Search: Ringless Honey mushroom

In Gainesville Saturday a colorful combination was worth a photograph: Pink American Beautyberries and blue Lantana berries. They were growing next to each other and the rain had stopped so it was a photo opportunity… didn’t cross my mind to eat them together as the blue ones are flavorful and the pink ones are not. Photo by Green Deane

Pellitory is starting to peek out of it’s shady spots for the season. Photo by Green Deane

Weather ahead or behind schedule, or whether ahead or behind schedule, the plant season is changing into our winter mode. Controversial Brazilian Pepper is ripening and Cucumber Weed (Pellitory) has definitely started its seasonal run. We also saw some young False Hawk’s Beard and Poor Man’s Pepper Grass this weekend. Ringless Honey Mushrooms are in and out depending where you live. They were deliquescing (melting) in Gainesville but still flushing in Greater Orlando. What’s waiting in the winter wonderland to come up? Start looking for wild mustards and radishes and a couple of species of sow thistles. 

Edible Sumac has red clusters of berries on the end of branches and grows in dry places. Photo by Green Deane.

Some of you might have noticed I have been posting new videos (on You tube.) They have been Persimmons Revisited, Lantana, Tropical Almond Revisited and Sumac Revisited. I think Sea Grape is next.  It’s been several years since I’ve posted videos regularly and some 13 years since the originals. Some of those species need to have a new video done. So that is on my agenda as I climb into my 70s. I’m aiming for a total of 200 videos… which means at least 45 more.  Writing a foraing book took a chunk out of my life (to be released in 2023) and I’m just getting back onto the swing of things (and remembering how the video editing program works.) And of course while I am able there are foraging classes every weekend. 

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

Foraging Classes: Some traveling this week, Ft. Pierce Saturday and close to home on Sunday in Winter Park. 

Saturday November 13th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. The preserve is only about three miles from the junction of the Turnpike and I-95. It has no bathrooms or drinking water so take advantage of the various eateries and gas stations at the exit.

Sunday November 14th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. The park entrance is on South Denning. Some GPS directions get it wrong.

Saturday November 20th, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 a.m to noon. Meet at the pavilion by the dog park. 

Sunday November 21st, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park

Saturday December 4th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot of Bayshore and Ganyard St.

Our native Plantago is small and hairy. Photo by green Deane

There are Plantains that look like tough bananas and there are Plantains that are low and leafy plants. No relation. Just two different groups with the same common name. Plantains can be native or non-native. The one pictured right is native, the Dwarf Plantain, one of the very few North American plants to become invasive in Asia.  As a genus the plants are well-known. The leaves are edible raw when young. As they age they become more bitter and stringy. Cooking makes them palatable up to a point. Then they move into the astringent medical realm. They are used on bites, stings and to help puncture wounds heal. Seeds are edible once produced and are the source of the commercial dietary fiber psyllium. When finely ground and flavoring added the seeds are sold under the brand name Metamucil. There are numerous species of Plantagos (Plantains) with at least four common locally, P. virginiana, P. major, P. lanceolata and P. rugelii the latter which strongly resembles P. major. except the bottom ends of the stem are pink.They are all used the same way. You can read about the Plantains here.

Skunk Vine lives up to its name. Photo by Green Deane

Perhaps as a last gasp — virtually — some Skunk Vine was blossoming this past week (along with some Black Cherries. Skunk Vine is aptly named though its aroma drifts more towards bathroom than skunk. However the tough vine is something of a nutritional powerhouse with some of the good chemicals one finds in the Brassica family. You can eat it raw but if you cook it outside is recommended. Oddly it was intentionally brought to Florida to make rope. This was done just before 1900 when a lot of ships were still carrying sails and five miles of rope. Ground zero was the USDA Brooksville Field Station in Hernando County Fl. Yes, this invasive vine  — like many other species — was imported by the United States Department of Agriculture.  Thirty-six years later it was all over Florida but it took until 1977 for it to be a recognized invasive (long after it had crawled into other southern states.) While the blossoms are attractive we eat only the leaves and young tips. You can read about Skunk Vine here.

Lion’s Mane is tasty and medicinal. Photo by Green Deane

We are shifting mushrooms seasons from terrestrial to trees or better said ground to wood. Instead of looking down we now look up. Milk caps and chanterelles are giving way to Oysters, Lion’s Mane and Chicken of the Woods. Edible fungi that like wood also often like cooler weather but not exclusively. There are oysters and chickens other times of the year but cool time is prime time. Lion’s Mane is one I see only after the season starts to turn cooler and only down to northern Florida. It’s a choice find. To my pallet raised on the coast of Maine it tastes like crab or lobster and I use it in similar ways. This particular specimen was found in a foraging class in Jacksonville. You can read more about it here. 

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out and replaced by a 150-video USB. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page or click here. That will take you to an order form. I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. 

Green Deane Forum

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

The edible, cold hardy, Pink Banana. Photo by Green Deane

In a recent video on Tropical Almond I mentioned it is not that tropical being able to live in zones 10 and 11. There is a banana that will survive in zone 7b. It will die back there but come back every year: Musa velutina. 

Unlike most bananas M. veluntina can fruit in one year rather than the usual two years and can take a frost. It also lets you know when it’s ready to be eaten by peeling itself. The species does have a lot of hard seeds which are edible if rendered soft by cooking. Tall and showy with its neon fruit they were a favorite of my great grandmother, one May Eudora Dillingham (she had the bananas as a child and also claimed to have once heard President Lincoln give a speech.) Her family was into shipping and was related to the Dillinghams of commercial ventures Hawaii. In fact one Benjamin Franklin Dillingham from Cape Cod was stranded in Hawaii after trying to ship bananas to California.) Also called the Hairy Banana, Pink Banana and Pink Velvet Banana, the stubby fruit is covered with fine hair. They have a sweet and slightly tangy taste. Where can you find some, you might wonder? 

Pink Banana location

The West Orange Bike Trail west of Orlando wends its way through Winter Garden and Ocoee. The northbound trail crosses East Fuller Cross Road then descends northeast a few hundred feet to traverse a small unnamed brook (further up the hill is Ocoee High School.) For several hundred feet along the trail before and after the brook, if you look carefully, you’ll see dozens of M. veluntina growing and fruiting on both sides of the trail. I imagine some were tossed out with yard trash long ago and have kept reseeding. Enjoy.  

This is my weekly newsletter #481. 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.

The best persimmons are the ones you have to fight the ants for. Photo by Green Deane

In nature close is often good enough. Locally we expect grapes to ripen about the first of September but they can show up in late July or early November. This year the persimmons seems to be late. Usually some are ripe by early October. I saw trees Monday that still had green fruit on them. I think the latest I’ve found edible persimmons is early January. The timing is also way off for the Pineapple Guava.

Ripe and unripe Pineapple Guava looks the same. Photo by Green Deane

Usually in early September the green fruit, left, softens to edible. It is now past mid-October and the fruit is still hard. Does that mean a late-lasting winter so to provide creatures with food later in the season? And Saturday in Sarasota we saw Pellitory. It’s a winter annual that usually becomes noticeable in late November. We saw and sampled six-inch high plants. So far the ringless honey mushrooms have not flushed. Locally they are usually pushing up near Veteran’s Day in November. Wintertime foraging varies where you live. In moderate Florida we can forage all year and the wintertime provides some of the best opportunities. But what of northern climates?

I grew up where winter night temperatures easily dropped into the 30-plus below zero (-40 celsius.) Sometimes the schools had to close for several days because they could not be kept warm or there was too much snow to plow the roads. And once we went skating at 50 below just to say we did. (Chilblains from that night some 60 years ago still bother me in air conditioned buildings. It’s wasn’t the skating with a bonfire that did permanent damage but rather the arctic one-mile walk from and to home.) We did that skating on Gowen’s Pond, our local natural skating rink. It had one tree-stump island which probably had been a water-tolerant hackmatack. That speck of protrusion through the ice was perhaps six square feet in total area. The ice was thinner there and one winter I saw a turtle under the ice feeding some some green pond plant. That generated several thoughts. One was that it was warm enough for the turtle to go looking for food. Two, that the turtle found food, and, three, that the turtle was food even in the winter.  Like the turtle or deer or the horses I grew up with you can find food in hostile winter climates if you know where to dig or browse. You can read more about wintertime foraging here. 

Monstera does not want to be eaten until the right time. Photo by Green Deane

Fall is a good time to look for Yellow Pond Lilys. While they fruit rather continuously these pond residents are putting forth a crop now. Plants may not have a brain they can have a strategy, or at least so it seems. Many of them protect their seeds in various ways until they are ready to germinate. The Persimmon Tree above comes to mind. The fruit is astringent until the seeds are mature enough to germinate. Then the fruit turns sweet attracting various animals to eat it — those that can taste sweet — and spread the seeds around. The Monstera deliciosa , left, has the same sugar strategy. The seeds are acrid until ready to germinate then they turn sweet. They have a flavor reminiscent of pineapple and/or wild chamomile. The Yellow Pond Lily works in a similar fashion, almost. It does not turn sweet but the bitterness goes away. Seeds that are not ready to germinate are bitter. As the plant dies the floating seed pod rots over a three-week period. When the seeds are ready to germinate the protective bitterness is removed by enzymatic action. This also makes the seeds edible. Of course we humans can take advantage of the system by collecting the seed pods ourselves and controlling the rotting process. Then we get the seeds and dry them for use in various ways. You can read more about the Yellow Pond Lily here.

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

Foraging Classes: Making a foraging loop this weekend around south Florida with a class in West Palm Beach Saturday and Port Charlotte Sunday. Might so some fishing in one place or the other or both. 

Saturday October 23rd, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. 9 a.m. to noon, meet just north of the science center.

Sunday October 24th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte.  9 a.m. to noon, meet at the parking lot of Bayshore and Ganyard.

Saturday November 6th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house. 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday November 7th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. to noon, meet by the tennis courts. 

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

True Turkey Tails. Photo by Green Deane

Turkey Tails are a fairly easy-to-identify medicinal mushroom.  For a common type of mushroom I don’t see them that often… two or three times a year. I see False Turkey Tails far more often. More on that later.  A seven-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health found Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) boosted the immunity in women who had been treated for breast cancer. Researchers at the University of Minnesota and Bastyr University conducted the study in women with stages I-III breast cancer who had completed radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Results showed that immune function was enhanced in the women who took daily doses of Turkey Tail in pill form. They reported that the improved immune response was dose dependent and that none of the subjects suffered any adverse effects. Trametes versicolor can be chewed whole, eaten ground, or made into a tea, or a tincture. The question that always follows such comments is are False Turkey Tails, Stereum ostrea, medicinal?  Informally one hears herbalists saying False Turkey Tails can be used but there are few specifics though they have a long herbalism history.  A study in 2007 found that water extracts of Stereum ostrea were antibacterial and antifungal. That’s not cancer fighting or immune system stimulating but useful nonetheless. You can read that article here. 

Easy to identify, difficult to remember, the Golden Rain Tree. Photo by Green Deane

And now the Golden Rain Tree… of all the species I have written about over the years this is one I have perhaps the least personal experience with.  I have a good reason: I always recognize it at the wrong time of the year when it’s sporting pink seed pods. It is the tree’s springtime boiled shoots that are the most edible part of this species. In the spring, however, the tree is a rather drab Elm/Chinaberry-lookalike. Inside the pink boxy seed pods one usually finds two or four black seeds that are reportedly edible. The problem is they have unrefined erucic acid (oil) which is the same irritating oil in unprocessed rape seed oil which when idustrially processed is called Canola. If you have an undisciplined memory like mind the mentioning of erucic acid makes you think of a movie you did not see: Lorenzo’s Oil. The oil, now made from olive oil and erucic aicd, is used to treat ALD, adrenoleukodystrophy. The 1992 movie was based on the true story of parents looking for a treatment for their son. ALD is a genetic disease that causes a metabolic error that in time reduces cognitive function by making an excessive amount of a very-long-chain fat (cerotic acid.) Consumption of the man-made oil can moderate that. Lorenzo himself died of pneumonia in 2008 at age 30.) The seeds I never get around to working with are peppery — Ma Nature is giving us a warning there — and do have a small amount of cyanide. You can read about the Koelreuteria paniculata here.  

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

Also fruiting now are Cereus cactus. Like grapes Cereus are fairly easy to identify by genus but exactly what species is a challenge. Frankly it is a challenge one does not have to accept. Most Cereus cactus, except perhaps the commercial “Dragon Fruit” are shaped like small pink footballs about four inches long.  They are attached rather strongly so nippers or the like are best to cut them off.  Toss the fruit in the refrigerator for a while then cut them open like two little row boats. The white flesh has the texture of overripe watermelon. The black seeds are soft and edible (unlike most cactus seeds which are extremely hard.) The cactus themselves are called “candle” cactus as they are usually but not always an unbranching trunk. Also called Peruvian Cactus the headache associated with species identification is that there are a lot of “fake” botanical names made up by sellers.  Another problem that can make cactus tough plants to identify is having to resort to counting spines and length.  You can read more about them here.

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out and replaced by a 150-video USB. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page or click here. That will take you to an order form. I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. 

Green Deane Forum

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

This is my weekly free newsletter #478. 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.

Persicaria maculosa, an edible plant with dozens of names most relating to the smudge on the leaf.

Rain, yellow jackets, Lady Thumbs, Honey Mushrooms, and Chickweed punctuated my foraging classes in South Carolina this past weekend. Before we get into the details many thanks to Lenard and Donna Putney for the use of Putney Farm for the classes and for the sponsor of Upstate Weedeaters Anonymous (of South Carolina) also on Facebook.  

Chair in tree from flooding. Photo by Green Deane

The rain was from a front passing that came through Friday and left about 10 inches. I did get stuck at the end of the farm’s driveway but skills from decades of getting unstuck from snow and frost-heave mud kicked in and all I got was wet.  Saturday it was not heavy slogging but things were a tad damp. A nearby creek flooded badly and the area we look for Ipomoea pandurata and Box Elder was too soggy to visit. How high was the water? Note the chair in the tree. A nearby fellow who built too close to the small creek also had his truck muck mired and his generator float away along with an inflatable child bounce-house. 

Sow thistle, in this case, Sonchus asper, is a cool weather pot herb. Photo by Green Deane

As for yellow jackets… on Saturday’s class I was fortunate enough to step directly on their ground entrance while talking about a sow thistle, Sonchus Asper. That — unknowingly — kept them at bay. We also covered Wild Geraniums as the same stop as well as Amaranth and Rumex hastatulus, a nice tart sorrel. Not one sting. Good thing as the class was a dozen or so people. By Sunday morning, however, the little stingers had dug out and I got too close though I did not know that until they strafed my leg. Fortunately I am not allergic to their stings. I did talk a little faster though…. 

As for the chickweed…. While scruffing some Carolina Bristle Mallow I saw a couple of one-inch high plants that looked familiar. Their raw corn taste confirmed them as chickweed (clearly starting its seasonal run in South Carolina. I don’t see them in Florida until perhaps late January or early February.) Knowing they were up we found more in select places. The Bristle Mallow, incidentally, is a semi-edible.

If it looks like a garlic and smells like a garlic it is edible.

Two other surprises of the weekend were a young garlic and honey mushrooms. As to which wild garlic my guess is Allium vineale, (ALL-ee-um VINE-ee-ul) also called Crow Garlic. It’s not native but rather came from Eurasia during the colonial period. The species is grass-like when young and later sends up a long seed spike with small cloves on top. If a plant looks like a garlic and smells like a garlic it is edible no matter where you are on earth. That’s also true with onions: If it looks like an onion and smells like an onion it is edible but you have to have both, looks and aroma. Here in Florida we have a toxic lily that looks like a garlic/onion but has no aroma.

Honey Mushrooms are cespitose, growing in a clump. Photo by Green Deane

I am extremely familiar with Ringless Honey Mushrooms but this was the first time I saw Honey Mushrooms (with a ring) Armillaria mellea.  Fortunately also with the class Saturday was Tom McGrath from Georgia who is familiar with the species. They are among the few mushrooms that are cespitose which means growing in a clump (think like a bouquet, large caps on top like blossoms with decreasing skinny stems down to a point that holds together.) Interestingly that area of South Carolina has both species — Honey and Ringless Honeys and are they first to respond to the cooling weather of fall. The ones in the picture came home with me. 

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

Foraging Classes: Less traveling this weekend for foraging classes, at least for me. Sarasota on Saturday and Winter Park on Sunday. 

Saturday October 16th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL,. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Sunday October 17th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday October 23rd, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. 9 a.m. to noon, meet just north of the science center.

Sunday October 24th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte.  9 a.m. to noon, meet at the parking lot of Bayshore and Ganyard.

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

Lady Thumbs are distantly related to Japanese Knotweed.

Pretty easy to see during our classes but hard to sort out were the prolific Lady Thumbs, Persicaria maculosa. Botanists are of little help here. The plant (and relatives) have bounced between to genera — Polygonum and Persicaria — and have had multiple names, botanical and common. Fortunately there are no known toxic plants in the greater group if you don’t get the ID down to the species. They are usually mild when young and can be peppery when older. The plants are usually used in salads, more when mild, as a spice when peppery though they can be a pot herb as well. In a raw serving there is some B2, vitamin C and vitamin A. When cooked only B2 was detected.  Persicaria maculosa (as of this writing) is a native of Eurasia and is on the weed hit list of many states. There are a couple of native species that can resemble it: The Nodding Smartweed (Persicaria lapathifolia) and Pennyslvania Smartweed (P. pensylvania.)

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out and replaced by a 150-video USB. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page or click here. That will take you to an order form. I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. 

Green Deane Forum

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

This is my weekly free newsletter #477. 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.

The unripe cone of the Norfolk Pine. Photo by Green Deane

Undeveloped seeds in the Norfolk Pine cone. Photo by Green Deane

The Bunya Bunya and Norfolk Pine are closely related. Neither look good in landscaping though the Norfolk Pine is far more common than the Bunya Buyna locally. They both awkwardly stand out. Unlike cones of the Bunya Bunya, which one finds regularly, Norfolk pine cones are more rare. And like their relative they, too, have edible seeds. During a class in Port Charlotte we saw an immature Norfolk Pine cone. The undeveloped seeds were intensely pine flavored.   The Bunya Bunya fruits about every three years. One sees Norfolk Pines regularly but not their cones. Hopefully this tree will drop some mature cones in August which is also about when the champagne mangos in the area ripen (and rot on the ground.)

Dollarweed has its stem in the middle.

Allergic reactions. While a teacher can guarantee that a particular species is edible they cannot control for individual allergic reactions. We now have far more allergic people than half a century ago. The rate was about 3% in 1960 and 7% in 2018. Some think that has been caused by over-protective parents and no child ever unsupervised. We also know kids raised on farms have less allergies than most kids supporting the so- called hygiene hypothesis. When I was young no one ever heard of a peanut allergy or the like. As plants are chemical factories one can expect some people to have an allergic reaction to them. Among wild plants two sometimes produce a mild allergic reaction, Cucumber Weed and Epazote.  Pawpaws carry a huge warning because they can cause a rare anaphylactic shock which is a severe allergic reaction. In a class this past week a fellow had an itchy throat reaction to Hydrocotyle bonariensis, our local common dollar weed. It wasn’t a severe reaction and all is well but it is one to be mindful of. 

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

Foraging classes: On this holiday weekend I have one class, Saturday, in Winter Park. It’s plant-rich location and a good time of year to go treasure hunting. 

Saturday, May 8th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet by the bathrooms. The entrance to Mead is on Denning not Pennsylvania. Some GPS get it wrong. 

Saturday, May 15th, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 to noon. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park.

Sunday, May 16th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the pavilion.

Saturday, May 22th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the parking lot. 

Sunday, May 23th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park, 9 a.m. to noon.

For more class information, to sign up or prepay, go here. 

Wild Plums can be as sweet as cultivated plums. Photo by Green Deane

It was a “Prunus“ foraging week. While rummaging around our usual class location we saw Chickasaw Plums. They are just beginning to ripen and should be around for about six weeks. The Chickasaw Plums were not completely ripe but give them a week or two.  Black Cherries are also ripening but are often more difficult to find because the birds also like them. Cherries and plums are in the same genus, Prunus, so it’s not surprising they are ripening at about the same time.  Also setting fruit are the Flatwood Plums but they are different story and are included in my related article. I have a video on the Chickasaw plum here, Black Cherry here. To read about the Black Cherry go here, the Chickasaw Plum, here.  Completely unrelated Tallow Plums are blossoming.

Lactarius indigo mushrooms are difficult to misidentify.

It’s been a strange week for edible wild mushrooms. Ringless Honey Mushrooms favor the fall but the right weather conditions in the spring — May specificially — can cause a minor occurrence of them. This this week there were sporadic reports of said about the South. I have even seem them on a Banyan in West Palm Beach in July.  I saw five agung  Lactarius indigo in Venice, Fl., this week, quite out of season. It is indeed a pretty mushroom and edible though its texture can be a tad grainy. With rains between now and the end of the month the summer mushroom season should get a good start. Hopefully by mid-June the Orlando Mushroom Group (OMG!) can have a forage. 

No plant produces more starch per acre than cattails.

If you were starving and came upon a patch of cattails (blossoming now) you would have great cause for celebration. You have found food and water. You will survive. But if you are not starving and do not have all the time in the inter-connected world you just might find cattails highly overrated. It is true that no plant can produce more starch per acre than cattails, about 3.5 tons under cultivation. And it can produce a lot of starch economically if you can mechanize the extraction. But hand extraction is time- consuming and labor intensive. It is also wet, smelly work all of which can be worsened significantly by harvesting in either cold or buggy weather. So yes, cattails are food but the time demand is such that harvesting food has to be your prime occupation. A similar argument can be made for kudzu. The roots do have edible starch but it takes a gargantuan amount of work to get the starch out, literally hours of steady pounding. It is not a calorie positive activity. It moves you closer to starvation. But, mechanize the process with some hammers run by falling water — or hammers run by a horse fed on an endless supply of grass — and kudzu becomes a reliable calorie-positive food. You can see my video on cattails here.  I also have an article on Finding Caloric Staples with links to relevant videos. 

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

150-video USB would be a good 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.

Your donations to upgrade the EatTheWeeds website and fund a book were appreciated. A book manuscript has been turned it. It had 424 articles, 1325 plants and a third of a million words. What it will be when the publisher is done with it next year is unknown. It will be published in the spring of 2023. Writing it took a significant chunk of time out of my life from which I have still not recovered. (Many things got put off.) The next phase is to update all the content on the website between now and publication date. Also note as it states above the 135-video DVD set has been phased out for 150-video USB. Times and formats change. Which reminds me I need to revisit many plants and make some new videos. 

This is weekly newsletter #456. 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.

Ringless Honey Mushroom, Armillaria tabescens, Photo by Green Deane

It’s about time to make a prediction. Locally we had more than three inches of chilly rain over the weekend (and hurricane gusts, my neighbor’s mail box was blown away.)  The ground temperature is still cool from winter. It is April. Those are a good combination for a spring flush of edible Ringless Honey Mushroom. They don’t do it every April but the conditions might be right this year. The ground is still too cold for chanterelles and fungal friends. Ground temperature and rain directly affect fungi production. Cool rain and cool ground in April equals Ringless Honey Mushrooms. Warm rain and warm ground in May/June equals Chanterelles.  

Ringless Honey Mushrooms have a good texture and taste. Photo by Green Deane

“Honeys” come with some conditions and warnings. Not all people can eat them. I know at least three folks for whom Honeys give severe gastro-intestinal distress, to put it mildly. This includes cooking them twice such as parboiling them first then frying. So the first time you try Honeys eat only a small amount. Next is method of preparation. Some people can’t eat them just fried, they have to parboil them first then fry them. I just fry them but much longer than store-bought button mushrooms. And parts…. most folks eat just young caps. They use the stems for flavoring. Honeys, in my opinion, is a good stewing mushroom. They holds its flavor and texture in a wet medium though frying the caps is my most common means of cooking them. Once they are cooked then I add other ingredients to the pan. I have a video abou them  here  and an article. 

Eastern Coral Beans are easy to find this time of year. Photo by Green Deane

Also blossoming this time of year is the Eastern Coral Bean, sometimes called the Cherokee Bean. What is odd about this plant is the edible flowers produce toxic beans.  So we do not eat the red and black beans. A few of the red blossoms are edible raw — with precautions — but they are usually boiled then mixed with other foods notably scrambled eggs. When you cook the blossoms they turn light green. The distinctive shape of the leaves makes the shrub easy to identify. Young leaves are edible cooked but are marginal fare. Like Pawpaws they prefer dry, sunny places. A few raw red blossoms seem okay but if eaten in larger amounts they can be mind altering and approaching dangerous. Boiled they are fine. (Juice from the shrub’s stems, by the way, has been used to treat scorpion stings and the toxic beans have a chemical that is close to the alkaoid curare which can cause breathing paralysis.)  You can see my video about the species here or read more about the Eastern Coral Bean here. 

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

Spanning the state this weekend with foraging classes, Ocala to West Palm Beach. The class in Ocala is now rare because of interference by the city. They don’t like people walking through the park looking at plants.  

Saturday, April 17th, Jervey Gantt Recreation Complex, 2390 SE 36th Ave., Ocala, FL. 9 a.m. to noon. There is no fee for this class. You can make a donation afterwards if you like. This is because the City of Ocala says I must meet all the requirements of a football team if I want to teach in the park. It is either hold a free class there or never teach in Ocala.  

Sunday, April 18th, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 9 a.m. to noon.

Saturday, April 24th, Bayshore Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the parking loot at the intersection of Bayshore Dive and Ganyard Street. 

Sunday, April 25th, Seminole Wekiva Trail, Sanlando Park, 401 West Highland St. Altamonte Springs, Florida 32714. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the first parking lot on your right after entry. 

Saturday, May 1st, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the pavilion next to the tennis courts.

Sunday, May 2nd, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. This class is on Sunday by request. 

For more information, to sign up or prepay, go here. 

Watercress/Wintercress grew in a ditch behind an apartment complex I lived in near Sanford, Florida, some 35 years ago. How did the Eurasian native Nasturtium officinale, get there? It came to North America with the Europeans, found a good home, and stayed. Alabama became the epicenter of cultivating it then later Central Florida. Sanford, by the way, is named for Henry Sanford one of Lincoln’s ambassadors. He is called “General Sanford” but the gentleman never served in the military. He got the title for donating a cannon to the Union effort. Sanford was, however, big on big farming and for a few decades made the city of Sanford the big place to go in Central Florida nor Orlando.

When President Calvin Coolidge came to Central Florida in 1929 it was to Sanford he went not little-ol’ backwater Orlando. The city of Sanford had everything: River, rails, road and Rollins college. But it lacked leadership giving Orlando a chance to make its mousey mark. Rollins moved to Winter Park. As Coolidge did so did watercress which is why it ended up in the ditch behind the apartment complex in Sanford. The entire area was truck farms and one of their winter crops was watercress. Peppery like nasturtiums it is edible raw or cooked but make sure you get it from wholesome water. Nasturtium by the way literally means “twisted nose.” Where I collect watercress to be eaten raw is about a half mile down stream from the Wekiva River boil (its main spring and headwater.) But there’s a lot of water hemlock around so I have to pick carefully. This time of year the river is mostly water hemlock. To read more about watercress go here. I have a video on watercress here. To read about the deadly Water Hemlock go here.  

Marlberries aren’t too edible. Photo by Green Deane

Marlberries and I don’t meet too often, about once or twice a year and then usually while I’m conducting a class so I don’t have the time to get acquainted better. There is also a certain lack of motivation because even at its best marlberry is not a great trailside nibble. A complicating headache is there are several malberries of varying quality. They are also related to the invasive species Coral Berry, Ardisia crenata, which has been implicated in cattle poisoning. Reportedly found mid-Florida and south I have found Marlberries in Dreher Park in West Palm Beach, LaStrange Preserve in Ft. Pierce, and Emerson Point near Sarasota.  Around the same time and in the same habitat you find Marlberries you can also see Rapanea punctata, Colicwood, one of those mystery pants one finds in wet woods this time of year. It looks like a drab cross between a mangrove and a beautyberry and used to be called Myrsine guianensis. Colicwood’s small yellow blossoms and black fruit grow directly on the branches, helping you identify it. There’s not a whole lot of literature on the species so the berries are probably not edible. As it is called “Colicwood” suggest some medicinal uses. To read more about the Marlberry and its strange relatives go here.

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

150-video USB would be a good 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.

Your donations to upgrade the EatTheWeeds website and fund a book were appreciated. A book manuscript has been turned it. It had 423 articles, 1315 plants and a third of a million words. What it will be when the publisher is done with it next year is unknown. Writing it took a significant chunk of time out of my life from which I have still not recovered. (Many things got put off.) The next phase is to update all the content on the website between now and publication date. Also note as it states above the 135-video DVD set has been phased out for 150-video USB. Times and formats change.

This is weekly newsletter #453 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.

Blueberries are blossoming heavily. Photo by Green Deane

Blackberries in blossom on the Springs to Springs bike trail.

It’s not June that’s busting out all over but rather Vacciniums, mostly blueberries. Last week I had the opportunity to see V. elliottii in south Georgia. This Sunday we saw V. myrsinites and V. darrowii in bloom. Expect ripe berries in a month to six weeks. Blackberries were also in full bloom this week. They also usually are ripe sometime in April. And if we get ten days of good rain in the next three weeks look for a second flush of Ringless Honey Mushrooms. The seasons are not static. 

No other root has the growth pattern of the Groundnut east of the Rockies. Photo by Green Deane

The first export from the New World back to Europe was Sassafras wood. It was thought to be medicinal. The second export on any large scale was groundnuts, Apios americana. While gold fever later became a motive early explorations were for plants. John Smith, of Pocahontas fame, made careful botanical notes as he was good friends with the king’s gardener, John Tradescant. In his 909-page book, Florida Ethnobotany, Dr. Daniel Austin references Smith. In at least one case Austin prefers Smith’s observations over 400 years ago over that of a PhD. botanist in the 1930s. Smith incidentally, lived a full and a rather amazing life. You can read a little about him in my article about Spiderworts.

Groundnuts have leaflets of three, five and seven. Photo by Green Deane

We found some groundnut during as foraging class recently. No other plant east of the Rockies has a similar root growth pattern making it easy to identify. A legume with lumps on its root, it usually grow to about egg size but can be as large as a potato. It also has up to 26% protein, which is a whopping amount for a plant. The University of Louisiana developed a commercial cultivar and it can be bought on the internet if you don’t want to go find it. If folks ate groundnuts some 400 years ago — it was a staple for the natives from Maine to Florida — and it was shipped off to Europe as a food, and has been developed into a cultivar, why aren’t we eating it? Why isn’t it in the grocery stores? The answer is it takes a year to first establish itself. In the fast pace of modern agriculture that does not meet commercial practices. But it’s fine for people who like to grow their own food. You can read about the “lost crop” here.

Oenothera laciniata, cutleaf evening primrose

There are two blossoms you might be seeing now. One is the non-edible vine Carolina jassamine (Gelsemium Sempervirens.) You will see it draping over fences and bushes. The other in the southern version of the Evening Primrose, generally considered not edible (but I haven’t proven that to myself.) The northern version of the Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis, is called a “lost vegetable.” It was cultivated in Europe for about a century. There is a debate whether it is native to Europe or North America. Our Evening Primrose is O. laciniata, or the Cutleaf Evening-primrose. Unlike its northern sibling our local Evening Primrose does not grow tall, is a ground hugger, and is not considered edible. I have been meaning to try a little part of the blossom. A quarter of a century ago Forager Emeritus Dick Deuerling told me it was not edible. That said, Dick had texture issues and said he only ate the “good stuff.” So he could have been saying he didn’t eat it. It’s a plant I’ve been meaning to explore. The natives ate several other Evening Primroses including O. albicaulis, O. biennis, O elata ssp. hookeri, and O. triloba. Another evening Primrose you might find in the northern part of the state is O. fruticosa. It’s not considered edible, either. 

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

Foraging Classes: Traveling some this weekend, southeast Florida to northwest, Ft. Pierce to Gainesville

Saturday, March 20th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet in the parking lot. 

Sunday, March 21st, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. 9 a.m to noon, meet at the pavilion by the pump house. 

Saturday, March 27th, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park.

Sunday, March 28th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. to noon. The entrances is on the west side of the park on Denning. 

Saturday, April 3rd, Florida State College, south campus, 11901 Beach Blvd.,  Jacksonville, 32246. 9 a.m. to noon. We meet at Building A next to the administration parking lot. Whether the bathrooms are open or not is always a problem at this location.

For more information on these clases, to prepay or sign up go here. 

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

150-video USB would be a good spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos is being phased out. They are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have a separate copy.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. They are MP4 files. My headache is getting my WordPress Order page updated to reflect this change. We’ve been working on it for several months. However, if you want to order the USB 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. Please include a snail-mail address.

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.

Also blooming now are paw paws. They’re a yellow blur from the interstate, usually along a fence, or inside a pasture. The shrub is two or three feet high. If you stop and look, it has large, three-petaled waxy blossoms that remind you of the Magnolia. You have found a paw paw.

Unripe paw paws. Photo by Green Deane

Paw paws are common but elusive in this part of the world. Neither rare nor prolific yet they manage to hide well, even in plain sight! Kind of like persimmons, they are wall-flowers, not showy. More so the fruit starts out green and blends in well. And about the time it ripens to light green and yellow the woodland creatures are harvesting them. Here and gone. So finding the shrub this time of year by the blossoms is the easiest way to locate them. Dry open ground is a good place to look, which is why pastures near the road are often fruitful. It is also common to find them at the base of slash pines in scrub areas. We have several different species locally from dwarf versions with red blossoms to spindly tall shrubs with creamy-yellow blossoms. You can read more about them here.

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 the only plant in its genus. It’s 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.

This is weekly newsletter #449 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.

Chickweed is just staring its seasonal run. Photo by Green Deane

Our first sighting of one of our winter comestibles happened Saturday. Just an inch or so high Chickweed is coming up. A spring edible up north 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, too. Soon it will be Wild Mustard and Sow Thistle time. To read more about Chickweed go here.

These prime Ringless Honey Mushrooms are cespitose, all growing out of one spot. Photo by Green Deane

Despite being well past the season we are still finding Ringless Honey Mushrooms. The cespitose mushroom (grows like a bouquet) usually flushes in the first week or so of November. It was a couple of weeks early. Now a month past its common time and it’s still popping. We found some Sunday in New Port Richey. They can also have a minor flush in April or so dependent on the weather. We are often told a lot about the vitamin D content of mushrooms and  Ringless Honey Mushrooms have some, about 0.172 mg per gram. However it has far more vitamin C, 16 mg per gram. That means one mushroom could meet your daily need for vitamin C. Not a bad deal. You can read more about Ringless Honey Mushrooms here. 

Classes are held rain, shine or cold.

Foraging Classes this week are both on the east coast. The weather will be warming up so they should be enjoyable. Saturday’s class is in West Palm Beach. It rarely freezes there so we can see some tropical species. Sunday’s class is one I don’t do too often because we have to go inside a federal park and then change locations twice. We start at Turtle Mound then go south to visit the beach side and then end at Eldora, which was once a thriving community on the inland coastal waterway. 

Saturday, December 12th, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. 9 a.m. to noon. Take exit 68 (Southern Boulevard) off Interstate 95 and go east. Entrance to the park is an immediate right at the bottom of the interstate bridge. Follow the convoluted signs to the science center (which is not where the GPS puts you.)  Park anywhere. We meet 300 feet northwest of the science museum near the banyan trees.

Sunday, December 13th, Turtle Mound: Canaveral National Seashore Park, New Smyrna Beach Fl. 9 a.m. to noon. A foraging class at this location requires some flexibility. There is a fee to get into the park. We start at Turtle Mound but there is limited parking. However, there is a ranger station visitor center just south of the mound with parking there, too. After the mound we will drive to the next beachside parking area to look around.  Then we move a second time to visit what is left of Eldora once a busy town on the inland waterway.

Saturday, December 19th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Port Charlotte, 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot at the intersection of Bayshore and Ganyard Street. 

Sunday, December 20th, Mead Gardens, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. to noon. The entrance is on the west side off Denning  not the east side off Pennsylvania. Some GPS maps are wrong. Meet near the bathrooms. 

Sunday, December 27th, Ft. Desoto Park, 3500 Pinellas Bayway S. St. Petersburg Fl 33715. 9 a.m. to noon. There is an entrance fee to the park. After you enter the park you arrive at a T-intersection. Turn right. Close to a mile later on your left is the fishing pier and parking lot. Meet near the bathrooms. There is considerable walking at this location. 

For more information, to prepay or to sign up go here.  Don’t forget Dec.18th is my  10th annual Urban Crawl. It’s a free class in downtown Winter Park, starts at 10 a.m. in front of Panera’s

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 cooler weather

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

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. 

Dollarweed has its stem in the middle.

Botany Builder #30:  Peltate, shield-like. When the ancient Greeks fought they did so in a line holding a spear-like pole in the right hand, and a round shield in the left held by a handle in the middle. In fact the Greek word  for “okay” means “in line.”  Usually a peltate leaf has the stem attached to middle on the underside, like the common dollar weed. Websites say peltate comes from the Dead Latin “Pelta” meaning a small light shield. No. It comes from the older Greek word Peltos, meaning shield. Greeks were defending themselves with peltos centuries before the Roman’s came along.

From The ETW’s Archives: Is this Plant Edible? That is surprisingly not an easy question to answer. Where, when and what is rather important. To read more about that go here. 

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

A 150-video USB or 135 video DVD set would be a good winter present and either is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been selling for seven years and are still available. They are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have a separate copy.  A second option is a16-gig USB that has those 135 videos plus 15 more. While the videos can be run from the DVDs the videos on the USB have to be copied to your computer to play. They are MP4 files. The150-video USB is $99 and the 135-video DVD set is now $99. The DVDs will be sold until they run out then will be exclusively replaced by the USB. This is a change I’ve been trying to make for several years. So if you have been wanting the 135-video DVD set order it now as the price is reduced and the supply limited. Or you can order the USB. My headache is getting my WordPress Order page changed to reflect these changes. We’ve been working on it for several weeks. However, if you want to order now either the USB or the DVD set make a $99 “donation” using the link at the bottom of this page or here.  That order form provides me with your address, the amount — $99 — tells me it is not a donation and in the note say if you want the DVD set or the USB. 

Green Deane Forum

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

This is weekly newsletter #435. 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.

A small Winged Yam root (Dioscorea alata.)  Photo by Green Deane

During our foraging class last Sunday in Gaineville we dug up a couple of Winged Yams, Dioscorea alata.  It’s an easy time to identify the Winged Yam because its prolific relative– the invasive Air Potato —  is fading for the season. While there are six species of “yams” locally the Winged Yam is the biggest caloric payoff. And it is a true yam not a variety of sweet potato (Ipomoea) which are improperly called “yams” and sold in cans and whole in grocery stores. Also called “Yam A” on my website — for Alata —  we are interested in eating its root not its distinctive dark brown “air potatoes.” The plant’s root can grow to many pounds — 30 unattended, 150 cultivated —  and is right below the surface usually. Boil it like a potato first then use it in like a potato. Its dark brown, misshapen “air potatoes” are quite visible this time of year hanging on the vine making it easy to find. You can read more about the Winged Yam and others  here.

Tropical Almond kernel in a large almond-like shell.

Tropical Almonds are now on Mother Nature’s dining table and we hope to eat some this Sunday in our foraging class in West Palm Beach (Nov. 1st, remember the time change.) Terminalia catappa, which is really subtropical and not at all an almond, produces edible fruits for a few months. A tree I know was just starting to produce edible fruit the last time I was in Dreher Park. The ripe rind is edible as well as the “almond” inside which is really a little tree. It tastes like coconuts blended with almonds. The only problem is the buoyant dry shells are quite tough and require a hammer or a couple of rocks to crack open. (For those who don’t know Florida does not have rocks. You can’t just rummage around and find a pair of rocks to break seed shells with.) There is some labor involved with eating Tropical Alomonds but they are still calorie positive. I usually have a couple of pieces of concrete hidden near this particular tree to get to the treat. To read more about the Tropical Almond go here.

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

I have one Foraging Class this weekend and it is Sunday in West Palm Beach. The weather should be favorable with all the heavy rain much farther north (if Hurricane Zeta cooperates.) 

Sunday, November 1st, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405.  We meet 300 feet north of the science museum near the banyan tees. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, November 7th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte.  9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard. 

Sunday, November 8th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr. Winter Park, FL 32789. Meet near the bathrooms. The entrance to the park is off Denning not Pennsylvania as some GPS say. 

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

Roses are eaten carefully. Photo by Green Deane

While teaching this past weekend we noticed some roses getting ready to bloom. They can flower any time of year but locally prefer October to May. So start looking for roses. The blossoms are quite edible. In fact I have three gallons of Sparkling Rose Petal Wine aging for Valentine’s Day (though I haven’t had a “Valentine” for many years it pays to be an optimist.) Most folks already know that rose hips are high in vitamin C. They can vary in flavor from bitter to “sweet & sour.” Raw you eat only the outside portion of rose hips avoiding the seeds. The seeds have tiny hairs on them that are very irritating. They were the original itching powder and if consumed can cause what the Aboriginals called “itchy bottom disease.” You can cut the hips in half — if they are large — and let them dry then use the outside to make tea. Or you can use the entire rose hip for tea but pour it through a fine filter to take out the hairs. Another option is to boil the hip then squeeze the pulp through a screen or the like, capturing the seeds. Some people dry the hips and rub them in a sieve to get the hairs off leaving the seeds. It takes patience.  To read more about roses go here.

Persea borbonia (the Red Bay) often has many leaf galls.

How do you know if the leaf you are examining belongs to a Persia palustris (Swamp Bay) or Persia borbonia (Red Bay.) From a use point of view you can employ either for flavoring. The leaves of both are lance-shaped with gray-yellow stem and veins. Location is one hint. The Swamp Bay likes to be close to or in wet spots. The Red Bay likes higher and drier. The Red Bay also has more leaf galls than the Swamp Bay and is also being affected by the Laurel Wilt (see below.) If you happen to have a ten-powered magnifying glass you can look at the leaf stem. The Swamp Bay has stem hair that stands up. The Red Bay has stem hair that looks combed down. A third tree used for flavoring is the Sweet Bay, Magnolia virginiana. It has larger leaves than the other two but more importantly the back side of the leaf is white (that rubs off.) Of the three the Sweet Bay — which likes damp spots, too — is considered the most flavorful. You can read more about the “bays” here. 

The Red bay Ambrosia Beetle

Mentioned above the Laurel Wilt, Raffaelea lauricola, was introduced in 2002 by the Ambrosia Beetle, Xyleborus glabratus. The wilt is moving out from ground zero which was Savannah, Georgia. As one might expect Laurel Wilt is killing trees in the Laurel family including Red Bays, Swamp Bays, Sassafras, and Camphors but not the Laurel Cherry which is in a different family. The wilt’s other target is avocados and has killed approximately 120,000 commercial avocado trees as well as many appreciated backyard specimens. Avocados were a $30 million business in the state in 2011 but has dropped to $12 million. The infestation has destroyed 36% of the susceptible trees in Florida, 42% in South Carolina and 66% in Gerogia. This also has impact on birds and animals dependent on those species. Lastly, what is a common vector for the beetle, that is, how does it get spread around? The insect can travel a few miles but another the vector is people taking infected firewood from home to burn on recreational trips.

It’s easy to see where citrus used to grow. Look for the melons.

From the Mail Bag: “Couldn’t find any info about the Dudaim Melon on your website. It is a small little melon considered an invasive weed. It is growing in South Alabama and Florida too.” Thanks for writing, Rob.  Botanically your melon is Cucumis melo var. dudaim. Its use is not unlike Citron Melon.  Small fruits are sometimes used as preserves, or the rind is made into marmalade or pickles. There are many such small melons with varying edibility. Some are edible like larger melon except they are small. Some were intentionally planted to make marmalade or the like. A few are bitter and used as famine food only (which means you only eat it when you are starving.) Locally Citron Melons were here before citrus though it is in old or working citrus groves where one usually finds them.  The Dudaim Melon was not cultivated for its edibility but for it fragrance. Incidentally, it has escaped cultivation and is a pest in many areas. It is naturalized in most of North America except for the high plains states and providences. As grass and the like die back with the shorter days you can see the melons in fields. 

The Honeycombs name-changing Neofavolus brasiliensis. Photo by Green Deane

While Ringless Honey Mushrooms are in the limelight now other “honey” mushrooms can still be found. One that looks like an Oyster Mushroom from a distance but has a honeycomb arrangement instead of gills is Neofavolus brasilennsis (which might be its third name change in nearly as many years.) Technically a polypore with a white spore print, they’re very tough and don’t like to let go of a log. The species must be cooked and some think they are analogous to Shiitake mushrooms (which is a gastronomical stretch for a fungus many consider inedible.) It’s consumed more in Central American countries than elsewhere. The species has been recommended to be grown commercially — don’t hold your breath — and there may be some medicinal applications as well. They are a fun white fungi to spy and study once you realize you have not found an Oyster Mushroom. We should be seeing more of the later as we transition into cooler months.  

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is weekly newsletter #429, 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.

These prime Ringless Honey Mushrooms are cespitose, all growing out of one spot. Photo by Green Deane

Mother Nature has her own schedule: Persimmons are late this year, Ringless Honey Mushrooms are early, and Golden Rain Trees are coloring sidewalks. 

OMG! The Orlando Mushroom Group has a successful mushroom hunt has week with 20 people finding a wide variety of species.

Ringless Honey Mushrooms, Armillaria tabescens aka Desarmillaria tabescens) usually flush locally between the first and second week of November. The further north you are the sooner and the further south later. In the Carolinas I see them in late August, in West Palm Beach December. I actually saw some five weeks ago in east Orlando but that was an isolated sighting. I’ve seen, however, several clumps of them in the last few days. Once the season starts they are around for two or three weeks. Ringless Honey Mushrooms are prolific. It is easy in a season to harvest a 100 pounds of them or more. They are among the most easy of mushrooms to identity. What I usually do is dry the cleanest then wash and eat the rest. As for edibility opinions range from “choice” to not edible. They have a “meaty” texture meaning you can cook them a lot and they keep their firmness. To me they have a flavor (perhaps aroma) that reminds me of maple syrup. I do know two people who can’t eat them even if they cook them twice. The mushroom gives them digestive issues. If the weather is right Ringless Honey Mushrooms also can have a small flush locally around April. That is hit or miss whereas the fall flush is assured. Technically they can grow all year and I once saw them on a Banyan in West Palm Beach in July. I have an article on them here and a video here.

Seed pods of the Golden Rain Tree. Photo by Green Deane

And now the Golden Rain Tree… of all the species I have written about over the years this is one I have perhaps the least personal experience with.  I have a good reason: I always recognize it at the wrong time of the year when it’s dropping yellow petals in the fall. It is the tree’s springtime boiled shoots that are the most edible part of this species. In the spring, however, the tree is a rather drab Elm- Chinaberry-lookalike. This time of year tree also produces pink boxy seed pods. Usually inside one finds two or four black seeds that are reportedly edible. The problem is they have unrefined erucic acid (oil) which is the same irritating oil in unprocessed rape seed oil which when refined is called Canola. If you have an undisciplined memory like mind the mentioning of erucic acid makes you think of a movie you did not see: Lorenzo’s Oil. The oil, now made from olive oil and erucic aicd, is used to treat ALD, adrenoleukodystrophy. The 1992 movie was based on the true story of parents looking for a treatment for their son. ALD is a genetic disease that causes a metabolic error that in time reduces cognitive function by making an excessive amount of a very-long-chain fat (cerotic acid.) Consumption of the man-made oil can moderate that. Lorenzo himself died of pneumonia in 2008 at age 30.) The seeds I never get around to working with are peppery — Ma Nature is giving us a warning there — and do have a small amount of cyanide. You can read about the tree here.  

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

Foraging Classes: Did you know hurricanes hit Florida in October more often than any other month? I was going to have a class in West Palm Beach later this month but long term forecasts predict possible bad weather in south Florida that weekend. Thus I moved the class to early November. 

Saturday, October 18th, Seminole Wekiva Trail, Sanlando Park, 401 West Highland St. Altamonte Springs, Florida 32714 (at the intersection with Laura Avenue.) We meet in the first parking lot on your right immediately after the entrance. 9 a.m. to noon. This compact tour I do once or twice a year includes unmanaged woods, a park, baseball fields, and a visit to the Little Wekiva River. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, October 24th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m to noon. Meet at the pavilion by the tennis courts by the YMCA building. 

Sunday, November 1st, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. Take exit 68 (Southern Boulevard) off Interstate 95 and go east. Entrance to the park is an immediate right at the bottom of the interstate bridge. Follow the convoluted signs to the science center (which is not where the GPS puts you.)  Park anywhere. We meet 300 feet north of the science museum near the banyan tees. 9 a.m. to noon. 

For more information about the classes, updates, to pre-pay, or to sign up go here. 

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

Also fruiting now are Cereus cactus. Like grapes Cereus are fairly easy to identify by genus but exactly what species is a challenge. Frankly it is a challenge one does not have to accept. Most Cereus cactus, except perhaps the commercial “Dragon Fruit” are shaped like small pink footballs about four inches long.  They are attached rather strongly so nippers or the like are best to cut them off.  Toss the fruit in the refrigerator for a while then cut them open like two little row boats. The white flesh has the texture of overripe watermelon. The black seeds are soft and edible (unlike most cactus seeds which are extremely hard.) The cactus themselves are called “candle” cactus as they are usually but not always an unbranching trunk. Allso called Peruvian Cactus the headache associated with species identification is there are a lot of “fake” botanical names made up by sellers.  Another problem that can make cactus tough plants to identify is having to resort to counting spines and length.  You can read more about them here.

Partridgeberry has two dimples where twin blossoms were. Photo by Green Deane

Partridgeberry is not a fruit I see often in Florida and then only on the north end of the state. I usually see it in August in western North Carolina or eastern Tennessee. As one might expect the Florida Partridgeberry I’ve seen are not as robust as its kin farther north. The vine can be thinner and the leaves not as dark green. This species produces two ovaries that fuse together so one berry has two blossoms which leaves two dimples. It’s a prime identification characteristic you can see on the berry (at right.)  The fruit is edible if not a bit bland. The problem is it likes to hide. It’s low growing and doesn’t mind being crowded. That said it still tries its best with a bright red fruit. The one spot in Gainesville I used to find them has been a swamp since Hurricane Irma in 2017. It clearly no longer grows there. To read more about the Partridgeberry go here.

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is weekly newsletter #427, 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.