisingly different mustards like different environments. Swinecress likes lawns as it is a low- growing rosette, Hairy bittercress like rich damp soil including shady creek banks, Pepper grass like sunny dry areas, as do wild mustard and wild radish (as they are taller they can grow in higher grass. Another mustard family member also seen this time of year, but not last weekend, is Western Tansy Mustard, it’s very mild and like very dry arreas (think dusty horse corrals and the like.) 

Dead Man’s Fingers

Botany Builder #8: The endings of botanical names in Dead Latin can often give us a clue about the species especially -ifera (producing) and -oides (resmebles)  [and variations such as -iferum.] Often the botanical name is virtually no help in identifying a plant, such as when the genus and the species honor two different people. A good example is Decaisnea fargesii, (left) Dead Man’s Fingers. It’s named after Joseph Decaisne and Pere Farges. No description there.. seems like a lost opportunity to me… Sometimes the species name is misleading as in Pinus palustris, which means a pine that likes to grow in swamps. Unfortunately Pinus palustris only grows on the top of dry sandy hills. That the descriptive name is very wrong is not enough to get it changed. The reason has to be botanical even if flimsy botanical.

Paper Birch, Betual papyrifera, paper bearing

-ifera and -oides however usually are helpful. -ifera again means “producing” or bearaing.” Papyrifera means paper bearing, as in Betula papyrifera, the Paper Birch, right. Bulbifera means bulb bearing, such as the Dioscorea bulbifera, the Air Potato. Cerifera  means wax bearing like the Southern wax Myrtle, Myrica cerifera . The Myrica cerifera produces a green wax that was traditionally used to make Bayberry Candles.       

-oides again means “resembling” or ‘looks like.” Tillandsia usneoides (Spanish Moss) means looks like the lichen usnea. ranunculoides means looks like ranunculus (butter cups.) Centruroides means … like sharp (and is a genus of scorpions are in reference to their stingers.) While the word “folia” can mean leaves it is also used to mean look like. Aquifolium means holly-like leaves. Tiliifolia means basswood-like leaves. Sonchifolia means leaves like a sow thistle. So if you have an -ifera in front of you it should be producing something. If you have an oides it should look like something else you probably already know.

Foraging classes: With most of the rainy season over all we have to contend with now is cool weather. 

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

Saturday December 3rd Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. 9 a.m.

Sunday December 4th Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. Meet at bayshore and Ganyard Street. 

Saturday December 10th Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. meet by the tennis courts.

Sunday December 11th Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127. 9 a.m. Meet at the pavilion.

For more information about the classes, to pre-pay, or to sign up go here.    For all communication with me use GreenDeane@gmail.com

FRIDAY December 23rd: 12th Urban Crawl it is  time to mark your calendar for my 12th annual Urban Crawl. It will be Friday December 23rd at 10 a.m. in Winter Park, Florida. We meet in front of Panera’s on Park Avenue. It’s difficult to believe I’ve had that walk for twelve years now. The Urban Crawl is free to all, and is wheel chair friendly.

The Australian Pine has branchlets not needles. Photo by Green Deane

The Australian Pine is not a pine and is more closely related to the oaks. In fact it is often called the “she oak.” It’s a prime source of firewood (and can be burned immediately after cutting.) It is also used for smoking meat and fish as are the “needles” after soaking them in salt water. And those whispy rhapidophyllum are not needles. They are branchlets.  (Rhapidophyllum, from the Greek, is the botanical name for needle-leaf whereas in the animal world the same shape is hystrix also from the Greek ὕστριξ meaning porcupine.) And as one might guess the Needle Palm is Rhapidophyllum hystrix, a bit of drunk botanist overkill. It’s a cold-hardly palm that hurts like hell and will grow as far north as Long Island and Seattle.

Cones from the Australian Pine minus seeds. Photo by Green Deane

In Florida Australian Pines are seen as far north as Haul Over Canal, just north of the space center where they hold the dirt banks of the canal in place. And they are also in the center of the state in Deland, home of Stetson College. The species barely fits into the edible realm. It’s sap is drinkable, the branchlets are edible as are the cones but better are the roasted seed. You can watch my video it here.

A young Leonotis leonurus  blossom. Photo by Green Deane

There’s an innocent-looking ornamental plant in local parks which in some European countries the possession of which can get you 30 years in prison: Wild Dagga, or, Leonotis leonurus. As a student of Greek I always have an issue with the name because “Leonotis”  means “Lion’s Ear” while “leonurus” is mangled Greek and “new” Latin for “Lion’s Tail.” So it’s name is Lion’s Ear Lion’s Tail…. more drunk botanistl overkill.  They took it all from the historical King of Sparta, λέωνῐ́δᾱς,  or Leonida, which means “son of a lion.” A second species found locally — and more often — is Leonotis nepetifolia (catnip leaf.) The plants look similar except “lion tail” has skinny leaves like marijuana, and the “catnip leaf’ has somewhat large diamond-shaped leaves like catnip. The blossoms and over all growth pattern is similar for both. From tropical South Africa and India Lion’s Tail is used … recreationally…  where as Catnip Leaf is used medicinally. Both have leonurine, Lion’s Tail apparently more than Catnip Leaf. Water extraction — tea — is the common method of use. A 2015 study says Leonotis leonurus seems to be mildly pschoactive. “Research has proven the psychoactive effects of the crude extract of L. leonurus, but confirmation of the presence of psychoactive compounds, as well as isolation and characterization, is still required.” Sounds like a pitch for more research money. Others report both species contain marrubiin which is an analgesic and probably why they have been used in traditional medicine. Bees and humming birds also like the species. A relevant article can be read at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29016795/

You get the USB, not the key.

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

This is weekly newsletter #533. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

 

 

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