Search: asimina

Pawpaws are blossoming heavily. Photo by Green Deane

I don’t play Flag Football. In fact I don’t think I have ever played any sport. But this time of year I do play Flag Pawpaw, Asimina obovata. How do I play? Driving down the road at 60 miles per hour…Okay, maybe not that fast. But, with care, I look for shrubs in pastures, shrubs one to six feet high with large, almost Magnoila-like blossoms. Those will be Pawpaws and now is the easiest time to find them. They won’t fruit for a couple of months but at least you’ll know where they are. And yes, Pawpaw were mentioned in a recent newsletter but the topic is worth revisiting because they are very easy to find now. Look for them. 

Pawpaws seeds are not edible.

Grazing livestock tend to leave Pawpaws alone. It could be because the blossoms smell like rotting meat. That attracts a carrion fly which thinks there’s rotting flesh nearby but ends up pollenating the Pawpaw (that almost sounds like a poem or a country song.) I would also think the shrub and leaves also aren’t tasty or they would be eaten as well. But, that makes Pawpaw easy to spot. Often they are the only shrub in a pasture, their unpalatability increasing survivability. As humans we like Pawpaws and there are commercial varieties. But they also cause one in a million anaphylactic shock. So don’t eat your first Pawpaw by yourself. That liability keeps lawyers keeping Pawpaws off the market in the United States, or other places where product law suits are common. You can read about Pawpaws here.

Humming birds like the Eastern Coral Bean. Photo by Green Deane

Also easy to spot this time of year is the Eastern Coral Bean aka Cherokee Bean. It’s a skinny spike with long, tubular flowers, usually in dry places. During our foraging class at Haulover Canal this week they were in full bloom everywhere. While a few of the blossoms are edible raw, they are usually boiled then mixed with scrambled eggs. That’s been mom’s home cooking for many centuries from Southwestern United States into Mexico. Why that combination and why it is a tradition I do not know. Traditions often just happen. But I do know that when you boil the blossoms for a few minutes they turn green. Funny how foraging books in the past never mentioned that. Maybe the writers didn’t actually eat the blossoms. The flowers don’t have a particular flavor raw or cooked. In time the blossoms turn into large red beans with black tips. The beans are toxic. Don’t eat them. The young leaves, actually leaflets of three, are also edible cooked but little to write about. To read more about the Eastern Coral Bean go here.

The rings are the function of  leaves on the Australian Pine.

Is it time to mention the Australian Pine again, which really isn’t a pine. Indeed there are many plants called “Pine” that are not pines… the Australian Pine, the Norfolk Pine, the Screw Pine. As they are not in the Pinus genus they usually are not used like true pines. As for the Australian Pine it is more closely related to the oaks but does have some edible parts, barely. You can drink the red sap. The dry sap also turns into a gum that is edible. Young cones, seeds and branchlets are also edible cooked but you have to be really hungry. The tree is also an indicator of fresh water, even on the shore. Where they grow there will be fresh water, either floating on top of salt water or in a swale. And, you can dig up the shallow roots for water. The tree has been in this part of the world for about 170 years. As with many invasive species the U.S. Department of Agriculture had a hand in their proliferation. Locally it was in Palm Beach by 1921 and within 20 years it was the most planted tree in Florida. Within 10 years after that ordinances were being passed to control it. You can read about the invasive species here.

Foraging classes are held rain or shine also cold or accompanied by piglets. Photo by Green Deane

Foraging Classes: This past week we wandered around Haulover Canal, north of the space center. It’s the longest class walk — four miles — and can be hot and dusty. It usually includes some climbing and scrambling along a skinny walkway under both sides of the bridge. We saw what one would expect to see in Oak Scrub except cool temperatures are moderated by the water there. One very odd-man out was Lambsquarters on the shore of Mosquito Lagoon. It’s usually found in rich agricultural soil but there it was. We also got to taste two common shore edibles, Sea Blite and Beach Carpet. Edible, but not so easy to catch, were three young wild pigs. The upcoming classes are:

Saturday, March 24th, Florida State College,  south campus, 11901 Beach Blvd.,  Jacksonville, 32246.  9 a.m. We will meet at building “D”  next to the administration parking lot.

Sunday, March 25st, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house, 9 a.m.

Saturday, March 31st, Wickham Park, 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park, 9 a.m.

Saturday April 7th, Colby-Alderman Park: 1099 Massachusetts Street, Cassadaga. Fla. 9 a.m., meet near the restrooms.

Sunday April 8th, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 a.m. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park

Saturday, April 14th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. Meet at the pavilion east of the tennis courts near the YMCA.

Sunday, April 15th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233, 9 a.m. 

Saturday, April 22nd, Spruce Creek, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127, 9 a.m., meet at the pavilion. 

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

Lambsquarters often has a mealy look. Photo by Green Deane

Lambsquarters was one of the first edible wild plants I learned about because they grew with wild mustard in our front lawn (which as one might guess was not really a lawn.) Other edibles around the house were wild raspberries, apples, grapes, choke cherries, strawberries, blueberries, dandelions, sand roses and violets near the septic tank. They were called “Johnny Jump UPs” and my mother loved them.  As one might guess Lambsquarters (aka Pigweed and Fat Hen) was a common weed in rural Maine where I grew up. Besides our front lawn we had two neighbors who always had a huge unintentional stand of them. Here in Florida they are harder to find. I’ve had the most success in abandoned or poorly kept citrus groves.  Indeed, one place where I used to harvest them regularly was just such an ignored grove. Now it’s a residential community and no Lambsquarters. So as mentioned above it was not only an uncommon find this past weekend but in a very unusual place, not ten feet from the brackish water of Mosquito Lagoon. You can read about the weed here. 

The DVD set has 135 videos.

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

Donations to upgrade EatTheWeeds.com and fund a book are going well and is approaching the half way mark. Thank you to all who have contributed to either via the Go Fund Me link, the PayPal donation link or by writing to Green Deane POB 941793 Maitland FL, 32794.  Recent upgrades have been paid now the Forum needs work and several function problems need to be fixed specifically the search and categories.  A new server also has to be found by April. The other issue is finding  an indexing program or function for a real book. Writing programs used to do it automatically if you designated a term for indexing. Now that most books are ebooks most writing programs do not provide and indexing function. The hunt continues.  

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant? Looking for a foraging reference? Do you have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object you want identified? On the Green Deane Forum we chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations around the world share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk about. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food. One special section is “From the Frightening Mail Bag” where we learn from people who eat first then ask questions later. Recent topics include: Bacopa monnieri, Herbalist Question, Bittercress?, Pine Pollen,  Pawpaw? Thistle Flower Buds, Gigantic Pony Foot, Beach Carpet? Lots of Smilax and early Grapes Showing UP,  Some Kind Of Pennywort, Plants Called Bugle, and Partridgeberry. You can join the forum by clicking on “forum” in the menu.

As many who attend foraging classes have learned almost all seaweed is edible. But most of it does not taste good. Today let’s look a related topic: Is there arsenic in seaweed?

The answer is yes and no (and know Loquat fruit also have a bit of arsenic.) The debate has a couple of salient points: First is the arsenic natural or man-made? Natural (organic arsenic) usually comes from the digestion of arsenosugars (not unlike cyanide from the digestion of glyco-cyanides in non-agricultural cassava.) Upon digestion the arsenic is released. Then, secondly, there is the separate issue of contamination by man-generated inorganic arsenic which is also in a different chemical form.

Empty skate eggs and red Gracilaria. Photo by Green Deane

Two times in the last 12 years Canadian and British governments warned consumers to limit consumption of the seaweed Hijiki  (Hizikia fusiformis) because of high levels of inorganic arsenic. It was not banned because there was little data on consumption of Hijiki and possible illness from arsenic compounds. The advice was to limit to consumption of that seaweed. The greatest threat from Hijiki appears to be an increase in liver cancer. Other commercial seaweeds were not included in the warning such as Arame, Nori, Kombu, and Wakame. They were found to be free of arsenic. A study last year found that brown seaweed has higher inorganic arsenic concentrations than red seaweed. Those would be Hijiki, Kombu, Wakame, Arame; red varieties were Nori and red seaweed. Agar and kelp noodles were relatively low in arsenic concentrations. Wakeme seemed to be the lowest among the brown ones. And actually in all samples the concentrations were “negibible” except Hijiki. A 2015 study again found Hijiki to be of the most concern. The Japanese government says they have no cases where consumption of Hijiki has lead to any know cases of illness related to organic arsenic. Hijiki is usually harvested off the shores of Japan and Korea. Hijiki had not only high organic forms of arsenic but also inorganic forms as well. Perhaps the plant has an affinity for arsenic no matter what its form. The metal is present in seawater naturally and by pollution. Again, other seaweeds tested had no detectable levels of inorganic arsenic. In most seaweed products the amount of inorganic arsenic is less than one part per million.

Sargassum: Edible but not the best of tastes. Photo by Green Deane

Separate from that a March 2016 report in the Caribbean says Sargassum has a high capacity for accumulating heavy metals such as arsenic and cadmium. The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupation Health and Safety, ANSES, recommended “prohibiting any possible food or feed uses of this seaweed until more in-depth studies can be conducted on the heavy metal contamination of seaweed.” Yet another 2016 report did not mention specific “marine pollutants.” It said among the Sargassums S. fluitains has the lowest amounts of organic arsenic. Sargassum has been used for both fertilizer and animal feed. It is 3 to 16% protein, average 12.8%. Lipid content is mostly PUFAs. It contains a long list of chemicals from polysaccharide to flavonoids and is 3 to 16% protein, average 12.8%. Lipid content is mostly PUFAs. Interestingly Sargassum only begins to decompose when it is on the beach.

Other than Hijiki seaweed seems a good food in its natural state and is not an arsenic concern, at least naturally. The real issue — as it is with most foraging — is how contaminated is the water. Here are some of my articles on seaweeds: Bladderwrack,  Caulpera,  Codium,   Gracilaria,   Sargassum,  Sea Lettuce, and Tape Seagrass.

This is weekly issue 295. 

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Gopher Apples are blossoming now so look for them in pine scrubs, about a foot high resembling young oaks. Watch them closely. In six to eight week they’ll have pasty pink and gray fruit the size of large olives. The woodland creatures relish them and will  beat you to them if they can. Photo by Green Deane

Locally May is a transition month. Many of our local winter foragables are ending their prime season — sow thistles are a good example — and others are just starting such as Groundnuts.  Both of these are found throughout most of North America thus can be in season someplace nearly all year. Here their seasons are about half-a-year off from what one would find in northern climates such as Canada.

Groundnuts like to grow in wet places. Photo by Green Deane

With classes last week on both sides of the state there was a lot of transitioning to be seen. The aforementioned Groundnuts are starting to blossom, which makes them a bit easier for novices to find. While they have leaflets of 3, 5, and 7 leaves — occasionally 9 — they are otherwise nondescript until they bloom.  The deep magenta blossoms get about an inch across and have the classic “wings & keels” one would expect of a plant in the pea family. As pleasing as they are on the eye these blossoms are not pleasant on the nose. It’s an aroma only certain bugs can love. The flowers eventually turn into pea pods and the peas are edible cooked. However, most people don’t eat the seeds: They want the plant’s tasty and nutritious root.  The seeds or the roots can be used for propagation and although the Groundnut competes in damp spots it will adapt to your home garden. To read more about the Groundnut, go here.

Candyroot is pleasant to the nose. Photo by Green Deane.

In the realm of plant populations there is endangered, threatened then rare. But there is a huge distance between rare and common. The yellow bloomer to the right — Candyroot — is not on any about-to-disappear list but one doesn’t see them that often. You have to be at the right place — seasonally damp pine scrub — and the right season, May in Florida but it can be found later in the year.  Candyroot comes in two colors, yellow that can sometimes make it to orange. Native Americans and early Europeans would chew the roots, which have a spearmint-esque flavor, or wintergreen, and to some palates licorice. The tap root is also rather small, so it’s not much of a chew. Kind of like a woodland breath mint. To read more about Candyroot you can click here. 

Our local black blueberry. Note the crown. Photo by Green Deane

There are blue blueberries, and there are black blueberries… and there are black and blue huckleberries which are blueberries’ first cousins, so to speak. They’re all tasty and good for you. There are two things you need to remember about blueberries (and huckleberries.) The first is they like acidic soil. Where I grew up in Maine one could find 40-acre fields of nothing but blueberries (with few huckleberry bushes in the transition zone to trees.) Locally the place to look for blueberries is open pine scrub, or near small oaks. Both create acidic soil. Big oaks often create too much shade for the blueberries to thrive.  The second thing to remember is these berries are “crown” berries (the outer top surface of the berry looks like a little stylized crown. See above left.) There are no toxic “crown” berries. Some might be woody or bitter but there aren’t any toxic ones. To read more about blueberries go here, or huckleberries, here.

Simpson Stoppers have thee different leaf tips. Photo by Green Deane

In the sub-tropical southern end of the state Simpson Stoppers are blossoming. They will in time create twin orange-colored berries which when dead ripe have edible pulp. It’s not for everyone. They grow farther north and as natives are being promoted in landscaping and the like. I even know where there’s a quarter-mile long hedge of them. But before blossoming and fruiting the stoppers can be difficult to sort out. There about a dozen and a half of them and they range from pleasant smelling to I-wish-I-hadn’t-smelled-that.  One way to make sure you have a Simpson Stopper — which has had more botanical names than any other shrub — is to survey the leaves. Only the stopper has notched leaves, round tip leaves, and pointed leaves. It’s not always easy to find all three types but if you study the shrub you can identify them. You can read about the stopper here. 

Wild Coffee, Psychotria nervosa

When is Wild Coffee not wild coffee? When it is the Coralberry. Both plants look similar from a distance. But as the saying goes no two plants look alike if you get close enough. Wild Coffee, Psychotria nervosa, is extremely over-rated in foraging publications. Anyone who writes you can roast the seeds like coffee and drink it like coffee has never tried it… or coffee… Thus the seeds are out. That leaves the seed pulp which is mild but edible. Opinion on just what that flavor is varies greatly.  It’s a trail-side nibble when you are on the coast. See that emphasis. Wild Coffee is usually found on the coast (which includes a few miles inland.) It is usually not found in the middle of the state. That is where you find the Coralberry.

Coralberry, Ardisia crenata

The Coralberry, Ardisia crenata, is an extremely invasive species. It greatly reminds one of the Wild Coffee but there are significant difference including that — currently — the Coralberry is found way inland, in the center part of the state. It also has less prominent leaf veins and blunt teeth around the leaf edge, which is what “crenate” means. The Wild Coffee leaf does not have any teeth. Is the pulp of the Coralberry edible? I will say no. The plant has been implicated in cattle poisoning, but they tend to eat leaves, steams and seeds. And there are some shrubs in Florida in the same genus — Ardisia — which have barely edible berries.  I will report I ate the pulp off one Ardisia crenata berry. It tasted like green peas and had no immediate or long-lasting effects that I know of. But I don’t recommend doing that.

A tessellated Green Deane teaching a foraging class. Photo by Kelly Fagan.

My upcoming foraging classes. This weekend I’ll be at Mead Garden which can have over 100 different edible species in about 1.5 mile walk. In Jacksonville we cover about two miles and seem some tropicals not found this far north. These classes aren’t  classroom frou-frou. We get out and about the plants.

Saturday May 23rd, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789, 9 a.m.

Sunday, May 24th, Florida State College, 11901 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, 32246. 9 a.m.

Sunday, May 31st, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405, 9 a.m.

Sunday, June 7th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, 23000 Bayshore Rd., Port Charlotte, FL 33980. 9 a.m.

Saturday, June 13th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789, 9. a.m.

Sunday, June 14th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233, 9 a.m.

Sunday, June 21st, John Chestnut County Park: 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685 9 a.m.

Saturday, June 27th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St., Gainesville, FL 32641 9 a.m.

Sunday, June 28th, Jervey Gantt Recreation Complex, 2390 SE 36th Ave., Ocala, FL, 34471, 9 a.m.

For more information about foraging classes go here.

Asimina incana, Polecat-Bush, Flag-Pawpaw, was last weeks mystery bush. Photo by Green Deane

Need to identify a plant? Looking for a foraging reference? Maybe you have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane — chat about foraging all year long. 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 articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food. Recent topics include: Cultivated Apios Americana: Groundnut, My First Pokeweed, Yaupon Holly? Plantain? Sand Toads? Will My Tomatoes Make Me Pregnant? White BUgs on Smilax Tips, Poison Hemlock and Eating Birds, Study and Respect Plants, Firebow Elderberry, Not Yellow Pimpernel, Small Purple Flowers, Firebow Baccharis, Milkweed? Elderflower Fritters, Fuzzy Tree, Lacto-Fermenting Stachys Roots, Sweet Aromatic Herb, New Book: Southeast Foraging, and Hibiscus Help. You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

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Fellow Mainer H.W. Longfellow never wrote “under the spreading Pachira tree the village smithy stands.” That well-known poem says “chestnut tree” once common but now rare in North America because of an imported disease. The Tropical Chestnut tree, however, still stands, where it is warm.

Last week the Tropical Chestnut tree in Dreher Park, West Palm Beach, was putting on part of a show. Still leafless its frilly pink blossoms were raining from the bare limbs. The Pachira aquatica is not the only tree to dress up in springtime blossoms without leaves. The edible Eastern Redbud does as well though its blossoms are small, the size of a fingernail. Quite a few plums also blossom out in white before setting on leaves.

Restricted to Florida, the gulf coast, and southern California, the Tropical Chestnut tree has edible seeds — raw or cooked — and edible leaves and blossoms cooked. For such a huge tree it took me a while to identify the Pachia aquatica because I was in the area irregularly so never got to catch it at a particular good time to identify it. As for the Redbud, its blossoms are edlible raw or cooked as are the young pea pods it produces. Young leave can be eaten cooked, too. To read more about the Tropical Chestnut go here, the Eastern Redbud here.

Across the country in parts of California Miner’ Lettuce is making its spring run and will be blooming through May. Dry, summer heat ends its season.  This delectable comes from a family of other edibles — Claytonia — and was once lumped in with the purslane group. It doesn’t naturally get anywhere near Florida. The most distinctive feature of the Miner’s Lettuce is the leaf structure. Shaped like a saucer or cup the flower stalk pushes through the middle of the upper leaf. Difficult to mis-identify. It’s a resident of western North America with token populations in Georgia and northern New Hampshire. I have been unable to find any reference to it growing in Georgia in modern times. Miner’s Lettuce — which is high in vitamin C — is particularly common along the Pacific coast in shady spots and canyons. Its name comes from 1849 Gold Rush miners who ate it to stave off scurvy.

Foraging Classes: My class schedule for the next two months is up. Here’s the next two weeks:

Saturday, April 5th, Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge, 2045 Mud Lake Road,  DeLeon Springs, FL 9 a.m.

Saturday, April 12th, Florida State College,  south campus, 11901 Beach Blvd.,  Jacksonville, 32246 9 a.m.

Sunday, April 13th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive,   Melbourne, FL  32935-2335,  9 a.m.

Saturday, April 19th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.  Gainesville, FL 9 a.m.

Sunday, April 20th, Jervey Gantt Recreation Complex, 2390 SE 36th Ave.,  Ocala, FL 9 a.m.

Below is What Do You See 09 with at least two wild edibles. Can you find and name them? The answer is  on the Green Deane Forum and will be published here next week. 

And below is the answer to last weeks What Do You See 08.

WDYS08 is on the easy side… kind of…. Number one is a Pawpaw, Asimina,  Number two is a Smilax… ah… but which pawpaw and which smilax? Hint: The picture was taken in Hardee. The pawpaws are easy to spot right now while driving past pastures. They’re two to four or five feet high, white ways blossoms similar to magnolias.

Book Review: Those who claim to know say love is better the second time around and that is so with the second edition of Christopher Nyerges’ Guide To Wild Foods and Useful Plants, Chicago Review Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-61374-698-1 (If you click on the link, scroll to near the bottom.)

One’s first impression of the second edition is that it is heavy. In fact it weighs 1-1/4 pounds, or around 577 grams. The original was 3/4 of a pound, 352 grams. Making up that half-pound difference is 100 more pages and sturdier stock.  This is a book that will weather a lot of field used and take a beating in your back pack. While the content is mostly the same adding to the length is a less dense layout and more photographs.

One of the stinging criticism of the first edition was that it had (in 1999) black and white photos. This had to hurt because one can see by the second edition that many of the original photos were in color but got published in black and white. That might have been an editorial decision out of Nyerges’ hands. As a published author I, too, have had to defend publishing decision that were not mine to make. 

When it comes to illustrations there’s plenty of damnation to go around regardless what one uses. It’s a foraging issue that will probably never be resolved. Beginners want huge amounts of color photos so they can magically identify every plant in the field instantly. They harbor an assumption that if they just have a lot of really great photos they can get it the ID right, safely, and with a minimal amount of effort. They want shortcuts where there are none.

Photos — even excellent ones — are deceptive frosting. Experienced foragers know photos can be very misleading. Identification is a learned skill. I personally favor high quality botanical drawings. I know one teacher who has her students actually draw the plants they are studying even if they can’t draw. The point is to get the critical identification characteristics inside the student’s head. It’s the difference between knowing a plant vs comparing a plant to a photo. Thus each teacher cum book writer has to face the tough decision as to what medium to use for illustrations and to what extent. This, however, might be transitioning into the realm of a moot point. The student forager — perhaps unwisely — can now find dozens if not hundreds of photographs of a specific plant on the Internet. That instant ability is also now appearing the field.  And as debatably good as that (and recognition software) might be it is no substitute for learning the plants. Nyerges’ guide is full of experience and technique which is really the heart of the book, its raison d’être, and far more important than photos. He also brings the refinement that teaching produces, itself a distillation of knowledge. If it were not for foraging students it would have never crossed my mind that anyone would confuse the edible elderberry with the deadly water hemlock. But experience has taught me they do and that I must teach the differences.

The method Nyerges used 15 years ago to get the new forager up to speed is still in the second edition, only slightly rearranged. It’s leaf and seed illustrations, drawings where shape is often more important than confusing detail. The illustrations are not intended to be a complete reference but rather a general compass helping the reader at least pick a botanical direction to go in. The problem with any field guide is that it cannot be exhaustive nor answer all the possible questions that can be asked. One has to stop somewhere and no matter where that somewhere is it will always disappoint someone and they will complain. The best one can do is use one’s professional judgment as to how much and how far. Nyerges has done that.

Photos aside, a more significant criticism of the first edition has been corrected. The second edition has an index, the first did not.  It also has a table of content that clearly marks which plants are toxic as does the text. The first edition was weak on that. There has also been the correction of inevitable minor errors that cause no harm but irritate the author and knowledgable readers. Again included in the second edition is a helpful glossary and bibliography. There is an appendix of generally safe plant families, an appendix essay by Dolores Lynn Nyerges on “why eat wild food” and a refreshingly better-than-to-be-expected-for-an-actor introduction by Ed Begley Jr., no slouch when it comes to the environment.  

One thing Pasadena native Nyerges can expect is that critics will say his book tilts towards California, or certainly the Pacific Cost. I’ve heard a similar comment before. People assume that since I’m based in Florida all 1,000-plus plants on my EatTheWeeds website are about Florida or the Gulf Coast. They are not. While there is a shadow of truth in the general assertion it is only a shadow. The vast majority of plants in Nyerges’ book, like the plants on my site, are not region specific. There is a sprinkling of local species, like spice upon the main course, but the guide is not just about west-of-the-Rockies species. That said I can’t imagine being a serious forager on the west coast of North America and not owning this book.

It is a curious fact that in the field of foraging for wild food one rarely encounters any botanists. There is a smattering, of course, and a professor here and there but amongst foraging teachers the majority are definitely non-botanists. Reflecting that perhaps is the curious choice by the editors of the field guide to not follow the traditional rule of italicizing the scientific names of plants. It has been a fundamental element of the profession like proper punctuation for English teachers.  The genesis of that could be the absence of botanists in the foraging field, or, that as a group botanists are so ineffectual and estranged from edible wild plants that there is little harm in offending them. (One also notes very few English teachers actually become well-known writers.)

I am often asked, as a writer and foraging teacher, why don’t I put together a book about foraging. There are several answers. One is my website. Two is that I’ve had two books published on a different topic so I don’t have the publishing bug. I also know how a product can be fundamentally changed by a publisher meaning I been there, suffered that, don’t need to do it again. I’ve also had thousands of articles published so seeing my name in print doesn’t thrill me (or my mother) anymore.  But most importantly one answer is there are several excellent foraging books on the market now. They have set the bar mighty high. They are a hard act to follow. Nyerges’ guide is one of those. (If you click on this link scroll to near the bottom to find the book.)

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

As this is April 1st and there are five Tuesdays in April there will be no newsletter April 29th. Oh, and speaking of love the second time around I’ve been dating a widow 13 years my junior. We don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, I’m low-carb and wild plants, she high carb and fancy restaurants even though her husband Ken died after a by-pass operation. But it’s her birthday so I said I would include her picture in my newsletter.

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Three days of learning, music, fun and a bit of refreshing spring rain.

If you missed this year’s Florida Herbal Conference in Ocala this past weekend make plans today to attend next year. Open your date book now, find a place in mid-March 2013, and make a note: ATTEND HERBAL CONFERENCE IN APRIL.

It was three days among botanical friends: Herbs as medicine, growing herbs, longevity, healthy cooking, yoga, edible wild plants, permaculture, living off the grid, food as medicine, medicine as food… There were several somethings for every one. I was fortunate enough to teach two classes which including finding a blooming Asimina obovata, our largest local pawpaw.  While the conference classes cross a wide range of topics and disciplines one of the greatest benefits of attending is being with a group of earnest folks who don’t think having an interest in plants is strange. Indeed, they think NOT having an interest in plants is strange. I’d like to thank the director, Emily Ruff, who is also the director of the Florida School of Holistic Living,  for inviting me, and Mycol Stevens for sharing his enthusiasm and keen taxonomic skills. I also want to thank the 80 some students who came out for my classes. See you there next year.

Seasonal chickweed coming to a lawn near you.

♣ Chickweed, some of which I found in an Ocala garden for the conference, has flown the coup for the season here in Central Florida. The winter annual is no where to be seen locally. Mark the date, St. Patrick’s Day. Perhaps I should say “March” the date. I start looking for chickweed around Christmas but it often sprouts later. There seems to be about a six week window of edibility before it starts to turn brown and disappear.  This also demonstrates what 100 miles north or south can mean in terms of seasons.

When I was in college in Maine, admittedly back in the Dark Ages when we rode horses through snow to school and ate cold gruel, I had a girlfriend teaching about 100 miles to the north, and I went to Boston often which was about 120 miles to the south. In the spring that 200 some mile difference made a month difference in plant growth. It is small unintentional observations like that which I think demonstrate a person’s latent interest. I can remember being amazed that we still had snow in the Maine woods when farmers were already growing tobacco in Connecticut.

Also nearing the end of their seasonal run are Stinging Nettles. They’re getting long and leggy (as much as a small plant can) and will be gone soon as well. I still have one patch I attack for classes but choices are getting skimpy. Personally I will not miss them attacking me. I get stung nearly every time I demonstrate them and the sting lasts for at least three miserable days. And no, no folk remedy works on me. I’ve heard and tried them all, jewelweed to baking soda to urine… don’t ask….

While Pellitory will be around for another month in deep shade it, too, is nearing the end of its seasonal run. The unseasonably warm weather has also dramatically altered the Eastern Red Bud’s display, not only reducing the amount of blossoming but the timing as well. And the mustards are seeding. Our winter is effectively over. One more cold full moon in April and we’ll be done with northern weather until next Christmas.

Goat on the lam

♣ Let’s say you were going to take a test. And you knew out of 100 possible questions only seven questions were going to be asked and only those seven. Which would you study for, the 93 questions that will not be asked or the seven that will be asked? One would expect you to study the seven questions you know are going to be asked. It is no different when learning edible wild plants. About 93 percent of the plants are not edible. Around seven percent are (generous estimates say 10% but it varies with geography.) Which should you study if you are interested in edible wild plants? Mostly the seven percent that are edible or the 93 percent that are not? Most folks interested in edible wild plants go about it backwards. They don’t go looking for a known edibles but wonder what an unknown plant is. Then they ask someone to identify it. More than nine times out of ten it is not edible. Looking for known edibles is far more productive. But if you still have a plant you want identified, post it on the Green Deane Forum. We have a board dedicated to just identifying plants, which is also the most popular board. Not two-months old we are approach 3,000 posts and 300 members from around the nation and the world.

Crab Grass seeds are edible, the drawing was originally black and white.

♣ Pictures or drawings? One of the more common foraging requests I get is “can you recommend a good book with a lot of pictures?”

I can understand the desire to have pictures. We want instant identification. Somewhere in that thinking is the assumption a picture is better than a drawing. While a picture can be helpful they are often not good examples. Drawings can be superior.  How can a picture be bad? Three ways, at least.

As you’ve heard me say, non-regional foraging books — ones that encompass “North America” — are what I call Ohio-centric. I think all the photos are taken in Ohio in July. However, you might be foraging in Prince Edward Island in September, or Florida in February or along coastal California with its cool Pacific influences. The plants just don’t look the same.

Chickweed. The drawing was originally black and white.

Then there are stresses, short days, cold nights, warm nights, lack of water, too much water, local insects and fungus. They change the way a plant looks. Lastly do all people look the same? To an alien the answer might be yes, two arms, two legs, two eyes, et cetera but individually we see great differences.

A good picture of an amaranth means little if your amaranth looks different, particularly if it is the exact same species. The dandelions in the Maine yard I grew up in look very different than the ones that inhabit my neighbor’s yard here in Florida.

An original Regina O’Huges drawing of Oxalis stricta

The built-in assumption is that pictures are nearly foolproof and excellent representations. They are not. They can be way off. What of drawings?

An excellent botanical drawing tells you everything you need to know about the plant; all the important details in the right place and size. It is the optimum representation. A good botanical drawing eliminates the stuff you don’t need to know. The key, of course, is a good botanical drawing. Some of the best if not the best were done by Regina O’Hughes, a deaf artist who started out as a translator in WWI. Her work was the mainstay of “Common Weeds of the United States.”  Almost 500 pages, available for around $15 on Amazon.  All the drawings in that book were made from herbarium specimens. O’ Hughes almost lived to 100, 1 Feb 1895 to 12 Aug 1993.

The other problem is there are few books with truly respresentative photographs though two come to mind, both of those by author Sam Thayer. Forager’s Harvest and Nature’s Garden are two books of which I have no reservations recommending (though they are best suited if one lives within a day’s drive of the Great Lakes.) Unfortunately, or fortunately for Sam, most other books do not integrate text and photos as well. Regionally, it is difficult to find books with good photos but there are some with good drawings.

Trees have different shapes. Can you name them from their outline only?

I even know of one well-known foraging instructor who makes his students draw the plant they are studying. One of the goals when learning to forage is that you get the plant in all its variations inside your head to the point you are so confident that is the right plant you would challenge anyone on it. Right now if someone gave you a banana and called it an orange you would challenge anyone because you know the banana so well. It has to be the same way with the wild plants you learn.

♣ CLASSES: I’m on the road this week to the southern end of Florida, Port Charlotte on Saturday, and West Palm Beach on Sunday, details below and here. And, for the first time I am going to cross over and see Lake Okeechobee. If you know of a nice place for me to stay somewhere near West Palm Beach, send me an email. Thanks.

Saturday, March 31st, Bayshore Live Oak Park, 23157 Bayshore Rd., Port Charlotte, FL 33980. 9 a.m.

Sunday, April 1st, Dreher Park, 1310 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405, 9 a.m.

And yes, I am trying to get back to a weekly newsletter… we shall see…

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