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Andy Firk, of Bamboon Grove, Arcadia, FL., leads an afternoon plant walk at the 2015 Florida Herbal Conference. Photo by Green Deane

Amongst Turpentine Pines the 2015 annual Florida Herbal Conference made educational history. Well over 500 students — a sold out attendance with a waiting list — studied a wide variety of topics from some two dozen teachers. The weather cooperated reasonably being neither too cold nor too wet. Last year it was chilly, more on that in a moment. Every year the conference had grown in attendance and variety and this year was no exceptions with dozens of topics for the herbalism student to choose from. As in previous years I led three early-morning  plant walks. Some seasonal difference were interesting.

Blossoming tips of the Western Tansy Mustard. Photo by Green Deane

Last year at the same location the Western Tansy Mustard was sparse. The conference was a few days earlier and it was a little colder then.  This year the Western Tansy Mustard was in profusion. Last year there was plenty of Pellitory, this year it was limited. I don’t recall many Smilax tips last year but this year they were easy to find. Also last year the tart Heartleaf Sorrel was few and far, this year many were at the peak of harvesting. Rain had brought out many mushrooms. There was also well-developed stinging nettles nearby — the best I’ve seen locally — and late-season henbit was a hit. It goes to show a few days, a few degrees either way, and a bit of rain can make a big difference in plant appearance and numbers.

The showy tops of the Heart-Leaf Sorrel. Photo by Green Deane

We also learned that next year one of the world’s leading experts in mushrooms, if not the leading expert in that particular field, will be the guest speaker, Paul Stamets. That will firmly put the Florida Herbal Conference on the attendance map of conferences not to miss, not only in the south and United States but the world. The conference will sell-out quickly. It would be difficult to find anyone more involved than Stamets in exploring the use of fungi from medicine to food to industry, definitely cutting edge. The point is put the conference on your calendar for next year, plan to attend, and sign up as soon as possible. I enjoy the conferences because even though I am teaching there I always learn several somethings interesting and useful.

Pine with the pitch-collecting hardware still attached

About the Turpentine Pines…. At the camp ground there are many pines that were tapped for pitch to make turpentine. Most of this was done before WWII. It’s not unusual in Florida to find an old-style turpentine pine now and then but there are many at the camp. Usually Slash Pine,  Pinus elliotti, you can identify pines used for turpentine by a long vertical breach in the bark starting near ground level. That’s where buckets were fixed to collect pine pitch. The tree tries to heal the wound with pitch thus on most of the trees you can also see dead wood. This is one reason why that method of collecting pitch was discontinued for less invasive techniques… is this a good time to mention that during the Depression and Prohibition pine pitch was used to flavor gin because customary botanicals were either too expensive or unavailable? Go to the conference next year and see the Turpentine Pines in person.

Fruiting Mulberry in Blossom.

Anyone who has owned a mulberry tree knows they have a heavy fruiting season. The soft mast can be hard to keep up with for a week or two but you end up with pounds of delicious fruit. If that mulberry happens to overhang a driveway or sidewalk that passageway will be temporarily purple from that fallen fruit, depending on the species. Seasonal rains usually take care of such stains. Mulberries were welcomed in the southwest United States particularly right after WWII because they are well-adapted to the arid environment and expanding cities needed landscaping. But the fruit stain did not wash off well in dry areas. What to do? Don’t worry: Government came to the rescue. Local governments banned low-pollinating fruiting mulberries in favor of non-fruiting ones such as the varieties used to feed silk worms. Those, however, are heavily pollinators, far more so than the fruiting varieties. The result of that was a dramatic increase in allergens in the southwest. What to do? Don’t worry: Government came to the rescue again:

Ripening Mulberries

They banned all mulberries outright, fruiting and pollinating. The solution to the non-problem — left over mulberries  — lead to the problem of allergies leading to bans of all trees in many cities such as El Paso, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tucson, Las Cruces and Alburquerque.  It’s difficult to think a government finds banning food a solution. That’s a complex and expensive non-solution to a pseudo-problem that could have been solved by simpler means …. eating the weeds, or in this case the fruit. This is also an excellent example why government should be as small and powerless as possible.  What next? Ban peanuts? Don’t laugh because there’s more to the story.

An olive tree reported to be over 1,000 years old, between Sparta and Gythio Greece. Photo by Green Deane

In the southwest three species get the brunt of the blame for allergies, Mulberries, Olives and Bermuda Grass. The latter is impossible to get rid of. Mulberries live a few decades so their numbers can decrease. Olive trees can live 500 years or more. But it is rare for someone with allergies to be allergic to only three things. The menu that makes people sniffle is usually much larger.  And there is a genetic component in that allergies can run in the family. For sixty years doctors have been telling patients with allergies to move to the southwest because prior to WWII it was not a high allergen area. But now  some of the cities mentioned above have allergy counts higher than eastern cities and here’s the kicker: People with allergies have been having children with allergies. The southwest is the region of the United States in which the percentage of the population with allergies is growing … and if they all vote government could come to the rescue a third time making things like peanuts illegal. The afflicted could create a political action committee. ACHOO would be a good name… hmmm… the Allergy Coalition Heading Ordinance Objectives.

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

Foraging classes: Please note the class at Wickham Park needs to be changed. Saturday March 7th, Wekiva State Park, 1800 Wekiwa Circle, Apopka, Florida 32712. 9 a.m. Sunday, March 8th, John Chestnut State Park: 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685, 9 a.m. Saturday, March 21st TBA  Because of an event at Wickham Park this class will either have to be move or rescheduled.TBA.  Sunday, March 22nd, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. 9 a.m. Sunday, April 5th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, 23000 Bayshore Rd., Port Charlotte, FL 33980, 9 a.m. Also note on April 4th I will be teaching at an annual event at Bamboo Grove in Arcadia Florida.

Green Deane Forum

Depending on where you live foraging can be slow this time of year. But the off-season can also be a time to study up on various plants and share experiences. On the Green Deane Forum we 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. Recent topics include Armadillos and Leprosy, My Relatives, Tofu Intake and Cognition,  Sprouting Palm Seeds, Snowfall In Florida, Plant Sources for Camphor, How California Got to Where It Is, Fire Roll, Earth A New Wild Water, Lightroom 5,  Yellowhorn (Xanthoceras sorbifolium) and What Do You See #17.

Wild peppers grow in many areas of Central and North America.  Photo by Green Deane

Florida natives used the ending -sasse or -sassa a lot. It means a place or a location. Thonotosassa, a city northeast of Tampa, means a place to find good flint.  Homosassa, a town and spring north of Tampa, can mean two things: River of Fishes, or, Pepper Ridge. Springs are not known for their fishes — at least near them — because of the low oxygen content of the water so we’ll go with Pepper Ridge. Wild Peppers, or Bird Peppers, are naive to much of North America and then southward into Central American and beyond. Usually trending towards spicy they are a delightful find as you rummage about the forest and field.  Where I first noticed them was years ago at Turtle Mound, which is an ancient garbage heap a few miles south of Daytona Beach. When the path splits near the top look ahead and down you should see a lot of Bird Peppers (in season which is a few months from now though dried ones are available now.) Turtle Mound, about 80 feet high, also manages to keep a year-round crop of papaya growing on it. They also don’t seem to be bothered much by insects there either.

What Do You See? Last week the major species in WDYS #17 was Poor Man’s Peppergrass, Spanish Needles and the cactus against the fence, Nopales. You can revisit the picture on the Green Deane Forum on the board What Do You See. All three can be eaten cooked and raw. In this week’s picture, What Do You See #18 there are seven edible species, four are easy to find. The answer is on the Green Deane Forum and will be published here next week.

What Do You See #18. Photo by Green Deane

The fresh green of this pellitory was captured by photographer Andy Firk. Visit him on Facebook or at his Bamboo Cove in sunny southwest Florida.

Some plants think it’s Christmas already. Pellitory is a good example. I usually start looking for it around Christmas, perhaps a week earlier.  Not only did we see Pellitory during a classes this weekend but there were a few maturing plants. Perhaps it was the cold snap we had nearly two weeks ago, or not.

You can harvest Pellitory for about three months. By mid-March it is looking scraggly. Occasionally in April you can find a few plants in deep shade. But last year I found Pellitory as late as June, and in a fairly sunny location. Three possibilities come to mind. It has a greater season than I have noticed before. The seasonal variation is normal but not that common. Or maybe it’s a local result of some kind of climate change.

Regardless, since Pellitory is up already you might as well read about it here.

From a distance Ramalina and Usnea can look similar. Photo by Green Deane

Although lichen are usually bitter they are positively viewed here at Eat The Weeds because they are a nearly ubiquitous famine food. lichen also have other applications. One of them, Usnea, has antiseptic qualities. While there are several species of Usnea most herbal writers just refer to it as Usnea. Locally we have another lichen genus that from just a short distance resembles Usnea. It’s called  Ramalina. On close examination it is easy to separate the genera. During a class this weekend I saw both growing together on a fence post.

Actually there are several lichen in the photo but the two we are interested in is Ramalina on our left and Usnea on our right. Usnea is round and hairy and has a stretchy white core that you can see if you gently pull a stem. Ramalina is flat and does not have a stretchy white core. But from 20 or so feet away they can easily fool the forager.

While both can be soaked to remove the acid and then eaten we should know how to identify Usnea because of its potential antiseptic use. You can read about Usnea .

Perhaps the most “American” American holiday is this week, Thanksgiving. It’s a traditional story known by most. English Separatists landed off course — too far north with winter approaching — suffered a lot of disease and death their first year. By the fall of 1621 they were surviving well enough to have a thanks giving feast. The local natives joined in and basis for a holiday was born. That said there are several things questionable about that first Thanksgiving regarding what they ate. The facts are few, the guesses many, and some points are missed completely. I mentioned two of these in a presentation recently before the Mayflower Society’s chapter in Daytona Beach.

Turkey is referred to by William Bradford, one of the Pilgrims, but back then any large bird was called a turkey. As we know the Pilgrims ate waterfowl and turkey we know at least the turkey was not a goose or a swan which was also common food. They also ate eagles, cranes and two now-extinct birds, Passenger Pigeons and Heath Hens.  Incidentally the native turkey is a bright, not too fat of a bird. The fat dumb ones we cook up for thanksgiving were actually bred that way in Europe. We also know when it came to large birds the Pilgrims usually boiled them first then roasted to finish up. Smaller fowl were roasted on a spit.

We know they ate venison from five deer provided by the natives, because another Pilgrim, Edward Winslow wrote about it. After that it’s a good guess. The menu could have included eels, herring, seals, lobster, cod, clams and mussels (which is interesting because when I was a kid no one along the coast of Maine that I knew ate mussels. They were considered trash…now they are gourmet.) As for plants, dried corn is presumed to have been at the first Thanksgiving but is not specifically mentioned. I don’t find that surprising. New England natives were not known as agrarian cultures, or not as much as other groups. I suppose it becomes a question of definition as to how many crops does a group has to raise to be an agrarian culture. You don’t see that term often until you move south and west to the Ozarks. The further south you go the more food natives raised. In Florida the tribes were raising large amounts of food. In New England the corn was flint corn also called Turkey Wheat. It was hard and served as porridge or later in the century as “samp” which is corn mixed with milk.

But I think the historical food writers do us a disservice: They limit other possible Thanksgiving plants to cultivated species. Usually mentioned in passing are peas, carrots and turnips. Those probably came with the Pilgrims who did not collectively had a strong history of cultivating plants. We know the natives planted besides corn beans and a variety of squashes. Indeed, if it were not for the pumpkin perhaps the Pilgrim colony would not have been successful. It got them through that first hard winter. They did not make pie out of it — that came perhaps half a century later or more — but rather roasted or fried it. Generally this is where the Pilgrim food story stops except to say the traditional “fixings” grew and changed over the next nearly 400 years.

When I went to speak before the Mayflower Society they asked me which lunch I wanted from a choice of three or four. I picked the prime rib as I don’t have it too often. And when people ask me what about the presentation I say I had a good time and had prime rib. I don’t say I had a good time and ate a limp salad with a forgettable dressing with decaffeinated coffee. I mention the highlight, and so I think did Winslow when he mentioned what they ate at that thanks giving. He mentioned what was special, venison, just as I mentioned the prime rib rather than the indistinct bread.

Also missing from the professional speculation, as to what they ate that first Thanksgiving, are prime foraged foods. Or perhaps they weren’t mentioned by the Pilgrims themselves because the food was common if not boring. What native, uncultivated plants might we have expected them to eat in 1621 in coastal North America? Many.

I would expect chestnuts to  have been a common food. It was the dominate species in the eastern forest comprising of some 25% of all trees. And there were hickories and beechnuts as well. There’s never a mention of Ground Nuts (Apios americana) high in protein, very common, easy to locate. These never make the what-could-they-have eaten list nor does wild onions/garlic, Jerusalem Artichokes, and a wide variety of members of the Brassica or wild mustard family. Cranberries make the list, perhaps because eating cranberry sauce is traditional now, but it wasn’t back then. Sugar for sweetener was decades away. Other berries go unmentioned: Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, elderberries, currants, persimmons (and the wild plum which is not a berry.) Beverages were also left off the reported menu but perhaps for the same reason I don’t mention the decaffeinated coffee I had at the luncheon. They had many things to make drink out of include various mints, goldenrod, and Birch trees. If they had served a good Malbec I’m sure we would have heard of it.

Upcoming classes: Sunday, November 30th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, 23000 Bayshore Rd., Port Charlotte, FL 33980, 9 a.m. MEET AT THE PARKING LOT AT THE INTERSECTION OF BAYSHORE ROAD AND GANYARD STREET.

Eat The Weeds On DVD. My foraging videos do not include alligators but they do cover dozens of edible plants in North America. The set has nine DVD. Each DVD has 15 videos for 135 in all. 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 it. 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.

On the Green Deane Forum we post messages and pictures about foraging all year-long. There’s also a UFO page, for Unidentified Flowering Objects so plants can be identified. Recent topics include: Paw Paw Seeds, Flint Knapping, Dried Persimmons, Tell You Love Them, Indian Pipes,  Amaranth, Mushrooms: Winter Is Here Six Weeks Early, Chicken of the Woods, Coco Plums? Bush has THorns, Acorns All Colors And Sizes, Turn On The Water, Nanoscopy, Puff on This, Lab To Determine Plant Composition, Orange Red Berry, Atlatl, Odd Trees, Grinder for Tough Roots, European Mountain Ash Edible? Curly Dock,  Goldenrod of Some Sort, and American Beautyberry. The link to join is on the right hand side of this page.

Now is the time too to think about going to the Florida Herbal Conference in late February, organized by Emily Ruff. I’ve taught edible plants there for the last three years and will be there again this year. In fact I plan to spend a lot of time there. It’s a must for all southern herbalists and well as those northern ones who want to escape the cold and study their craft in the dead of winter. It always has interesting speakers and great classes. For more information and to register go here.

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

Cattails are not native to many areas of North America. Photo by Brandeis University

If you were starving and came upon a patch of cattails 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.

Cattail starch extraction by hand takes time and calories. Photo by Zubacorp

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 cold weather. So yes, cattails are food but the time demand is such that harvesting food has to be your prime occupation.

Kudzu has mustached leaves of three. The blossom smells like cheap grape soda.

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 it becomes a reliable calorie-positive food.

Even squirrels avoid the most tannin-laden part of the acorn. Photo by Sumpretty

Just how good are these wild “staples” came up in a foraging class this weekend when it was asked why did the Native Americans eat acorns when they need so much processing? There can be several answers. One is the natives had no choice and they had a lot of time to process acorns. It was their 9-to-5 job, so to speak. Another is acorns are nutrient dense and have fat which is not only nice but essential to have if you can’t run down a buffalo. A third answer is variety. The menu only changed with the season so variety was important. One could also add that acorns, if care for, store well for a few years making a food bank one could rely on.

Tools can help make food production a calorie-positive activity.

All these foods if approached efficiently are calorie positive. But they take time and calories to make edible. Another variable is whether the food is for one on the run or for a group in a settled situation. It makes a difference. Personally I look for shortcuts. I roast the cattail root reducing the labor and time needed significantly. I look for Live Oaks (white oaks)that have acorns with minimal tannin thus requiring less work. And I reduce that work by crushing the nutmeat in an oil expeller first. This extracts the oil and mashes up the acorns so they leach faster and more completely. Having a nutsheller to shell them also reduces hours of work down to minutes. As for kudzu I look for little roots the size of my fingers, or I feed the leaves to goats and let them turn it into something easier to work with, such as milk.

Some wild food requires little work some a lot. Much of what comprises success with wild foods is knowing the difference and the most efficient way to harvest a particular food. Still interested? Here’s an article on “wild’ flours. 

Fresh Blackberries don’t store well so they are best eaten fresh. Photo by Green Deane

While seasonal changes are not as dramatic in warmer climates we definitely do have them regarding plants. Pellitory is all but gone for the season. We shouldn’t smell its cucumber-like aroma again until Thanksgiving or so.  Sow Thistles are reaching the end of their season as well. Most are past the stage of eating. On the gangbuster side are Blackberries and Creeping Cucumbers.  Blackberries will be done soon the the cukes will keep on producing until a fall frost, freeze or the really short days of the winter solstice. Dare I also mention we are getting our first crop of Black Nightshade berries, Solanum americanum. I have yet to make a pie out of them — I really don’t like to bake — but I eat the berries all the time as a trailside nibble. Just make absolutely sure they are ripe. And in reference to ripe our Lantana berries are not in season yet and are still toxic green. That’s another berry that must be totally ripe before one eats it.

Wild Carrot, photo by Ilovequeenanneslace.com.

Giant Hog Weed which turned out to be Queen Anne’s Lace, Pine Pollen’s Up, Unidentified Animate Object, I call her Needles, Help on ID, Bamboo, Bay Foraging, Yellow/Pink Pyracantha, and Foraging Safety Tips… all were recent discussions on the Green Deane Forum. On the Forum we post messages and pictures about foragering all year long. There’s even a UFO page for Unidentified Flowering Objects so plants can be identified. The link to join the forum is on the right hand side of this page.

Upcoming foraging classes are always being updated on my “classes” page (see button above.) Some dates are yet to be scheduled.  Saturday, May 17th Mead Garden,  1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789, 9 a.m. Saturday, May 24th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, 23000 Bayshore Rd., Port Charlotte, 33980, 9 a.m. Sunday, May 25th, at John Chestnut Park, 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685. 9 a.m

You won’t see alligators on my foraging videos like this little one seen on Rock Spring Run, Florida. Photo by Green Deane

My foraging videos do not include alligators  but they do cover dozens of edible plants in North America. The set had nine DVD. Each DVD has 15 videos for 135 in all. 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 it. 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.

What Do You See #13. Photo by Green Deane

Answers to What Do You See #13 had four edible species. This is a very common sight in scrub areas locally.  1) Is wild blueberries. 2) Is wild grapes. 3) Is gallberry. The berries of this species are not edible but the leaves make a nice caffeine-less tea. 4) Is a young Smilax, but whether the root is large or small would require some digging.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Some plants are in your face… or nose. One sees them everywhere and they announce themselves with color, shear numbers or aroma. Kudzu is a prime example of the latter. When in bloom you can’t ignore its intense grape fragrance. Other plants are more shy. They are no less important, no less impressive in their own way but reserved, wall flowers that could have been a bouquet.

Piloblephis rigida means hairy eyelid, stiff

Florida pennyroyal is just such a scrub land denizen. It used to be the third most common source of nectar for bees in the state. It fell off the list completely in recent decades. No one quite knows why.  This past weekend in Melbourne Florida Pennyroyal was just starting to blossom. And as pretty as they are it is only when you crush a leaf do you get an almost startling waft of pennyroyal. This little species is so select it is also a monotypic genus, meaning it has no close relatives and no one else to share the genus with. To read more about the Florida Pennyroyal go here.

Unripe pawpaw, photo by Green Deane

Lawyers hate pawpaw. Why pawpaws? Like peanuts, some people have a severe reaction to them. Actually the peanut allergy has increased dramatically tripling in children from 1997 to 2008,  according to the 12 May, 2010, issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. As it is doubtful human genetics changed a lot in that decade that means something changed such as in the environment, the food supply, medical treatment or any combination thereof. Said another way, if peanuts were poised to come onto the food market today they would not get past  the lawyers in fear of huge lawsuits. That’s the position the pawpaw is in. Commercial cultivars have been developed and it could be the next old “new” fruit crop but for an occasional severe allergic reaction. Whether that ever gets sorted out is a legal conunmdrum but it is something you should keep in mind when you sample a pawpaw for the first time. We’ve mentioned several times in recent newsletters that the pawpaw are in blossom. To the left is what an unripe pawpaw looks like. It’s a little hard to find a ripe one because so many woodland creatures like them. To read more about the pawpaw go here. 

The edible Redvein Abutilon, Abutilon pictum, photo by Andy Firk

One of the benefits/banes of foraging in a warm climate is there are a lot of exotic plants, often edible or medicinal. That often a lot of research and head scratching done by better minds than mine. It is not unusual to find five or six new species a year to add to the long list. While I am certain there are a few thousand different edible species here — if one counts all the relatives — I suspect there are really several thousand. No one finds more of them than Andy Firk in Arcadia. From his home base at “Bamboo Cove” Andy is regularly posting on Facebook of a new find. Yesterday it was a member of the Mallow family, the Redvein Abutilon, Abutilon pictum (syn. A. striatum). Andy writes it’s “native to Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uraguay. The good news is that the flowers are edible raw or cooked, and get sweeter the more open they become.”  You can see a few more of his photos here or you locate him on Facebook. Thanks Andy!

Loquats are ripe from when they are light yellow to deep golden.

Crows and Bluejays are closely related, and bright birds. This time of year in Florida it is common to see flocks of crows presumably gathering for a summer vacation flight north. I was out in the woods when a flock dived bombed a distant tree. I had to find out what it was. But even before I got there I could see crows flying off with golden yellow fruit: Loquats. While a native of southeast Asia Loquats are naturalized in Florida and the crows had chosen a well-fruited one. But there was a method to their harvesting. Following the round crown of the tree they picked fruit on top and down to the equator, leaving the bottom rest. In other words they picked all over the top until they got to where they would fall of. It left the loquat with a monk’s haircut but left plenty for me for when I got there. I also suspect that keeps them above most ground prey. Loquats have many uses from fresh fruit to preserves to wine. In fact, I have some of last years wine just about ready to sip. You can read about loquats  here. 

What Do You See #11? This week’s WDYS? has at least three edibles in it, one you could eat now and enjoy, a second you could eat now but would not be too enjoyable, and a third that is years away from providing something edible. The answer will be here next week or you can read it now in the Green Deane Forum. Below is last week’s photo.

What Do You See #11 Photo by Green Deane

Answer to What Do You See #10. Photo by Green Deane

Answer to What do you See #10? Talk about Jekyll & Hyde in one photo, this is it. Number one is wax begonias. They are naturalized in Florida and have edible leaves and blossoms. But right next to it, surrounding it in fact, is young Water Hemlock, which some consider the most deadly plant in North America. After accidental consumption of it you have about 40 minutes to get your stomach pumped out. If not you will probably be dead within a couple of hours, and painfully so. This is not the gentle death of Socrates. As for begonias the leaves are edible raw, fried, or reduce to a paste and baked. I have the recipe on the main website. Flowers are very nice raw. The juice is also a vegetable rennet for making cheese and is also good for a sore throat.  I’ve also included the link on how to tell the Elderberry from the Water Hemlock. You can see a larger photo on the Green Deane Forum on the What Do You See board.

https://www.eattheweeds.com/begonia-bonanza/

https://www.eattheweeds.com/ufos-2/look-alikes/elderberry-or-water-hemlock/

Green Deane’s Upcoming Foraging Classes:  This Saturday, April 19th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.  Gainesville, FL 9 a.m, and  Sunday, April 20th, Jervey Gantt Recreation Complex, 2390 SE 36th Ave.,  Ocala, FL 9 a.m. Saturday, April 26th, TBA, possibly Groveland. Sunday, April 27th,  Mead Garden,  1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789, 9 a.m. Saturday, May 3rd, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, FL.,  33405. 9 a.m.

Green Deane sampling a nopales. Photo by Kelly Fagan

Though your foraging may drop off during the winter now it’s spring and a great time to study wild edibles with my nine DVD set. Each DVD has 15 videos for 135 in all. They help you study on a rainy day or when it’s dark outside. 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 there are five Tuesdays in the April there will not be a newsletter April 29th. I hope to take a short trip then to Pensacola to find a class location.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

If nettles are one of your favorite greens locally you had better harvest them soon. Here in Central Florida our Heart Leaf Nettle is reaching the end of its season but is still doing well in northern Florida where this picture was taken. If you want to read more about nettles, go here. Photo by Green Deane.

The Bacopas can grow in water up to 1.5 feet deep. Photo by Green Deane

There’s one little plant that can be found throughout the state all year. Whether it’s “edible” is a matter of opinion.  Or, I should say while it is indeed edible many would not find it palatable. In the span of nine days I saw it from Ocala to Port Charlotte to West Palm Beach. Water Hyssop, Bacopa monnieri, is also found in coastal and border states from Maryland south and west to California excluding New Mexico. So what’s the problem with this little purslane look-alike? It’s extremely bitter. My herbalist connections tell me that is good particularly for the liver. Water Hyssop’s main claim to botanical fame, however, is that there is good research that shows It improves memory  function whether you are a high school student or an aging aggregate of dust and wheeze like me. In India Water Hyssop is dehydrated then used to make tea. In Vietnam it’s steamed and served as a vegetable side dish. Others just bite the bitter bullet and toss it into salads. Bacopa monnieri has a genus mate that is much tastier, Lemon Bacopa. They are paired together in this article.

A little clover can be a good thing but a lot may not. Photo by Green Deane

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

As I had no ruler the $10 bill was used to size the mushrooms (I didn’t have any ones on me.)

When it comes to the Bolete group of mushrooms there is good news and bad news. The good news is that as long as you are healthy there are no deadly Boletes or ones that cause lasting organ damage. The bad news is identifying them in North America can be a monumental headache. The non-edible ones can make you gut-wrenchingly ill. Last year while in Port Charlotte I saw this species of Bolete and had no idea what it was. This year I was more prepared: I have fungi friends in internet places. I also started the facebook pages of Southeastern US Mushroom Identification, and Florida Mushroom Identification Forum. And I joined a few others as such as Mary Smiley’s WildMushroomHunting.Org. I will admit to also starting the facebook pages of Edible Mushrooms: Florida, and because I wanted OMG I also started Orlando Mushroom Group, which I think has three members… By the way there is an EatTheWeeds facebook page as well.

The leading identification candidate at the moment is Boletus rubricitrinus. Photo by Green Deane

So what about these little ones? They are definitely Boletes; yellow pores with no orange, the stems turned blue just by handling and the stem also turned blue quickly inside when cut. The caps did not turn blue inside nor where they bitter.  This trio were growing near Live Oaks next to Port Charlotte Harbor which is a freshwater river that gives and takes with salty Gulf of Mexico water. Identification suggestion ranged from B. bicolor (but the stem was not red) to perhaps B. sensibilius (if more information was available.) At the moment it stands as B. rubricitrinus, as relayed by Mary Smiley from the mushroom expert Arleen Bessette. Like most of the Boletes I find, not edible though “Rogers” lists it as “edibility not known.” They are said to be very common in Florida.

Many consider purslane the most nutritious forb on earth.

Some may find it surprising that I don’t forage for nutrition. I’m an advocate of eating real food and eating more like your great grandparents than your parents. However, I also argue that many wild edibles have more nutritional value than their cultivated relatives. I mention said nutrition in class when I know it. For example, Bidens alba, Spanish Needles, has twice the nutrition of spinach. Purslane is 14% melatonin and high in omega-3 fatty acids. Wild plants are in constant competition with their pests. The upper hand ebbs and flows. Plants fight back with many of the chemicals we call nutriments. They also fight back with many of the chemicals we call toxic. So there is a bit of a dance there and choosing your partner wisely. In the following guest article Capt. T.C. Lance, author of Forbidden Healing, gives us his views on the topic. We met a couple of years ago at one of my foragings.

The plant kingdom contains a wonderful array of nutrient molecules essential for the health and healing of us higher-ups on the food chain. Beyond obvious carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, and the ABC vitamins… another valuable class of compounds has emerged; namely polyphenols.

Anti-oxidants give up an electron so a free radical is not home alone doing damage.

My research into the basic causes/cures of disease established that cellular degradation, like the disintegration of all complex molecules, is due to oxidative stress, aka inflammation.  Oxidation is the loss of electrons; the energy and actual subatomic glue that propels us and holds us together.  Anti-oxidants are electron rich molecules that protect cell structures to oppose it. They are produced in plants to offer them the same cell protection we enjoy second hand and antioxidant levels are logically elevated in plants that are stressed.  Polyphenols are a group of antioxidants with a special mission and ability due to their electron-packed ring structures.

The most nutritious berries and fruits are the same color all the way through.

Polyphenolic content is the common denominator in a broad range of therapeutic herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, and weeds. Their value in the prevention and reversal of cancers, infections and other chronic diseases has been shown in many studies popularizing blueberries, turmeric, grapes, etc. (see greenmedinfo.com database), but there are tons of polyphenols across the board…just look up the contents of any edible and collect the treasure; phenolic acids, flavonoids, flavones, stilbenes, and lignans. These are the polyphenols that represent value if you can recognize them by name:

There’s no need to buy mustard greens when you can harvest wild ones for free.

Phenolic acids are found in berries, tea leaves, onions, coffee and in whole grains, with heirloom maize being a rich source.    Flavonoids are present in many fruits and green leafy vegetables like onions, kale, broccoli, cabbage, and in red wine and tea. Flavones are found in parsley, celery, tomatoes and the skin of citrus fruits. Isoflavones are deemed phytoestrogenic due to their molecular similarity to the hormone and are found in leguminous plants like soybeans. Flavonols come in red wine, green tea, chocolate and many fruits. Anthocyanins are easy to spot in red, blue or purple berries, fruits and vegetables. Lignans are prevalent in flaxseed, algae, lentils, wheat, garlic, asparagus and carrots. Stilbenes include the highly valuable anti-aging compound resveratrol, found in red grape skins and Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica).

Wild Garlic is well-known for its health-related uses.

How they work:When a system comes under oxidative stress and electron charge declines, metal molecules produce dangerous hydroxyl radicals (to make matters worse).  Hydroxyl free-rads begin a chain reaction of oxidative damage to fat molecules in cell membranes crippling their ability to transport oxygen and thus mitochondrial production of more life-energy electrons. Without energy, cells/DNA become dysfunctional and eventually cancerous from lack of oxygen…unless polyphenol molecules come to the rescue halting the hydroxyl chain reactions and thus inflammation.

Pine needles are a potential source of shikimic acid, a main ingredient in flu treatment.

So when foraging fields and markets, keep in mind real values in what you seek and add to the sack.  I figured that out after taking a pricey supplement and coincidentally finding that that very substance in botanical literature was literally growing in a pot near the back door. I harvested elderberries last summer and found that along with a spread of vitamins, flavonoids and anthocyanins they top ORAC charts (oxygen radical absorbance capacity). Fortunately many of the high-content plants have been used medicinally and nutritionally since ancient times and are now domesticated, but lesser known jewels are out there like Spanish Needle, pine needle, clovers, smilax and purslane. Bee pollen and propolis provide a spread of local goodies gathered by experts. We are ultimately electrical creatures feeding on electrons gifted by the sun

If you have a short article about preparing or consuming edible wild plants you want considered for the newsletter please send them to Green Deane via the newsletter email address.

Upcoming foraging class schedule: Saturday, February 22nd, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. , Port Orange, 32127, 9 a.m. Sunday, February 23rd, Mead Garden,  1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789, 9 a.m. Sunday, March 2nd, Colby-Alderman Park: 1099 Massachusetts Street, Cassadaga. Fla. 32706. 9 a.m.

Herbal Conference teacher Susan Marynowski of Gainesville.

This is a reminder the Florida Herbal Conference 2014 will be held in Deland in a little over a week. Among the teachers this year is Susan Marynowski from Gainesville. She will be leading classes on Naming & Knowing Medicinal Plants of North Florida; and A Green End to a Green Life: Herbs In Death and Dying. For the third year in a row I will be leading weed walks at the conference. Two other  Florida experts will be teaching classes as well. They are Andy Firk, who holds a wide variety of workshops throughout the year at his “Bamboo Cove” in Arcadia, and Mycol Stevens, Earthskills’ past host from Gainesville.

Though your foraging may drop off during the winter it’s a great time to study wild edibles with my nine DVD set. Each  DVDs has 15 videos for 135 in all. They make a great gift. Order today. Some of these videos are of better quality than my free ones on the Internet. They are the same videos but many people like to have their own copy. I burn and compile the sets myself so if you have any issues I handle them personally. There are no middle foragers. And I’m working on adding a tenth DVD.  To learn more about the DVDs or to order them click here.  I also uploaded a new video to You Tube recently. This one is about Cereus fruit. It is not on the DVDs but you can see it here.

What Do You See #3.  Can you find five different edible species in the photo directly below? The answer will be published here next week or you can read it now on the What Do You See? board in the Green Deane Forum. Further below is the answer to last week’s What Do You See? #2

What Do You See? #3 Photo by Green Deane

What Do You See? #2 Photo by Green Deane

What Do You See #2: In the picture above there are five edible species, two of these edible should be well-known and one is easy to identify. The first is #1, Henbit. There’s also a little Henbit under the Number 2. Number 2 is surrounded by chickweed. Number 3 is very easy to ID if you know what you are looking at, the heart-shaped seed pod of Shepherd’s Purse… or purse shaped… It’s leaf is, vertically, directly below the seed pod, looks a little dandelion-ish in the photo but not in real life.  It’s a mild green. While it’s a common plant, Ocala is the only place I see it on a regular basis. Unlike it’s relative Poor Man’s Pepper Grass, it is highly seasonal. I see it here only in cool weather. Number 4 is perhaps unfair. It is Drymaria cordata, a chickweed stand-in that is native to the Caribbean islands. The orange seedling is oak, just in case you were wondering. It also seems I have to write an article about Shepherd’s Purse….

https://www.eattheweeds.com/henbit-top-of-the-pecking-order/
https://www.eattheweeds.com/chickweed-connoisseurs-2/
https://www.eattheweeds.com/drymaria-cordata-kissing-cousin-chickweed-2/

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Blewit, an edible mushroom that is “choice” the highest grade. Photo by Green Deane

The Blewit’s violet color quickly fades. Photo by Green Deane

When it comes to identifying edible green plants I do all right. But with mushrooms I am a rank amateur. So it was with great glee that I found a “choice” wild mushroom, a Blewit, or Lepista nuda. At first glance it looked like the plastic top of some discarded can under a vine but upon investigation it was a large, beautiful mushroom. To be sure I took it back to the EarthSkills gathering for confirmation. Several hundred folks were camping out about 20 miles south of Gainesville — I taught on site the day before — and there were several mushroom experts in attendance. That was my first mistake. I thought I was safe there. Was I wrong. Have you ever been mugged for a mushroom? There were many offers to take it off my hands but it went home with me and into me. After years of finding non- or barely-edible mushrooms it was my turn to discover a choice one. And you can bet I will be revisiting that site again.

The Wild Garlic will be cloving soon.

As if the tasty mushroom was not enough, this week also found my classes discovering Wild Garlic. A native that is about six inches high now but will be blossoming in a few weeks then setting cloves. What makes this Allium curious is that it puts a bulb on at the bottom end and cloves at the top end. This particular species is very pungent. It’s great for cooking or as a trail side nibble as long as you don’t mind strong garlic breath. Before it blossoms the entire plant can be used to make a very nice soup. Oddly there’s no record of southeastern natives using the plant and only three tribes had names for it. I call it good.

Our local sumac is the Winged Sumac.

Botany Builder #38: Terminal. No, botanically it does not mean dead. Technically it means at the end of an axis. I just think of it as the end of a branch. A good example throughout North America are the edible Sumacs. They have terminal clusters of flowers which later turn to berries.  “Terminal” is from the Dead Latin Terminus, meaning the end. It is from a Roman god of the same name that protected boundaries (usually as a bust on a post.)  Historical note: The city of Atlanta used to be called Terminus because that was where the railroad stopped.

Plantago growing in a fertile ditch.

Plantago Power: It was a dark and rainy … morning… and I was searching through the gloom along the road for a wild mustard/radish for my foraging class. It was cold. It was rainy. It was gray. Something caught my eye so I pulled Van Go over and headed towards a watery ditch.  Then I heard a baby cry. Seriously. The figure I thought was a bag lady with stuffed shopping cart was a bundled-up woman with a baby stroller waiting for a bus. Things look different in the dim drab of winter. And the plant I thought might be a mustard most certainly was not. It was a Plantago, the largest one I have ever seen. That was worth a picture and posting on the Green Deane Forum.  There one of our regular members, Josey, who has an eye for detail and a whole lot of knowledge, offered it as Plantago Rugelii rather than P. major. One difference is the P. rugelii has purple at the base of the petiole, P. major is white. Unlike P.major, which is from Europe, P. rugelii is native to North America. It is odd that we don’t hear more about it.

Cold sensitive Star Fruit

Guest Article: When I moved into my neighborhood 14 years ago there were several large Mango trees, and still are. I have planted several Mangos since then but the winters have killed them. The established neighborhood Mangos have tolerated the cold weather, so far. Conversely I have a Star Fruit behind the house that has survived nicely though it is 50 miles north and 50 miles east of its last commercial location and not recommended for this area. State Road 50 cuts across the middle of Florida. There used to be large citrus groves north of SR50. Now there is said to be none, and no funding for any new ones. Most of that rolling acreage is now housing developments. It would seem temperatures are changing. Whether there is global warming or not, or why, is not well-wrought science. It depends upon who is measuring and with what. In the 1950’s two US submarines (Skate and Nautilus) met and surfaced at the north pole in open water. It was a warm period. That said I can well remember the… heated… debate in the early 70’s on whether the north and south poles were getting too cold. The world was dramatically cooling according to an April 1974 Newsweek article, an unimaginable disaster in the making requiring immediate action. One plan included spraying the snow and ice with black dye to warm things up. Perhaps in that case it was good that government is slow and incompetent. In this article,  Is It Really Global Warming?, Mike Conroy takes a look at the issue and it impact.

For years we have been inundated with media reports from select scientists saying it is global warming. The ice caps are melting. Glaciers are disappearing. Global temperatures are rising to “unprecedented” levels. And soon coastlines will be flooded, crops will fail, floods will spread across deserts and deserts will spread across croplands.

California Condor, back from the chemical brink

But is it really global warming? Now let me say that I am in favor of reducing pollution, limiting our impact on natural processes, and maintaining the diversity of nature. To do otherwise is, at best irresponsible. We have seen the effects of man on nature in the last hundred years or so. DDT nearly caused the extinction of the California Condor and decimated the eagle populations throughout the USA. Toxic “spills” have caused local birth defects in both humans and animals. And who knows what other problems our pollution has caused?

But is it really global warming? Historically, we have been able to monitor the global ice packs since around 1950 when the space program allowed us to view the ice packs from above; and sure, since then, the ice caps have shrunk. Other historical data from ice core samples and geological studies have indicated that the earth was colder in times past. But why such a sudden change in world temperatures today? After all, 60 short years of time has passed in which we have observed the “destruction” of polar ice. And in perspective, in geological time, 60 years is only a moment.

But is it really global warming? Nature and natural phenomena swing. There are periods of drought followed by periods of rain. There are periods of warmth followed by periods of cold. There are periods of wind followed by periods of calm. This happens hour by hour, day by day, week by week, season by season, century by century, and millennium by millennium. There were the ice ages, followed by warmth. And more recently, there was the Medieval Climatic Optimum (MCO), or Medieval Warm Period (MWP) if you prefer to call it that, followed by the Little Ice Age (LIA). And the MWP happened a mere thousand years ago. Temperatures were not very different from what they are today. Or were they? There remains much debate on this subject in the scientific circles.

The late and not so great Ozone Hole

But is it really global warming? Today, global warming is a “phenomena” of warmer global temperatures blamed on man and mankind’s abuse of the planet. But what had caused the MWP? The industrial age had not yet happened and the population of people was much smaller. So, our pollution had much less effect on the global temperatures. So does mankind cause global warming? And what of the scientific concerns of the 1970’s when global cooling and a hole in the ozone were the issues of the day? By the way, the hole in the ozone began shrinking almost as soon as it was discovered, so you hear little about it today. So, is it really global warming, or just a natural shift in nature? For me, the jury is still out on this one. But I still think we should take care to keep our home and our planet clean and healthy. After all, who wants to poison ourselves with toxins in the foods we eat? But, is it really global warming?

Will the weeds we forage for change? Are they changing?

Why is it important to understand this “phenomena”? Simply put, a warming (or cooling) planet, regardless of its cause, changes the local weather conditions in any given area. And the local weather makes a difference on what plants will grow. This impacts not only crops, but also the makeup of local fauna. For example, in England, grapes during the MWP grew hundreds of miles further north than their current range. This will change the foraging opportunities in our individual regions. What once grew in our neighborhoods may no longer be there. And foraging books for a given region may no longer be accurate for that region. Yet, plants are mobile. Not any individual plant, but as a species. They spread their seed, often far and wide. So in the future, if it is really a long-term event, we may have to adjust our foraging knowledge. But again, is it really global warming, or just a blip in the long term weather?

Mike holds a B.S., C.I.S., with a minor in Aquaculture from Lincoln University. If you would like to submit a short article about wild edible plants to the Newsletter please contact Green Deane via the newsletter’s email address.

Foraging class schedule this week: Saturday, February 15th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, 23000 Bayshore Rd., Port Charlotte, FL, 33980, 9 a.m. Sunday, February 16th, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd. West Palm Beach, FL, 33405, 9 a.m.

Herbalist David Winston

This is a reminder the Florida Herbal Conference 2014 will be held in Deland in late February. Featured speaker Friday evening is David Winston, an herbalist and ethnobotanist with over 40 years of training in Cherokee, Chinese and Western herbal traditions. He has been in clinical practice for over 34 years and is an herbal consultant to physicians, herbalists and researchers throughout the USA and Canada. Also for the third year in a row I will be leading weed walks at the conference. Although it is the Florida Herbal Conference it draws teachers and students from all over North America. Two other  Florida “locals” will be teaching classes besides the scheduled main speakers. They are Andy Firk, who holds a wide variety of workshops throughout the year at his “Bamboo Cove” in Arcadia, and Earthskills’ past host Mycol Stevens of Gainesville.

That’s me sitting amongst poppies near the Acropolis in Athens.

Though your foraging may drop off during the winter it’s a great time to study wild edibles with my nine DVD set. Each  DVDs has 15 videos for 135 in all. They make a great gift. Order today. Some of these videos are of better quality than my free ones on the Internet. They are the same videos but many people like to have their own copy. I burn and compile the sets myself so if you have any issues I handle them personally. There are no middle foragers. And I’m working on adding a tenth DVD.  To learn more about the DVDs or to order them click here.  I also uploaded a new video to You Tube recently. This one is about Cereus fruit. It is not on the DVDs but you can see it here.

What Do You See #2.  Can you find four edible species in the photo directly below? They are common in the spring or summer, depending where you live. Here they show up in winter.  The fourth one is a relatively warm-weather plant that most won’t recognize though it is seeding in our cooler winter temperatures. The answer will be published here next week or you can read it now on the What Do You See? board in the Green Deane Forum. Further below is the answer to last week’s What Do You See? #1

What Do You See #2. Photo by Green Deane

What Do You See? #1: In last week’s the picture (below) there are three different, common edibles species. There a fourth lesser known and possibly five.  Number One is Spiny Sow Thistle, Sonchus  asper. It’s a very common spring and summer potherb. It is not as choice as its relative, Sonchus oleraceus, but when young is very good. Number Two is Poor Man’s Peppergrass, Lepidium virginicum. In this picture it is at several stages of growth.  From left to right it is under the 2 on the left. Between the 2 and 6. It’s above the third 2 and to the right of the fourth 2. Number 3 is some cold weather purslane, Portulaca oleracaea, which some consider the most nutritious green on earth.  Number 4 is Pony Foot, or Dichondra caroliniana.  While edible in salads and the like it is very bitter and considered more a medicine, a “liver tonic.” Number 5 is ragweed, Ambrosia. Not edible but it’s seed oil is. Number six is a cudweed, a Pseudognaphalium. Cudweed is very commom this time of year locally and can confound a lot of new foragers. Not edible but some members of the species have medicinal uses.

What Do You See #1. Photo by Green Deane

Drymaria cordata is a rather prolific weed calso called Drymaria, Dry Mary, White Snow, and West Indian Chickweed. Photo By Green Deane

Many people ask me to identify Drymaria cordata. However that is not exactly how they say it. Usually it is something like: “What is this damned weed?” “Can you tell me what this awful stuff is?”  “This ugly growth is all over my yard.” Among several reasons why it might not be liked is the seeds stick to shoes, pant legs and pets.

Drymaria can look like snow in the yard.

While it grows locally all year Drymaria reproduces during the cooler months which has nothing to do with it being called “White Snow.” That name, surprisingly, is a good one. In the right lighting at the right time of year a patch of Drymaria seed spikes gives a convincing illusion of a patch of snow on the lawn. Foodwise Drymaria’s young leaves and shoots can be eaten raw. I know some folks who use it like regular chickweed, which is the related Stellaria. Drymaria leaves are also ground and boiled. The filtered water is used medicinally. Research shows it has some antibacterial qualities. To learn more about “Dry Mary” go here.

Silverthorn fruit is delicious if ripe, dry-mouth sour if not. Photo by Green Deane

This is a reminder now is the time to look for Silverthorn fruit if you live where the winters are mild. If not you will find them later in the spring. The Silverthorn has several odd qualities among them fruiting during our winter. Another is that the fruit is not only high in Vitamin C but it has the highest percentage of lycopene of any fruit. The seed also has Omega-3 fatty acids. All around a good find. Look for them as a hedge but also as naturalized escapees from Virginia south. To read more about the Silverthorn go here.

Ganoderma curtisii, a medicinal polypore.

Do we really care what it is called? There is a very small group of polypores called Ganoderma. We found some during a class this past weekend in Melbourne, Fl.  Also called the Reishi Mushroom, they have long been used in Asian medicine to boost the immune system, among other applications. They are easy to identify — generally speaking — and not toxic; not edibles per se but medicinal. We have at least three species locally. One is easy to sort out because it only grows on palms, G. zonatum. Its presence also means the palm will die soon. A less common one is G. applanatum, or the “artist fungus.” You can draw on the polypore’s under side. It is fairly easy to identify because the top side is not shiny. But what the third species might be is a bit fuzzy.  Many references use G. curtisii which I am happy to call it. But some experts insist that is an invalid name for a southern G. lucidum. But when you ask them if the southern one really is a G. lucidum they paddle backwards and say it’s in the “Ganoderma group.” Thanks a lot. I knew that already. Medicinally they are supposedly all used the same way, which is just like the ones from Asia. However, those who sell the Asian ones claim theirs are better. There is also little research on the North American species to counter than claim, whether true or not. But with all the wild plants we use what is more important than its name is your ability to identify it. Besides the name another irritation is the translation of Ganoderma. It is usually mistranslated from the Greek to mean “shiny skin.” The nuance, however, is more properly “polished leather.”

Wild Mustard blossoms cluster at the end.

Botany Builder #37: Cruciate, CREW-she-it or CREW-she-ate, from the Dead Latin Crux meaning in the shape of a cross. There is one common family of plants that have cruciate blossoms and they are all edible. I’m referring to the greater mustard group. They all have blossoms that are shaped like an X or like an H. They also have six stamen, four long, two short. There are no toxic mustards and were featured in last week’s newsletter here.

January 2014

Hopefully the frigid weather is behind us. It’s suppose to be warm this weekend. Here’s my near-term foraging class schedule:  Gainesville, FL: Saturday, February 8th, Boulware Springs Park,  3420 SE 15th St.   32641. 9 a.m.  Ocala, FL: Sunday, February 9th, Jervey Gantt Recreation Complex, 2390 SE 36th Ave.  34471, 9 a.m. Port Charlotte, FL: Saturday, February 15th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, 23000 Bayshore Rd., 33980, 9 a.m. West Palm Beach, FL: Sunday, February 16th, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd. , 33405, 9 a.m.

The  Florida Earthskills gathering starts this Thursday at Little Orange Creek Nature Park, which is a little over a mile east of Hawthorne, Florida. I will be giving plant walks there on Friday. This is a new location so it should an interesting place to explore. EarthSkills conferences differ greatly from herbal conferences. While one can find herbalism at an EarthSkills gathering it is what the name implies, earth skills. You can learn a variety of skills and techniques from identifying edible weeds to making a bow to dying your own handmade clothes. It’s a very communal gathering that reminds me of many such free-spirited events back in the 60s. Cool! See you there.

Susan Weed

This is a reminder the Florida Herbal Conference 2014 will be held in Deland in late February. Featured speaker will be Susan Weed. Also for the third year in a row I will be leading weed walks at the conference, a challenge in winter on dry ground. My walks are usually first thing in the morning when the air is cool and the coffee hot. Although it is the Florida Herbal Conference it draws teachers and students from all over North America. Two other  Florida “locals” will be teaching classes besides the scheduled main speakers. They are Andy Firk, who holds a wide variety of workshops throughout the year at his “Bamboo Cove” in Arcadia, and Earthskills’ past host Mycol Stevens of Gainesville. Mycol’s name used to be Michael but he came to like mushrooms and other fungi so well he changed the spelling.

Though your foraging may drop off during the winter it’s a great time to study wild edibles with my nine DVD set. Each  DVDs has 15 videos for 135 in all. They make a great gift. Order today. Some of these videos are of better quality than my free ones on the Internet. They are the same videos but many people like to have their own copy. I burn and compile the sets myself so if you have any issues I handle them personally. There are no middle foragers. And I’m working on adding a tenth DVD.  To learn more about the DVDs or to order them click here.  I also uploaded a new video to You Tube recently. This one is about Cereus fruit. It is not on the DVDs but you can see it here.

What Do You See? #1: Lastly, in the picture below there are three different, common edibles species. There a fourth lesser known and possibly five.  Can you spot and name them? The answer will be published here next week or you read them now on the What Do You See? board in the Green Deane Forum.

There are several edible species in this photo. (Clicking on the photo will make it closer.)

Wild mustard and radish roots have a tough outer jacket which when removed shows a bright, white tasty inner core. Photo by Green Deane

In the foraging community it would be difficult to find anyone who does not know you can eat mustard greens. But what about the roots?

Wild Radish roots before having their jackets removed. Photo by Green Deane

Wild mustards and wild radishes (Sinapis and Raphanus) both have edible blossom, seeds, leaves and roots. They are not only a wild food but a cultivated crop as well. And while one should be able to tell the mustards and radishes apart it is a bit moot in that they are used in the same way for our purposes. Both can provide greens early on then roots just before they blossom and later the seeds. You can also collect the roots after they seed but the roots can be a bit tougher then. My favorite way to cook them is to slice them like carrot rounds and boil them until tender. They tastes very much like turnips. However, they do give off a strong odor when cooking so you might want to have your vent already on or cook them outside.

Diced and boiled or steam mustard roots are mild and tasty. Photo by Green Deane

Taking the tough jacket off is fairly easy. First cut the top off like you could a carrot. Then look at the root from the cut end. You can see how the jacket wraps around the root. With a knife carefully start at the top of the root and working parallel with the root make a cut about a quarter of an inch deep — or as deep as the jacket — and a couple of inches long. Then use your thumbs to separate the edges of the cut. Once cut usually the jacket will peel off easily.  Incidentally, the roots of the cultivated mustards are also edible if you find them large enough. And of course the roots of the domesticated radish are well-known comestibles.

The original and edible orange daylily with petals and sepal, together a “tepal.”

Botany Builder #36: There are petals and there sepals.  Sepals can look like petals. A good example is the Daylily. It looks like it has six petals but it really has three petals then outward and downward three sepals that look like petals. Sepals can look different that petals. But when the petals and sepals look alike it is called a “Tepal.” If you think that looks made-up you’re right. The French did it. It’s their alteration of sepale and petale. It can be said TE-pol, or, TEP-ol. Tepal is used when the petals and sepals are undifferentiated, meaning they really look the same (It’s their position and arrangement that let’s us know they are not all petals.) Botanists tell us petals and sepals developed in response to different means of pollenating. Every little advantage helps in the plant world.

Epazote, goosefoot food of the gods. Photo by Green Deane

Epazote is too nasty to freeze. I will readily admit that comment might reflect my bias towards the spice and green that is enjoyed by millions. A member of the Chenopodium clan Epazote is an aromatic spice that is also eaten as a pot herb. Unfortunately for me it smells and tastes like an industrial floor cleaner. Cilantro also assaults my pallet. That said Epazote is used wildly in Hispanic and native central and south American cooking. Admittedly we don’t get much of a winter here, frosts and upper 20s on occasion — except this past week. Through it all Epazote seems to stay green and fresh. It must be the substantial oil content, the same oil that gives it a strong aroma that some find delightful and others disgusting. To read more about Epazote go here.

Green Deane teaching at Earthskills 2013

Sustained cold weather has disrupted the foraging class schedule but hopefully everything will return to seasonal normal. Here are some of my upcoming foraging classes:  Saturday, February 1st, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789, 9 a.m. Sunday, February 2nd, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL, 32935, 9 a.m. Saturday, February 8th, Boulware Springs Park,  3420 SE 15th St.  Gainesville, FL 32641. 9 a.m. Sunday, February 9th, Jervey Gantt Recreation Complex, 2390 SE 36th Ave.  Ocala, FL, 34471, 9 a.m. Saturday, February 15th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, 23000 Bayshore Rd., Port Charlotte, FL, 33980, 9 a.m. Sunday, February 16th, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd. West Palm Beach, FL, 33405, 9 a.m.

Florida EarthSkills 2014

Two weeks from now will be the  Florida Earthskills gathering. This year it will be held at Little Orange Creek Nature Park, which is a little over a mile east of Hawthorne, Florida. I will be giving plant walks there and as this is a new location it should an interesting place to explore. Dates are the 6th through the 9th of February. EarthSkills conferences differ greatly from herbal conferences. While one can find herbalism at an EarthSkills gathering it is what the name implies, earth skills. You can learn a variety of skills and techniques from identifying edible weeds to making a bow to dying your own handmade clothes. It’s a very communal gathering that reminds me of many such free-spirited events back in the 60s. Cool! See you there.

Andy Firk, one of the speakers at the Florida Herbal Conference

This is a reminder the Florida Herbal Conference 2014 will be held in Deland in late February. Also for the third year in a row I will be leading weed walks at the conference, a challenge in winter on dry ground. My walks are usually first thing in the morning when the air is cool and the coffee hot. Although it is the Florida Herbal Conference it draws teachers and students from all over North America. Two other  Florida “locals” will be teaching classes besides the scheduled main speakers. They are Andy Firk, who holds a wide variety of workshops throughout the year at his “Bamboo Cove” in Arcadia, Earthskills host Mycol Stevens of Gainesville. Mycol’s name used to be Michael but he came to like mushrooms and other fungi so well he changed the spelling.

Though your foraging may drop off during the winter it’s a great time to study wild edibles with my nine DVD set. Each  DVDs has 15 videos for 135 in all. They make a great gift. Order today. Some of these videos are of better quality than my free ones on the Internet. They are the same videos but many people like to have their own copy. I burn and compile the sets myself so if you have any issues I handle them personally. There are no middle foragers. And I’m working on adding a tenth DVD.  To learn more about the DVDs or to order them click here.  I also uploaded a new video to You Tube this week. This one is about Cereus fruit. It is not on the DVDs but you can see it here.

Green Deane’s old Volvo had a fatal cardio-vascular event this past week. It did not even make it to the emergency room garage dying not intestate but interstate. It was, however, a junk organ donor. A very good friend sold it to me five years ago for $100 — thank you Patrick. This does not leave the Village Green without transportation but looking for a replacement. Difficulties are often opportunities and perhaps it is time to get wheels that more reflect Green Deane. With Volvos one thinks Sweden, skiing, blonds… Perhaps a frumpy jeep will do, or the like…think outdoors, field and stream, plants, weeds… I drove a Willy’s jeep back in the — cough cough — 60s… We might even work out a trade with foraging lessons.  I’m a reasonably good mechanic so no vehicle have to be pristine or pretty. It just needs to get me from Amaranth to Zizania. Should you know of such a vehicle I can be contacted though this newsletter’s email.

Lastly this newsletter is taking guest articles on plants and foraging. Reasonably short is good, but longer articles can be serialized. Topics that are seasonal or lend themselves to illustration are nice. Weed recipes with picture of  the final food are also welcomed. So far we’ve had articles on chickweed and mushrooms. Tell me what you have in mind. Again I can be contacted though this newsletter’s email.

Small, feathery, even shy, you have to hunt for the Tansy Mustard

For such a small plant the Tansy Mustard has a huge history. I saw my first Tansy Mustard of the season Sunday in Jacksonville. This little gray-green mustard is a winter annual here and is quite consistent where it likes to grow: Dry spots with only natural watering.  It’s fairly a common find this time of year in paddocks and other farm areas that include oak scrub. The sample this weekend was growing along a side walk on a dry area of a college campus. Its minute seeds were a major staple for some Indian tribes and the leaves are edible raw or cooked. To read more about the Tansy Mustard go here.

Peppery Swine Cress

Saturday in Winter Park another winter mustard was discovered, the bright green Swine Cress.  Unlike the Tansy Mustard (above) it is often in well-watered lawns. There are two species of Swine Cress in the Americas. Both are not native but are widely dispersed so there is probably one near you when the season is right.  Our local version is very peppery which lends itself more to a spice than a pot herb, depending upon how tough your tummy is. It’s also impossible to mis-identify when it has gone to seed. To read why and for more information about the Swine Cress go here.

Polished Acacia Duramen

Botany Builder #35: The first wild edibles most people learn are forbs (green plants.) Then they move on to trees, a challenge but doable. Trees are usually  followed by grasses — much more difficult — then maybe mushrooms, a class unto themselves. Each group has its own language, particularly grasses and mushrooms. Still, when you read about trees you learn about boles (trunks) and duramen. The “duramen” is the heartwood, the center of the bole or branch. It provides the structural support holding the tree up or the branch out. Duramen is from the Dead Latin durare, to harden. It is also the basis for the English word “durable” and the surname Durant or Durante. You can say the tree has an attractive heartwood or the bole has an attractive duramen.

Last week we carried part one of “To Shroom Or Not To Shroom, That Is The Question,” by Dewayne Allday. This week we finish the article with Part II, a few of the mushrooms he’s had experience with.”

Dewayne Allday

A mushroom, also called toadstool, is actually just the above ground fruiting spore bearing portion of the fungus that you see.  The mycelium is the vegetative portion of the fungus, which is hidden in the ground or other substrates, therefore picking the mushroom does not destroy the mycelium.  Think of foraging for mushrooms as picking roses off a rose bush.  More “flowers” (mushrooms) will come back later.

Cantharellus cibarius, a chantrelle.

Like plants, mushrooms are broken down into families, genera and species and have specific growing seasons.  Some have long seasons, but others have very short seasons only lasting a few weeks.  One of my favorite mushrooms which grows in the summer and fall is the Chanterelle – Cantharellus cibarius, although there are numerous species.  There are a few look-a-likes including the famous “Jack O’Lantern” mushroom – Omphalotus illudens – which actually glows in the dark.  If you know your mushrooms, it’s really difficult to get them confused.  Like everything else in life, you can make it as easy or as complicated as you’d like.  There are actually four genera in the Chanterelle Family; Cantharellus, Gomphus, Polyozellus and Craterellus.  Some are edible and some or not.  As the old saying goes, do not eat unless you’re absolutely positive and even then let someone you dislike eat it first (only kidding).  Sautéed, that’s how I like them, but if you like a good stiff drink, Peter Jordan and Steven Wheeler in their book, The Complete Book of Mushrooms, discuss soaking them in vodka thereby transferring the apricot flavor of the mushroom into the vodka for a nice alcoholic beverage.  Personally after the drink is ready, I’d sauté those soaked Chanterelles right on up and drink while I cooked them.

Puffballs ready to saute. Notice the solid appearance.

Some edible mushrooms growing right now are the puffballs of the order Lycoperdales.  When ripe, they are pretty safe and in this family poisonous ones are very rare.  However, I can’t mention edible puffballs without also mentioning the deadly Amanitas.  You see, when an Amanita is early stage just popping out of the ground, it resembles a puffball because it is enveloped by what’s called a universal veil giving it a puffball or “egg” like appearance.  The difference can be spotted by cutting the “egg” looking shroom lengthwise.  A puffball is always completely solid inside and the Amanita will not be solid, and may even reveal the outline of the mushroom inside.  It’s crucial to know the difference because according to David Arora in his book Mushrooms Demystified, Amanitas are responsible for around 90% of mushroom fatalities.

Many puffballs are completely edible and can often be found in great abundance, even during winter months.  Like many other mushrooms, I like them sautéed with butter.  One must be able to tell the difference though between a puffball and a young Amanita because one will fill you and one will kill you.

The deadlly Destroying Angel, Amanita virosa

Once maturing, Amanitas have distinct features which, when recognized, are very hard to miss.  However, some of these items may or may not be present when the mushroom matures. The base of mushroom, also called the volva, will always be swollen, some species more than others.  Despite there actually being a few of the mushrooms in this genus that are edible, many mycologists do not recommend eating them “just in case” you misidentify.  It’s probably best to stay away from them especially if you’re a newcomer to mushrooms.  This is one area where that old Army Survival Manual is wrong.  The universal edibility test mentioned in it will not help you with many poisonous mushrooms or plants.  Some of the most poisonous ones actually taste good.  It was only last summer I heard about a guy losing a kidney after cooking up a Destroying Angel Amanita at a community college here in Alabama.  He couldn’t even drive himself to the hospital.

The Deadly Galerina has a rust brown spore print.

Another deadly mushroom that grows in our area is the Deadly Galerina – Galerina autumnalis.  Interestingly enough I was just reading in a mushroom forum not long ago where a guy was discussing how he thought he and a buddy had just accidentally eaten the Deadly Galerina thinking they were psilocybin’s. The subject heading of the thread was “I think I may have eaten Deadly Galerina – Please help!”.  When you read his words, you could feel the urgency of his request.  Help me!  It’s ironic that in the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mushrooms, a picture of one of the deadly poisonous Galerinas was on the same page as one of the Psilocybin mushrooms.  My recommendation is no Trippin’ Picken or you might get more than Sicken!

Maitake Mushroom, also called Hen of the Woods

On a positive note, two almost unmistakable choice mushrooms also grow in the fall and winter.  Not only are the Hen of the Woods (Maitake) Mushroom and the Lion’s Mane mushroom choice edibles which are medicinal as well, but we also have various species (and colors) of oyster mushrooms.

Oyster Mushroom and Lion’s Maine ready for sauteing.

One thing I love about edible and medicinal wild plants and mushrooms is that you can never learn everything there is, therefore you can never get bored. Plants and mushrooms are not only good for you, but many of them are more nutritious than store bought food.  If you love the outdoors, but get bored with only putting deer and turkey meat in your freezer, you could branch out into foraging plants and mushrooms and have a very diverse range of food to eat at any given time of the year.  Come join us.  Be safe and happy hunting!

Thank you Dew for the article on foraging and mushrooms. If you would like to have an article considered for the newsletter, and read by thousands,  please contact Green Deane. Also Green Deane has several mushroom pages on Facebook: Florida Mushroom Identification Forum, Southeastern US Mushroom Identification, and, Edible Mushrooms: Florida. There is also the Green Deane Forum where we talk about foraging all year.

Florida EarthSkills 2014

A little over a month from now will be the Florida EarthSkills  gathering. This year it will be held at Little Orange Creek Nature Park, which is a little over a mile east of Hawthorne, Florida. I will be giving plant walks there and as this is a new location it should an interesting place to explore. Dates are the 6th through the 9th of February. EarthSkills conferences differ greatly from herbal conferences. While one can find herbalism at an EarthSkills gathering it is what the name implies, earth skills. You can learn a variety of skills and techniques from identifying edible weeds to making a bow to dying your own handmade clothes. It’s a very communal gathering that reminds me of many such free-spirited events back in the 60s. Cool! See you there.

Mycol Stevens will be leading classes at the Florida Herbal Conference and the Earthskills gathering above.

This is a reminder the Florida Herbal Conference 2014 will be held in Deland in late February. Also for the third year in a row I will be leading weed walks at the conference, a challenge in winter on dry ground. My walks are usually first thing in the morning when the air is cool and the coffee hot. Although it is the Florida Herbal Conference it draws teachers and students from all over North America. Two other  Florida “locals” will be teaching classes besides the scheduled main speakers. They are Mycol Stevens of Gainesville, and Andy Firk who holds a wide variety of workshops throughout the year at his “Bamboo Cove” in Arcadia. Mycol’s name used to be Michael but he came to like mushrooms and other fungi so well he changed the spelling.

Eat The Weeds DVDs are now available.

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