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Hawthorn berries are edible, but not the seeds. Photo by Green Deane

There are many botanical mysteries, Hawthorns are one of the prime puzzlements among green plants. No one knows exactly how many species there are, dozens? Hundreds? Perhaps thousands.  It’s a PhD waiting to happen. But we do know they are in the greater rose family, and the small fruit is applesque — so don’t eat the seeds. In hungrier times hawthorn jelly was popular particularly made from crataegus monogyna. It’s a no-cook jelly you can dry into a sweet snack. Although a European speciesI have seen crataegus monogyna growing near Boone, North Carolina, Hawthorn, now, is more known medicinally as a tea from the leaves and or fruit because they are an effective Beta Blocker for certain cardio vascular conditions. 

Devil Walking stick fruit is not edible.

We also harvested a lot of chanterelles during our Gainesville Class,  including some red chanterelles. They went well in an omelette. Also spied were the non-edible berries of the Devil’s Walking stick. Blossom and shoots are edible but not the fruit — which have a kind of Elderberry-on-a-bad-day flavor. It is irritating in foraging that some of the easiest things to identify are not edible.

American lotus seeds ready for cooking. Photo by Green Deane

Seen twice this past week in Gainesville and Winter Garden were blossoming American Lotus. The first time I saw a small lake of these blossoms was when an old dry lakebed was deepened and reflooded for a housing development. The next spring suddenly what was for decades a dry lake was full of American Lotus blossoms. This is because the seeds can stay viable some 400 years, or so the experts report. Talk about a survival food! There are multiple edible parts on the American Lotus but I prefer the seeds. I also think when collecting by hand the seeds proved to be the most calories for the least amount of work. The roots are edible but digging them up can be a messy, laborious job. Locally American Lotus are easy to find now: Just look for a lake with large yellow blossoms on long stems. Further north and west they are a favorite sight on rivers such as the Mississippi. To read more about the American Lotus go here.

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

Foraging Classes: Accompanying me in my foraging class this Saturday in Mead Garden is the publicity side of my book publisher, Keen Adventure. Sunday’s class will dodge thunderstorm in Largo. 

August 12th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. Meet at the bathrooms 9 a.m. This class will be attended by representatives of the company publishing my book. (See below) 

August 13th, Eagle Lake, Largo fl. Meet at the dog park pavilion, 9 a.m.

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

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

One of the joys this time of year is that cactus tunas are ripening: Cactus fruit are called Tuna. There are two or three general types of cactus locally, Opuntia and Nopales and a third with edible fruit, the Cereus, which is more an ornamental Dragon Fruit.  How do you pick a Tuna (or cactus pad?) In a word carefully. 

Sweeping glochids off is another option.

Most foragers know cactus have edible parts but what does one look for, generally? First make sure it’s a pad, segmented often oval or tear-drop shaped. You do not want anything that looks serpentine. Also no white sap. White sap in plants that resemble cactus can be very deadly even after being dry many years. In one case smoke from burning desiccated Euphorbia branches killed some stranded people. They were  trying to stay warm around the fire on a cold desert night. So, pads, no white sap. While which cactus you collect (Opuntia, Nopales, or Cereus) might be the luck of the draw, the less spines the better, and the less glochids the much better. Glochids are tiny tuffs of sharp hair that hurt, are hard to dig out, and last for days. Ma Natures knows the pads and Tuna are good food so she protects them mightily. Big spines can be cut, burned or scraped off, glochids burned or washed off. Just scraping is not so successful with glochids. Wear stiff gloves without seams. Those little glochids will pass right through seams and get ya. Hint: Young pads, the ones we want anyway, often have not developed glochids. The Tuna have them so pick with tongs and sweep, wash or burn the painful spines off. Let us presume you have a spineless, glochidless young pad. What do you do with it? You can eat it raw, skin and all, or roast it or boil it. I know one restuarant that steams them (preserving color) then lightly grills them puting the pads whole on a Mexicanesque hamburgers.  With older (de-spined) pads you can still eat them raw or cook. Usually the tougher spine “eyes” are removed just like you would with a potato. And the pad can be peeled as well. Pads at a certain point become woody and too tough to eat.  The fruit, Tunas, are also edible after ridding them of glochids. They can have a raspberry flavor. The seeds are edible, too, but are extremely tough. You have to grind or roast them To read more about cactus click here.

Hackberries, or sugarberries, are usually burnt orange in color.

There is a tree you should be scouting for now so when the fruit ripens next month you’ll have some already located. As in real estate so in foraging: Location, location, location. Hackberries (also widely know as Sugarberries) like to be near but not in fresh water. You can often find them about 10 feet above the local water table but I’ve seen them as low as three feet. Usually you can find them up the bank from the water. Older Hackberry bark will often be warty, sometimes heavily so. Leaves have uneven shoulders, and on the back side of the leaf notice three prominent veins at the base, unusual for tree leaves. The small-pea sized fruit is green now but will ripen this month or early September into a burnt orange. The entire fruit is edible though the seed is hard. To read more about them go here.

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Doveweed, Murdannia, might be the smallest non-floating edible plant in the United States. Barely known, easily overlooked, yet very invasive. It pays to be small. For some young Doveweed is prime for soups, others view it as famine food. I can understand that. It’s closely related to a genus that gives me an upset stomach, the Commelinas (Dayflowers.)  I use only Doveweed blossoms in my salad. To anyone used to finding Dayflowers the Doveweed will look familiar but only a few inches tall. It also has a lot of common names around the world including “Micky Mouse.” To read more about the Doveweed, go here.

Isabelline wheateater

To my knowledge I’ve never met anyone named Isabell. So when the word “isabelline” cross my optical path about plants I had to look into it. “Isabell” means “God’s promise” presumably a positive one. It was very popular girl’s name in the 1880s, all but disappear until 2003 whereupon it had a resurgence in popularity until 2007. Now it is on the wane again. But what is isabelline?  There are three application of which I have also apparently never heard of.  One is what we could call Spanish Gothic Architecture. King and queen Ferdinand and Isabella got Columbus launched then turned to building cathedrals and the like. That style is called Isabelline, properly capitalized. I’m surprised they didn’t called it Ferdinine. The second use is a color: Isabelline. A color? Yes, and the word has been in use for at least 400 years so it is not a paint-store invention like “Baby Fawn” or “egg blue.”

A Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus.)

Isabelline “means a light yellow-gray and used mostly to describe mushrooms, animals and birds. There is the Isabelline Wheateater, see above left, the Isabelline Shrike, and the Isabelline Bear, right. Horses that are a cross between a Golden Palomino and a Champagne Palomino are also called Isabelline. Now, what of the third use? Well… ahem….Isabelline is also a reference to faded underwear. The story comes from when Philip II of Spain laid siege to the berg of Ostend in 1601. His daughter, Isabella, Archduchess of Austria, made a rather presumptuous vow not to change her underwear until the city was taken, thinking dad would be home by supper, lunch by Sunday for sure… Unfortunately for Isabell — and those around her — the siege took three years. Thus the color of dingy underwear is “isabelline.”

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

Now being printed is EatTheWeeds, the book. It should have 275 plants, 350-plus pages, index and color photos. Several hundred have been preordered on Amazon. Most of the entries include a nutritional profile. Officially it will be published Dec. 5th (to suit the publisher publicity demands) apparently to appeal to the winter market but can be delivered by mid-October

This is weekly newsletter #569. 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.

Vitis munsonianna, photto by Green Deane

Unripe gopher apple, photo by Green Deane

We are grapes last weekend in Melbourne, both single-tendril and forked tendril, south of the horseshoe pit at Wickham Park. (we went around the construction.) The grapes were a couple of weeks early, which is close enough for Mother Nature’s standards. Also abundant but not yet ripe were Gopher Apples, still too hard to eat for humans. When ripe gopher apples turn pink and pasty, and a sweet, similar in taste (for most) as pink baseball bubble gum. They don’t travel well.

I find Russian Thistles in front of hotels on Daytona Beach. Photo by Green Deane

We shouldn’t forage along railroad tracks and you can blame it all on the Russian Thistle. This species, best known as the tumble weed that rolls across the wild west in movies, came with immigrants to southern South Dakota in the early 1870’s. Best guess is it contaminated their flax seed. By 1895  it reached New Jersey and California. The question was how? A professor who worked for the Department of Agriculture figured out the trains were spreading the seeds coast to coast. It was a remarkable idea at the time and brought him much fame. His solution to the unintentional distribution? Kill plants long railroad tracks. Thus began the practice of putting down some mighty and long-lasting chemicals to kill weeds sprouting amongst the iron rails. Railroad tracks are a good place to find seeds to take home and plant but not to find food. There have even been a few reported deaths from foraging along rail road tracks.

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

Foraging classes: I was originally going to go to north FLorida this weekend, but weather forecasts suggest it could be drenched by an off-shore system, so I am heading southwest.

July 29th, Red Bug Slough , Sarasota. 9 a.m. Because of rennovations, we have to meet at a different location at Red Bug Slough in Sarasoata. Normally it is at 5200 S. Beneva Road. Instead we will have to park at Gypsy Street and South Lockwood Ridge Road. Gypsy can be reached by Camphor Ave which runs south of Proctor west of Beneva.

July 30th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. Meet at Bayshore and Ganyard.

August 5th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. 9 a.m. Meet at the pavilion by the pump house. 

August 12th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. Meet at the bathrooms 9 a.m.

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

Goldenrod is ruderal, pHoto by Green Deane

Also seen blooming now is Goldenrod. It is a bit of a treasure hunt and disappointment. The treasure hunt is that one species is better than all the rest for tea, Solidago odora. It does grow here, has an anise flavor, but is hard to find. It’s reported in most counties but is not common. Goldenrod grows in about half of the United States, southwest to northeast. Other Goldenrod species can also be made into tea, perhaps all of them particularly for herbal applications, but they don’t taste anywhere near as good.  In fact, after the “Boston Tea Party” of 1773 halted tea imports colonialists drank Goldenrod tea and even exported some to China. It did not catch on. However, every time I see a Goldenrod I pull off a leaf and crush it hoping to detect the tell-tale anise smell. It’s a golden treasure hunt.

The mysterious Swamp Mallow. Photo by Green Deane

Notice while crossing the St. Johns River Hibiscus moscheutos one of my mystery plants that ranges over much of the United States except for the high plains states and the west coast (and my native state of Maine.)  The Swamp Rose Mallow is blossoming in damp spots locally particularly along the St. John River. I think its blossoming is more related to the shortening of the days than the weather per se. It has five separate petals united at the base and five green sepals. The blossom lasts only one day. They range from cream with a red or purple center to pale pink. It has a sticky, stringy juice. The question is, as a Hibiscus, are the blossoms edible or other parts? I have never found a reference to edibility. In fact, it seems only one Native American tribe used it medicinally, the Shinnecock who lived on what we now call Long Island. They used it for bladder infections. European settlers, however used the species for a wide variety of ailments. As several writers attest it “abounds with mucilage.” It is always interesting when such a wide-spread plant is rarely mentioned in the ethnobotanical literature. That could mean it wasn’t used, we didn’t ask, or they didn’t tell us. To read more about mallows go here.

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

Now being printed is EatTheWeeds, the book. It should have 284 plants, 350-plus pages, index and color photos. Several hundred have been preordered on Amazon. Most of the entries include a nutritional profile. Officially it will be published Dec. 5th (to suit the publisher demands) apparently to appeal to the winter market but can be delivered by mid-October

This is weekly newsletter #567. 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.

Twin Berries are beginning to ripe. Photo by Green Deane

If you study nature you soon learn seasons vary and plants respond. This year chanterelles are missing in some locations, some podocarpus are a month early,  single-tendril grapes are pushing the season, and wild garlic withered early.

Chanterelles have cross wrinkles.

 The reluctance of chanterelles to flush is caused by lack of rain in a given area, the other requirement, besides the preferred trees, is warm overnight temperatures — why morels don’t grow in Florida. Plants have requirements regardless of what we think of them. My mushroom mile, a favored location where I harvest many different species, is still empty of them including the usual toxic ones. 

The blossom and leaves are edible on the False Roselle. Photo by Green Deane

A species responding to thehopefully wetter weather is the False Roselle. It grows “wild” in my back yard. I noticed this past week seedlings coming up. To the eyes of anyone who looked at plants in a northern climate ones first guess on seeing the False Roselle is that it is a misplaced Red Maple. The resemblance is superficial but close enough to give one pause. Though I would not label the tree with a Pampered Chef epitaph but to me the leaves say “Salads and Stir Frys. Its purple leaves — true purple, not the reddish green of the true Roselle — are tart and just rightly so. They go into salads well. More so, they take to quick vegetable-lush stir fries and do not lose their color or taste on cooking. It’s even a good tree to nibble on wherever you find it. The species, interestingly, is not long-lived, a few years at best like Elderberry. But it spreads easily and can be grown from seeds or better from shoots. Just cut off a few young branches, take off the lower leaves, put the stems in water and within a couple of weeks you will have well-rooted twigs to plant. In fact I over-winter some every year. A heavy frost or a light freeze will die them back to the roots. Young trees will come back in the spring, but often older plants won’t. So I raise a few in the winter to make sure I can restock in the summer. The blossoms are edible as well and a juice can be made from the caylexs. Red Maple are more iffy. Red Maple leaves are bitter but humans can eat a few of them. However, Red Maple leaves are deadly to horses and they will eat them. Keep your horses away from Red Maples. You can read about the False Roselle here

Barnyard grass can be used like wheat

One would think that with a name like “Barnyard Grass” one would find it in barnyards. But no. It is probably safe to say you will rarely find Barnyard Grass in a barnyard. Why? Because Barnyard Grass likes to grow in water, lots of water. You can easily find it in ponds, streams and drainage ditches but not barnyards unless it is growing directly under the roof drain spout in a very low, wet spot. In all my years of foraging I have seen Barnyard Grass once in a barnyard but dozens of times in water. In wet areas look for a tall grass that resembles wheat. The stems will be hairy and usually purple at the base. One easy place to find them locally is in dried up lakes. Often at the still-damp low spot Barnyard Grass will colonize the entire low spot. Not a native it comes in season at the same time and one can find it seeding now. The grain is a bit more coarse than wheat but can be harvested, prepared and used the same way. You can read about Barnyard Grass here. 

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

Shall we sneek in a couple of classes before we get a parade of tropical storms? 

July 22nd, Colby-Alderman Park: 1099 Massachusetts Street, Cassadaga. Fla. 32706. 9 a.m. Meet at the bathrooms. 

July  23rd, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, 9 a.m., meet at the dog park. 

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

You want pink and green strawberry guava. Photo by Green Deane

Nearing the end of its fruiting season is a species that is very invasive in some areas: The Strawberry Guava. Invasive in Hawaii,  I had a Strawberry Guava in my yard for about 15 years. Not only are the fruit edible but the dried leaves can be made into a passable tea. One does, however, need to know a little about the species to make the most of the fruit. It’s a little smaller than a ping-pong ball, has tough seeds, and starts out green and hard. As it ripens and softens it will get shades of pink, yellow and red and eventually become dark red and soft, hence the name “Strawberry Guava.” The fruit is tart and sweet, more tart when young, more sweet when older. Despite the name I never tasted a strawberry flavor in any of the fruit. The problem is unless you spray the tree with insecticides the ripe fruit will be full of fly larvae (which you can also view as free protein.) When the fruit is just starting to turn from green to red the rind is too hard for the flies to lay eggs through. But by the time they are soft and ripe they are prime breeding ground. Thus you have a choice, slightly ripe and tart but bug free, or, very ripe and sweet and squirming. To read more about the Strawberry Guava go here.

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is weekly newsletter #566. 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.

Sugar maples are famous for their syrup but how many species of trees can you actually tap? In North America the answer is at least 22. “Sugaring” was a special time of year in New England. Warm days and near freezing nights in the spring started the sap flowing out of the roots back towards the top of the trees. A tap and a bucket produced pails of mildly sweet sap. Hours of boiling reduced that to maple syrup. Have you ever heard of Maple Walnut Ice Cream. It was common in sugaring country.

Sycamores drop a lot of leaves. Photo by Green Deane

The largest group of trees you can tap are maples ( Sugar, Black, Red, Silver, Norway, Boxelder, Bigleaf, Canyon, Rocky Mountain, and Gorosoe.) The birches can also be tapped (Paper, Yellow, Black, River, Gray, and European White Birch.) If I remember correctly no native group of Europeans ever tapped them for food until they learned of the practice in North America. Trees in the walnut group can also be tapped: Butternut (my mother’s favorite) Black Walnut, Heartnut, and English Walnut.

There are two outliers which grow locally. One is Hophornbeam or as I called it growing up, Ironwood. It also has edible seeds. The other tappable species is a very common native and ornamental: The Sycamore. It takes about four to five times more Sycamore sap to get a gallon of syrup than from a Maple. The biggest surprise is that Sycamore Syrup tastes like butterscotch. Processing a natural plant does not always have the outcome you intend. Seagrapes, for example, have a unique taste. Make them into jelly, however, and their originality disappears and they taste like apple jelly. And while birch syrup is a unique and commercial product. It can taste quite similar to molasses.  You can read about Sycamores here, Ironwood here. 

Ten Global Trends (although there are 78 trends in the book.)

In the book Ten Global Trends there is an article called “Improving Sanitation.” It states regarding human history: “In the rural areas, people lived with their animals, including chickens and cows, and used both animal and human waste to fertilize their crops — an extremely dangerous practice compounded by the fact that people could go throughout much of their lives without ever washing their hands.”

Historically people did not wash their hands.

Never washing your hands… I thought of that as I ate two mangoes with very dirty hands during a foraging class in Port Charlotte last Sunday. I had dug up — with my hands — two yam roots in an overgrown lot. I strongly advise against digging with your hands not because of germs per se but rather broken glass. A lot of drinkers toss bottles into empty lots and they can give you some horrible cuts. (As can booze bottles in mangrove mud.) In the same area as the bubils are several champagne mango trees that produce a lot of fruit that just rots on the ground. It’s the only time I eat super sweet fruit. So I had two, from off the ground, unwashed, dirty hands and all.

Back yards can also be a litter box.

I grew up on a small farm. We had horses, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, rabbits and pet squirrels. Moose and deer were a common sight in the barnyard scrimping for grain the hoses dropped. Us kids shoveled and played in a lot of manure… horse and chicken being the prime piles. One time while playing hide and seek under a barn I dropped down so not to be seen and gashed my right knee on a broken bottle in the horse manure pile. I still have the scar. Kids raised on farms, research shows, have less allergies (if they survive.) And I usually eat wild plants without washing them unless they are dusty et cetera. People ask me if I am concerned that animals using the wild as their bathroom. Not really. Urine is usually sterile, degrades quickly, and other matter is broken down fast. Most disease contraction today from scat is toddlers getting parasites from cat dropping in their own back yard. Cat manure, like most carnivore manure, is foul, and transmits disease to toddlers playing in the back yard or pregnant mom cleaning the litter box (toxoplasmosis.) Back yard chickens are not much of an issue either. It takes nine chickens to equal the manure of one dog, and the chicken manure is good side dressing (whereas horse and cow manure is weaker and can be used directly.)  

Mangrove Mud can be deep and hide debris.

Thus I am not overly cautious nor overly brave. Soil dirty hands and unwashed mangos fits into that spectrum for me. Last year I foolishly stepped into mangrove mud to retrieve a lure. I sunk to my knee and what ever stopped me from sinking further left three deep cuts in my heel. (Yes, I had wading shoes, but I left them in the van. That won’t happen again.) And I had a tetanus shot five years ago after a to-the-bone bite from an injured squirrel that did not want to be rescued (and I’ve had the rabies series [2005] as well though squirrels rarely have rabies. A squirrel in the position to be bitten by a rabid animal usually becomes that animal’s next meal. ) The heel healed without even a minor infection. Apparently the immune system is still working well for 70-plus and I’m not diabetic.

Another reason to be cautious about vacant lots is you don’t know what was there before its vacancy. I know a nice, green location, that was once a home that burnt to the ground. The soil is black with soot (and who knows what other chemicals.) Not ground for good eating. When I read glowing articles about community gardens growing food on vacant lots in cities I wonder if the lot used to be a  car garage or a tanning factory that used all kinds of chemicals. Before I would cultivate a vacant city lot I would do a historical search to find out what used to be at that location.

Foraging Classes We are entering the dodgy time of year, weatherwise. Long term forecasts say we could have much rain this weekend. I’d like to have a seasonal class at LeStrange Preserve before it is closed by flooding. 

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

June 17, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL 9 a.m.

June 18,  Blanchard Park,  2451 Dean Rd, Union Park, FL,  meet next to the tennis courts. 9 a.m.

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

Seen recently: Pawpaw fruiting and still blossoming, and grapes still blossoming and dropping fruit

One of two batches of experimental Beautyberry Wine.

Locally the American Beautyberries are blossoming and soon they will have magenta berries. I have about four gallons of Beautyberry Wine working, two different recipes, perhaps ready in a year or two.  That said Beautyberries are near the bottom of the list on flavor when eaten out of hand, insipid more than offensive. But they make a great jelly… and perhaps a blush wine. They are not good pie material and in muffins they turn green. The shrub itself has been known for its ability to repel insects. You can read about Beautyberry here .

You get the USB, not the key.

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.

Sweet acacia, Dreher Park. West Palm Beach. Photo by Green Deane

In the works: Sweet Acacia, Vachellia farnesiana (Acacia farnesiana) has mixed reports on edibility, some say yes others say toxic. The tree was pointed out to me during a foraging class Saturday in Dreher Park, West Palm Beach. Cornucopia II, usually reliable, says on page 151 “leaves may be used as a substitute for tamarind in flavoring chutneys. Sprouted seeds are reportedly consumed. the pods are roasted and eaten.”  Julia Morton skipped the tree in her “Plants for Survival in South Florida.” Daniel Austin in Florida ethnobotany mentions only herbal applications. The bark is used for tanning leather, and arrow poison, and that the seeds  have an alkaoid used to kill dogs in Brazil. James Duke for Perdue University, wrote: “The bark is astringent and demulcent, and along with leaves and roots is used for medicinal purposes. Woody branches used in India as tooth brushes. The gummy roots also chewed for sore throat. Said to be used for alterative, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, astringent, demulcent, diarrhea, febrifuge, rheumatism, and stimulant” (Duke, 1981a). Morton (1981) notes that Guatemalans value the flower infusion as a stomachic. It is also used for dyspepsia and neuroses. Mexicans sprinkle powdered dried leaves onto wounds. The flowers are added to ointment, rubbed on the forehead for headache. Green pods are decocted for dysentery and inflammations of the skin and raucous membranes. Colombians bathe in the bark decoction for typhoid. Costa Ricans decoct he gum from the trunk for diarrhea, using the pod infusion for diarrhea, leucorrhea, and uterorrhagia. Panamanians and Cubans used the pod to treat conjunctivitis. Cubans use the pod decoction for sore throat. For rheumatic pains, West Indians bind bark strips to the afflicted joint. The root decoction has been suggested as a folk remedy for tubersulosis.

Sweet Acacia blossoms. Photo by Green Deane

“Dried seeds of one Acacia sp. are reported to contain per 100 g: 377 calories, 7.0% moisture, 12.6 g protein, 4.6 g fat, 72.4 g carbohydrate, 9.5 g flber, and 3.4 g ash. Raw leaves of Acacia contain per 100 g: 57 calories, 81.4% moisture, 8.0 g protein, 0.6 g fat, 9.0 g carbohydrate, 5.7 g fiber, 1.0 g ash, 93 mg Ca, 84 mg P, 3.7 mg Fe, 12,255 mg b-carotene equivalent, 0.20 mg thiamine, 0.17 mg riboflavin, 8.5 mg niacin, and 49 mg ascorbic acid. Reporting 55% protein on a dryweight basis, Van Etten et al (1963) break down the amino acids as follows: lysine, 4.7 (g/16 g N); methionine, 0.9; arginine, 9.2; glycine, 3.4;. histidine, 2.3; isoleucine, 3.5; leucine, 7.5; phenylalanine, 3.5; tyrosine, 2.8; threonine, 2.5; valine, 3.9; alanine, 4.3; aspartic acid, 8.8; glutamic acid, 12.6; hydroxyproline, 0.0; proline, 5.1; serine, 4.1; with 76% of the total nitrogen as amino acids. Cassie has been reported to contain anisaldehyde, benzoic acid, benzyl alcohol, butyric acid, coumarin, cresol, cuminaidehyde, decyl aldehyde, eicosane, eugenol, farnesol, geraniol, hydroxyacetophenone, methyleugenol, methyl salicylate, nerolidol, palmitic acid, salicylic acid, and terpineol (Duke, 1981). The leaves contain lipids, carotenoids, alkaloids, and reducing and non-reducing sugars (Morton, 1981). El Sissi et al (1973) isolated and identified from pods, seven polyphenols (gallic acid, ellagic acid, m-digallic acid, methyl gallate, kaempferol, atomadendrin, and narigenin). Also they found narigenin-7-glucoside and naringenin-7-rhamnoglucoside (naringin), as well as naringenin, glucose, and gallic acid.” The flowers are used to make perfume. We also know the seeds have protein-binding lectins. Is the tree edible? Who knows, and is that really the species we saw?  Clearly more research is needed. 

This is weekly newsletter #562. 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.

Dan Dowling with a prime example of an Alata root. They break easily when being dug up. Photo by Green Deane

The root of the winged yam. Photo by Green Deane

Yams can be confusing. Regionally there are almost a dozen yams you can find in the wild. Eight do not produce “air” potatoes or put on starch-sequestering roots. So we are not interested in them. That leaves two  (not counting deliberately cultivated species.) The winged yam and the bulbifera (bulbifera means bulb producing.) Their seasons don’t coincide. The bulbifera dies back first in the fall, about November, the Winged yam dies back in December or January depending up how much cold weather there is. The bulbifera if first to pop up in the spring, usually March or April. The winged yam is second in late April or May. Over the season both make non-edible air potatoes but only the winged yam locally produces a huge edible root. The bulbifera usually doesn’t (although in Australia it does.) Winged yam shoots are now about a yard long and can be used to find the tasty root. The thicker the vine now the larger the root. The top of the root will feel like a tent stake in the soil. Thin vines will be from last year’s “air potatoes” which is how the species reproduces vegetatively.

With the help of Chef Steve we dug one up during our Port Chartlotte foraging class last Sunday. One boils the root then uses it like a potato (of which it has a similar nutritional profile.) If you can identify this plant — the winged yam — you won’t starve.

Texas Ebony seed pods

It is true you can walk past a useful plant many times and not notice it. That was my experience with the Eastern Red Bud, and perhaps this weekend with the Texas Ebony. One tree of it was identified by a friend’s aunt, so it was added to the edibles’ list. This past week in Dreher park West Palm Beach it was pointed out to me a couple of huge trees also looked like Texas Ebony (this was the first time I recall those two fruiting.) Texas Ebony is is Ebenopsis ebano which means ” spectacular Black ebony” which is better than its last name Pithecellobium flexicaule which is Monkey’s Earring with Bent Stem. What ever it is called it is edible. The seeds of E. ebano are about 35% protein which is comparable to legumes though they are larger than chickpeas. Carbohydrates in 100 grams (before processing) are 29.36 grams, fat 28.16 grams but fiber quite low, 0.51 grams per 100 grams. That’s all about 500 calories. Cooking increases the available protein by some 12% and reduces anti-nutrient phytate 35% and protein inhibitors 96% overall increasing the nutrition. The most common amino acids are leucine, lysine, valine, isoleucine and treosine.

The fungus gall of Gymnosporangium clavipes on a hawthorne

Most foragers would look at this picture (right) and say that is a gall. beginners might think it’s a strange fruit .  Plant galls are defined as abnormal plant growths caused by a gall-maker; the gall-maker being certain insects, mites, fungi, and bacteria. Locally Persea Borbornia usually has a lot galls — one of the identifying characteristics — and one particular scrub oak gets galls that look like cranberries.

Hawthorn in Lithia Florida, usually not seen south of Ocala.

This is a gall on a Hawthorn fruit and is a fungus, Gymnosporangium clavipes, which is responsible for the disease known as Cedar-Quince Rust. The “cedar” in the relationship is actually the eastern red cedar, which is really a juniper, Juniperous virginana.  This fungus must alternate between junipers and a member of the rose family, such as quince, hawthorn, crabapple, etc., to complete its life cycle.  It spends a year on plant in the two groups then a year on the other plant. 

 Hawthorns are an unusual group of trees and can live to 400 yeras old. No one really knows how many species there are, two hundred or 1,200. It is safe to say they vary a lot so identifying which one you have can be quite frustrating. The fruit is edible but not the seeds, and the fruit and leaves dried as a tea can be used for high blood pressure. Herbalists say two teaspoons of leaves or seedless berries (or both) made into a tea twice a day is an effective beta blocker and lowers blood pressure.

Ascross the dirt road I grew up on was a huge hawthorn with two-inch thorns. Different species of birds would nest in the tree at the same time, because the thorns dissuaded egg and chick predator. Unncecessary tarring and widening of the road eliminated the tree. 

Range of the one-seeded Hawthorn

Historically hawthorns have been used to make hedgerows and “haw” means hedge. The fruit is a source of pectin, which is protective against DNA damage from gamma radiation besides making jelly. In fact one hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, the one-seed Hawthorn can be made into a no-cook jelly which can then be dried. Put the berries in a bowl and quickly crush them thoroughly with your hands. The resulting liquid should be about the consistency of pudding just before it sets. It should be that consistency naturally. If you’ve had a dry year add some water to get to that consistency. Work quickly. Squeeze the seeds out of the berries then quickly filter the thick slurry into a bowl. In about five minutes the liquid will jell. Flip it over onto a plate. It can be eaten as is or sliced or sun dried. It will be sweet and will last for many years. Remember just ripe berries have more pectin that over-ripe berries. To see a Ray Mears’ video on this go here.

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

It is the season time for partridgeberries. While they can be found locally they are more a cooler climate species. I used to find them occasionally in Gainesville Fl but saw them often in August in western North Carolina. Botanically Michlla repens, the species has been used for food and as a diureticc and for the pain associalted with menstrual cramps and child birth. M. repens is a vine that does not climb. It does make an excellent ground cover. The berry is favored by the ruffed grouse hence the name Partridgeberry.

Foraging Classes: Spending my class time on the east coast this weekend. Mebourne and Port Orange. 

May 27th , Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 9 a.m. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park (turn right after entrance.) 9 a.m.

 May 28th,  Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 9 a.m.,meet at the pavilion.

June 3rd, Eagle Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park, 9 a.m.

June 4th, Mead Gaden, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. 9 a.m.

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

After cooking slice the seeds, remove the small bitter plant inside, eat the rest. Photo by Green Deane

Yellow ponds, that’s how I think of it, or in some places, yellow rivers. That’s because the American Lotus will soon be in blossom. The first time I saw a small lake of these blossoms was when an old dry lake was deepened for a housing development. The next spring suddenly what was for decades a dry lake was full of American Lotus blossoms. This is because the seeds can stay viable some 400 years, or so the experts report. Talk about a survival food! There are multiple edible parts on the American Lotus but I prefer the seeds. I also think when collecting by hand the seeds proved to be the most calories for the amount of work. The roots are edible but digging them up can be a messy, laborious job. Locally American Lotus are easy to find: Just look for a lake with large yellow blossoms on long stems. Further north and west they are a favorite sight on rivers such as the Mississippi. To read more about the American Lotus go here.

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is my weekly newsletter #559. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Oyster mushroom growing on a Sweet Bay. Photo by Green Deane

Creeping Cucumber keeps fruiting in south Florida.

Perhaps it was a last seasonal hurrah, or maybe the creatures that eat Melothria Pendula are full now (see photo right.) We found dozens of “mouse cucumbers” during our Saturday class in Winter Park.  Perhaps the birds who like them have migrated. We had more than enough for several salads. Another surprise were oyster mushrooms growing on a Magnolia virginiana. It’s a good time of year for them but the lack of rain seem to not be a problem. A popular mushroom I have hundreds of plugs in various logs where I live. 

Fraging Classes: We’re making a rare trip to an actual seaside class location Sunday and a bayside class Saturday

April 15th  Saturday, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte, meet in the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard. 9 a.m. to noon 

April 22nd, Saturday, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981, 9 a.m. to noon. 

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

Tall Evening Primrose (oenothera biennis) a “lost vegetable.”

Is it edible? The quick answer is no… maybe…. yes? The plant in question is the moth-pollenated Evening Primrose (whose blossoms open sunset to sunrise.) We have three species in locally, two are considered edible, the third is up in the air.  Oenothera biennis is called a “lost vegetable.” It was cultivated in the area of Germany for about a century. The cooked root is edible, shoots raw or more often cooked, flowers in salads or pickled. Young pods steamed. There are two cultivars, EP 10 and Saguin. It’s the Evening Primrose I grew up with in Maine, a rather tall plant for a root vegetable, one to two yards high. It supposedly grows in central and North Florida but I have never seen it locally. It’s listed in most of North America except Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming. The big debate is whether the plant is native to North America or is European. The other edible Evening Primrose locally is O. fruticosa, also called the “Wild Beet.” Natives parboiled the leaves then cooked them in grease. No mention of the root. Its seed capsules are club shaped. The primrose I see most often, however, is the “non-edible” low-growing O. laciniata aka Cutleaf Evening primrose. It is also the most common and has round seeds and short petals, an inch or less. 

Cutleaf Primrose blossom. Photo by Green Deane

Many years ago I asked Forager Emeritus Dick Deuerling if O. laciniata was edible and he flatly said “no.” But on consideration texture and or palatability was important to Dick and he could have said no because he didn’t like to eat the plant. He felt that way about Burnweed (Erechtites hieraciifloius.) He was well-known for saying while there are a lot of edible wild plants “But I only eat the good stuff.” The Florida Native Plant Society says the seeds and leaves of the Cutleaf Evening Primrose were used as food and medicine by the Cherokee. It is not mentioned in Cornucopia II or Moerman’s Native American Food Plants.  To make things complicated there are 16 “evening primroses” in Florida, 11 native. I have tasted one blossom of the Cutleaf but not yet consumed one (I had a long, awful illness after tasting a Tropical Sage blossom once [Salvia coccinea.]  My blossom-experimenting days are behind me.) 

Dark stamens helps to identify this False Dandelion. Photo by Green Deane

Also seen this week was one of the “False Dandelions’ Hypochaeris radicata. In general terms there are four species known as False Dandelions (not counting species falsely called False Dandelion such as Crepis japonica.) There are at least three genera: Pyrrhopappus, Hypochaeris and Agoseris. Pyrrhopappus carolinianus are found in the southern eastern quarter of the United States. Hypochaeris radicata is found in most of North America except the high plains states. Hypochaeris glabra is some eastern states, some southern states, and some western states. Spotty. Agoseris aurantiaca is in the western U.S. and Canada and eastern Canada but not in between. Also note that Hypochaeris is also spelled Hypochoeris. In general terms False Dandelions are used like Dandelions though they do vary in flavor with H. radicata being quite bitter. The odd-one out is A. aurantiaca which has an orange-red blossom instead of yellow. You can read about them here.

Also blossoming right now is our local yucca. Photo by Green Deane

Also blossoming now are our local yucca, Yucca filamentosa. While some wild edibles are under-rated perhaps the Yucca is over-rated. You will read in many foraging books that the blossoms are edible raw. Good luck with that. I have never found that so with our local species. Raw they have a wonderful texture and initial flavor but then a natural soap kicks in and leaves a bitter aftertaste that is quite disappointing. Cooked flowers, however, are quite tasty though you always have to knock out a lot of insects before cooking… well, you don’t really if you want some extra protein.  I usually boil the blossoms. The flower spike is also edible when very young.  Other parts are famine food. To read more about the yucca go here.

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is my weekly newsletter #553. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Mulberries resemble over-grown blackberries. Photo by Green Deane

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

Wild Garlic will be cloving soon. Photo by Green Deane

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

Florida Pennyroyal is also in blossom. Photo by Green Deane

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dandelions like cooler weather. PHoto by Green Deane

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

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

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

Clover prefers low nitrogen soil.

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

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

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

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

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

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

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Pawpaws are blossoming. Photo by Green Deane

It’s a good time to identify Pawpaw by its blossoms. I see them regularly while driving local roads. Look for pastures along the byways, nice high and dry pastures. Pawpaws are one to two yard high with large cream-colored blossoms. Pastured livestock generally avoid the species. Finding the shrub is not the real challenge. Woodland creatures like the tasty ripe fruit so one has to find AND watch pawpaw to get some to eat.

Wild Garlic will be cloving soon. Photo by Green Deane.

Getting ready to “fruit” is our wild garlic, Allium canadense. The plant is easy to find now in damp sunny areas and by next month will be putting garlic cloves on the top. Remember: if it looks like a garlic and smells like a garlic it is edible. The same holds true for onion, if it looks like an onion and smells like an onion it is edible. We dug some up during our foraging class in Gainesville last week. Their onion roots are small now as the energy in the root is being used to grow the plant and make cloves. What’s more important than their size is that you can transplant them and have a source of onions and garlic for flavoring without having to be reliant on stores. They often grow in profusion, becoming the dominant grass-like plant in a given area. The ornamental “Society Garlic” Tulbaghia violacea, is an edible distant relative of garlic. One can eat the leaves and blossoms, it rarely has a root worth preparing. 

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 sensitivities 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. 

The Toxic Atamasco Lily

What are they? The first answer is they are NOT edible. The second is they are a threatened species. And the third answer is the toxic Atamasco lily, or Zephranthes atamasca . For a threatened species they are seen in a lot of lawns this time of year prompting many emails asking for an identification. These natives like wetlands though a well-watered lawn after seasonal rains will do nicely. The problem with the Atamasco/Rain Lily is that it resembles wild garlic before it blossoms (and even has a bulb!) However, it does not have the telltale garlic or onion aroma. Remember if it smells like a garlic and looks like a garlic you can use it like a garlic. The Atamasco does not have any garlic aroma. It is not edible. All parts are poisonous. And while these in the picture have a pink tinge there are also all-white blossoms.

Two leghorns and a silver lace wyandotte.

Chicklettes: Unfortunately one died soon after relocation, the other three are doing well, having tried this week, chickweed, cucumber weed, purslane and apple. My home made incubator might add more babes this week. Chickweed, from the front yard, was quite popular (and why it was named that. Chicken, even baby ones, like it.) The apple core also received constant attention. These chicks are the leghorns, quite vocal and flighty, will lay white eggs. The deceased chick was replace with a very loud Silver Lace Wyandotte, not a breed I’m familiar with, lays brown eggs. My 15-year-old cat, Couscous, finds them … interesting.

Cherokee rose is not native. Photo by Green Deane

An Asian species sighted this weekend is one that was once considered native, the Cherokee Rose, which is actually an invasive. Botanically Rosa laevigata (Rosa is from the Greek ῥόδον (rhódon) meaning rose and laevitata or (Levis) which is Dead Latin for  smooth or polished. It’s a “climbing shrub” as is Smilax and Nicker Bean. Cherokee Rose is a large nearly odorless white bloomer from the low mountains of China and Vietnam. It was carried to the Americas in 1780 and was reportedly cultivated by the Cherokee thus the name. In 1916 at the urging of womens’ clubs it was made the state flower of Georgia and still is. It  produces huge rose hips to two-inches long though you have to burn bristles off to use them. And as one might presume the rugged vining shrub is covered with mean prickles. Handle carefully. Sugar from the plant has been used to make wine.

Foraging Classes: March is something of a transition month for foragers, it might be the only month of spring here in Central Florida. It is a good month to identify plants that usually fruit in April, often our most productive month.Classes span both coasts this weekend, with a Saturday in Melbourne and Sunday Port Charlotte.

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

Saturday March 18th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park 9 a.m.

Sunday March 19th, Bayshore Live Oak Park Park, Bayshore Drive, Port Charlotte, Meet at the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard Street. 9 a.m.

Saturday March 25th, Mead Garden, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. 9 na.m.

Sunday March 26th, Eagle Lake Park, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park. 9 a.m.

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

Deer Mushrooms like wood and cool weather. Photo by Green Deane

An edible mushroom that takes advantage of cool, rainy weather, such as this week, is the Deer Mushroom, in this case Pluteus petasatus. These are bunching mushrooms usually growing on old hardwood remains, either logs, stumps, roots or debris. As often is the case the botanical name is more confusing than enlightening. Pluteus  can mean shed or penthouse. Petasatus is Dead Latin for wearing a cap (meaning) ready for a journey. A relative is called P. cervinus the latter means deer or stag because of that species’ cap color. It is also sometimes called the Deer Mushroom or Fawn Mushroom. These two are edible but are viewed as marginal. One reason is the cap is mostly gills with little cap material. Sometimes it can have a radish flavor. Spore print is salmon to pink. 

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is my weekly newsletter #549. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Watercress. Photo by Green Deane

With deceptive 90-degree temperatures, Watercress would seem to be a seasonal afterthought. However, February is historically the coldest month locally, the last frost is usually often mid-month. So finding watercress in Melbourne during our foraging class, last week was not seasonally unusual, but it was a pleasant, tasty surprise. More than a century ago Florida was the watercress capital of the world, supplying fresh greens during the winter by trains to northern cities. It was a common plant to find in most bodies of water mid-state. Tender and slightly peppery, it is an esteemed green either raw or cooked. You can read about it here. Video here.

Stinging Nettle. Photo by Green Deane

In New Port Richey we also saw a common cool-weather plant — stinging nettles — that is often past season by this time of year.  As it got a late seasonal late perhaps it is just doing what comes naturally.  While I can eat stinging nettles they wound me horribly. The painful sting turns into a bloody welt that lasts for weeks. So eating stinging nettle is great revenge. Our local species is Urtica chamaedryoides,I have a video here, and an article here. 

Tea can be made from the blossom or leaves. Photo by Green Deane

We’ve also been seeing the beginning of blossoms on the Bottle Brush tree, genus Callistemon. You can use the blossoms of the Bottle Brush Tree for tea or the leaves. The blossom tea tastes better and is slightly pink. Or, you can combine blossom and leaves for tea.  By the way Latin was used for scientific names because it is a dead language that doesn’t change because no native population speaks it. To read about the Bottle Brush Tree go here.

Candyroots vary in height. Photo by Green Deane

Rosettes of Candyroot, are also starting their seasonal run. They are often found along wood roads or paths that can be damp.We saw and tasted the roots of some in Melbourne this past week. In its too tiny root it there is some methyl salicylate, smells like mint, birch, or checkerberries depending on your nose.  It has been used as a  mild pain reliever. You can read about Candyroot here.  

As a aside for three weeks I am trying my hand at inexpensively incubating eggs using equipment around the house… a heating pad, outdoor thermometer, cardboard box et cetera. Got five chicken eggs and two duck eggs warming. I have a brooder built for once they hatch. After hatching I’ll have to build a coop for them. I have two used large dog shelters to repurpose.  Four nesting boxes on the bottom floor. Roosts on the second. Hardware cloth to keep raccoons out of weak spots.

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

Foraging classes: As spring arrives foraging classes this week range from Sarasota to near Orlando. 

Saturday March 4th, Red Bug Slough, 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota, 9 a.m. 

Sunday march 5th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms, 9 a.m.

Saturday March 11th, Blanchard Park, 2451 Dean Rd, Union Park, FL 32817, 9 a.m. meet by the tennis courts.

Sunday March 12th,Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. Meet at the pavilion by the pump house. 9 a.m.

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

You get the USB, not the key.

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

Green Deane Forum

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

This is my weekly newsletter #547. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.