Search: garlic mustard

Spiny Sow Thistle is up and ready for foraging. It’s better when young whereas its relative, the Common Sow Thistle, stays edible longer. Photo by Green Deane

Finding Mistletoe during the 13th annual Urban Crawl in Winter Park. Photo by Rick and Angel Luther.

Today, as I write, is the shortest day of the year but we are still foraging strong. Our 13th annual Christmas Urban Crawl is over and was a success. To the left is a photo of me pointing out some mistletoe but as usual it failed to generate any kisses (I am beginning to think that is a myth.) The prolific appearance of False Hawk’s Beard during that event prompted me to do another video on them yesterday and a new video on sow thistles is in the works as soon as I can find a lot of Sonchus Oleraceus to shoot. 

We have two species of sow thistle locally. Not a true thistle they are among the more milder seasonal greens with only perhaps Amaranth being more mild. Although Sow Thistles are commonly called “thistles” they are not in the genus Cirsium and do not draw blood like true thistles. True thistles are well-armed with needle-sharp spines. While the Sow Thistle above, Sonchus asper, can look intimidating it’s mostly just show in that most spines are soft until it gets older. The other species, Sonchus oleraceus, looks more friendly.  A few minutes of boiling takes away any bitterness completely (unlike wild lettuce which always stays slightly bitter.)  I have an old video on the sow thistles and to read more about them go here. 

Note the long stem on the middle leaf.

Saw Black Medic for the first time this season. It’s generally considered edible and like many weeds is from Europe. That kind of excludes it from being a significant Native American food (though some sources call it that… It’s a long story.) The headache is that from a distance of about five or six feet (where most people’s eyes are from the ground) Black Medic can look like Hop Clover. Here’s quick way to tell them apart: Hop Clover tends to have red stems, Black Medic has green stems covered with fine white hair and has a longer stem on the center leaf. After the two species go to seed they are easy to sort out: Black Medic has black seeds… hence the name. Hop Clover has brown seeds. You can read more about it here.

Orangre Jassamine has edible fruit. Photo by Green Deane

During the Urban Crawl Rose Ann pointed out a tree in Winter Park’s park I had not noticed before — not unusual. It was conveniently labeled: Orange Jassamine (it has dozens of other names including Murraya paniculata.) I’ve written an article about it for the website but it’s not published yet. Surprisingly the tree is used basicially for flavoring though the fruit are edible. That edibility is marginal. We tried a few. They have an intense citrus flavor that does not fade for a long time. Even munching on Society Garlic couldn’t abate the citrus taste. My speculation is it might make a good marmalade candidate though on the red side rather than orange. As the species is also a vector for the “greening disease” it no doubt is on the state’s hit lists of ornamentals to be eliminated. 

Inoculation maple with lion’s mane plugs. Photo by Green Deane

How is growing mushrooms like making wine? In terms of materials and process they are very different. However, what they do have in common is time and having to wait to see if one did it right or not. Like lacto-fermentation that turns cucumbers into pickles, making wine is a basic recipe with variations. So is mushroom cultivation. But even if you do it right it can take years to find out if you were successful. I have some homemade Malbec that is drinkable at a year old. But a Second-Hand Rosé needs another year a least. I think my Brazilian Pepper Mead will need five years. And so with that in mind I started several batches of edible mushrooms on maple logs. A couple of streets away a lawn maple was cut down and the trimmer is tardy removing it. The owner said I could have as much as I wanted. I have hauled home about a ton, small pieces for smoking food, and large pieces for mushroom farming. Anything left over will be sized and cured for campfiring. In a year or two I might have some Lion’s Mane, Velvet Foot Enoki, Black Popular Piopinnos, and Blue Oyster Mushrooms. What I have learned from all of this is if I ever have a tree cut down I will immediately inocuate the stump with spores. A large stump should produce mushrooms for many years. 

Sawdust and wheat bran might grow some Oyster Mushrooms.

For a more immediate mushroom experiment I collected the sawdust from sizing the maple for smoking. Then I steamed it for a couple of hours, added wheat brand (for the nitrogen) and some mycelium that came with the oyster mushroom plugs.  The bigger question was what to put it all in… I had some old clear oven bags. I had them for windshield reflector solar ovens demos about a decade ago: Big, tough, clear, on hand and already paid for…. If this works it should produce mushrooms within in a couple of months… the logs in a year or so.  

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

Foraging Classes are light during the holiday season. I have one locally the day after Christmas and a test one a week later beach side. Sunday’s class might start out a little chilly. The day after New Year’s weather is anyone’s guess. 

Sunday December 26th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the bathrooms. The park entrance is on South Denning. Some GPS directions get it wrong.

Sunday January 2nd, as Monty Python used to say, “and now for something different.” Let’s meet at 10 a.m. (at the bathrooms) and wander around Lori Wilson Park, Cocoa Beach, for a couple of  hours. No fee. I did a short private class there a couple of years ago. Not sure it is extensive enough for a regular class. If the weather’s pleasant it will be a nice way to start the new year. If cold dress warmly as it should be windy. 1500 N. Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach Fl 32931.

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

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant?  Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk about, such as the one to the left. 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: California Wild Mushroom Parties, A Good Reason To Eat Wild Garlic, Black Walnuts and Amaranth, Sea Salt and Plastic, Wild Mustard? Heavy Metals. Oriental Persimmons. What is it? Pine Cough Drops and Needles, Skullcap, Malodorous Plant? Another NJ Tree, Maypop? Roadside Plant, Unknown in Sudan, Please Help Identify, and Preserving Prickly Pear Bounty. You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

All smiles after digging up some D. alata roots. Photo by Green Deane

Foraging class Sunday saw us digging four Dioscorea alata roots. Chef Steven Karter likes to make shepherd’s Pie out of them, and mashed potatoes. Rumor has it they also kind of naturally taste like French Fries. I’m salt, pepper and real butter myself. This time of year the invasive D. bulbifera has usually died back but the altata can still be found rather easily. In the spring the trend is reversed, the bulbifera comes up first and a few weeks later the alata. We do not eat the air potato of either species. The alata root is the largest calorie payoff in Florida. But it can be tough to dig out as this one was growing among camphor roots. I need to remember to carry a shovel and an ax in the vehicle for such occasions. 

Sea Rocket is just starting its seasonal run. Photo by Green Deane

Near a beach? Sea Rocket is starting its season. We should see some in the January second class. We have two species of Cakile or Sea Rocket.  They show themselves in our winter and preferably on the beach above the rack line. You can also find them blossoming in coastal dunes. The leaves are a bit fleshy but as they are in a tough environment that helps them preserve water. While Sea Rocket can be found along most coasts of the United States, Maine to Washington State, Florida has its own variety, C. lancelolate. There is a video on them here and you can read more about them here.

The Glory Bower is not edible but has some relatives that might be.

The Harlequin Glorybower, Clerodendrum Trichotomum, has a very showy calyx. A native of Asia, Clerodendrum means fate tree, referencing questionable medical uses, and trichotomum which means three trunks, which it apparently has often. But it has edible relatives: C. serratum: Young leaves and tops eaten raw as a side dish or roasted briefly and served with a hot pepper sauce. C. paniculatum, the Pagoda Flower, is also listed by some as having edible parts and is a common ornamental locally. I’ve never investigate it.  It’s quite a shower now in Mead Garden (end of the board walk) and Bayshore Park, east end by the Brazilian Pepper. 

This is my weekly newsletter #487. 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.

Wild Radish and Mustard are in blossom now. Photo by Green Deane

Wild Radish has similar uses as Wild Mustard, and flavor.

While bike riding Tuesday last we passed a field with flowering Wild Mustard. That location has been reseeding itself for a number of years. It’s a reminder how resilient wild plants can be and that we have entered our cooler-weather phase. It is also the time to look for Wild Radishes. They are used the same way as Wild Mustards. Mustards like chilly weather, or at least locally they do. You can see Wild Mustards and Wild Radish not only along roadsides now but in various fields from farm land to ignored citrus groves. The two species are used interchangeably and look similar. However Wild Radishes tend to be serpentine rather than straight and tall like Wild Mustard. They also have lumpy seed pods, or, more lumpy than mustard seed pods. Usually you will find a stand of one or the other. I don’t recall finding both in the same patch. Blossom colors can range from yellow to white with streaks of purple. But the leaves always have the biggest lobe on the end farthest from the plant. Look for them in sunny areas with fertile soil. Not native they came from Eurasia in the 1700s. And note the seeds can remain viable in the soil for up to 60 years. To read more Wild Radish go here, and for Wild Mustard, here.

With recent cool spells it’s no surprise to find our winter mustards making their annual appearance though I call some of them the Little Mustards and Micro-Mustards. Prime among them is Bittercress, Cardamine hirsuta, sometimes called Hairy Bittercress. Frankly I’ve never found it bitter.

In northern climates Bittercress is a springtime herb growing into summer. Here in Florida it’s a fall herb growing into winter. It is also one of the few mustards, if not the only one, you can find growing in very damp or waterlogged soil. Unlike the Western Tansy Mustard, which adores dry ground, I’ve always found Cardamine hirsuta in well-watered lawns and landscapes or wet spots. In fact this past summer, which was Florida hot as usual, several of our spring-fed streams dried to a trickle exposing much stream-bed. In the shade of a cypress tree on one of those beds an unusual summer crop of Bittercress germinated. All it needed was a bit of shade — read cooler temperatures — and a damp spot. Bittercress is naturally leggy, whispy, even at its best at the end of a season’s worth of growth. Its prime use is as an addition to salads or soups, more flavoring than material substance. Cardamine hirsuta is one of those plants that is not substantial enough to sustain you but with it potent flavor it makes eating and thus life better. To read about our small winter mustards click here and here.  

We often benefit from bad ideas. One of those is taking plants from one place on earth to another. We harvest and eat a lot of local plants that came from somewhere else. One of them is so far from home that it fruits in February.

Silverthorn blossoms are boxy. Photo by Green Deae

The Silverthorn is native to Southeast Asia. It came to North America as an ornamental about 200 years ago. Early botanists were sure it would not become an invasive pest because they said the fruit were not nutritious for birds. Thus the birds would not eat them and spread the seeds around. The problem is no one told the birds that (and if birds did not spread the seeds around in Asia, what did?)  In some areas the Silverthorn is an invasive species and forbidden. In other areas it is still sold as an ornamental. We call it tasty. While the Silverthorn fruits around February we saw some in blossom last Sunday, right on shcedule. The bush hides the blossoms and they are a bit strange looking, if not futuristic. The four-petaled speckled blossom turns into a red jelly bean-like fruit with gold and silver speckles. They are bitter and sour until ripe. The shelled seed is also edible. Altogether the fruit is high in vitamin C, lycopene, and Omega 3 fatty acids. And that is a tasty treat in the middle of winter. To read more about the Silverthorn go here.

Chickweed has five deeply incised petals. Photo by Green Deane

Real chickweed is up. If you want to sample it in a variety of ways you have a couple of months at best. I usually find chickweed locally between Christmas and Valentine’s Day. It can be found earlier and occasionally after Valentine’s Day. But those two holidays mark the practical beginning and end of the local chickweed season. We found some young stuff Sunday east of Orlando in Blanchard Park. It also doesn’t grow much farther south than central Florida. In northern climates Chickweed is a green of spring. It actually germinates under the snow so it can get a head start on other spring plants. Snow spits here every half century or so and the ground never freezes which is why we can forage 365 days a year. Chickweed is fairly easy to identify. Besides tasting like corn silk it has a stretchy inner core and one line of hair that runs along the stem switching sides at each pair of leaves. Don’t confuse Chickweed for a local cousin the edible, Drymaria cordata. To read more about chickweed click here.  Also coming on strong is Pellitory. To read about Pellitory again click here.

Redflower Ragweed seen in Largo. Photo by Green Deane

Redlfower Ragweed isn’t a ragweed but I’ve been seeing it for several years now. It reminds me of Fireweed/Burnweed except with red blossoms. Botanically it’s Crassocephalum crepidioides (kras-oh-SEF-uh-lum krep-pid-dee-OY-deez.) Crassocephalum is from the Dead Latin “Crassus” meaning “thick” and “kephale” which is Greek for head. Crepidioides is more mangle Greek. “-oides” in Dead Latin is mispronounced borrowed Greek and means “resembles.” Crepidioides means “resembles Crepis.” Crepis is from an old Greek word for a frilly funeral veil. It works its way into English via French as “crepe” paper.  So “thick head resembles crepe paper” is one way to interpret the plant’s name.” And… even though it is called the Redflower Ragweed its leaves more resemble Fireweed/Burnweed, Erechtites hieraciifolius (which is an even more complicated, naughty story.) Redflower Rageweed’s blossoms, however, more resemble the toxic Florida Tassel Flower. Cornucopia II says of Crassocephalum crepidioides on page 37: “Ebolo, Okinawan Spinach, Young leaves and shoots are used as a potherb, fried, or mixed in Khao yam. The leaves are fleshy, tinged with purple and have a somewhat mucilaginous quality and nutty flavor. Has become quite popular on the island of Okinawa and in Hawaii In Thailand, the roots are eaten with chili sauce or cooked in fish curry. Tropical Africa. Cultivated.”

The city of Winter Park has added an edible to their downtown park. Photo by Green Deane

My annual Urban Crawl is coming up, my twelfth, on Friday, December 17th.  It’s a free class. We meet in front of Panera’s at 10 a.m. in Winter Park. We wander south to the college, stop at Starbucks to drink & drain, go east to the public library area, then back to Panera’s around noon. There is a free parking garage behind (west) of Paneras if you go to the upper floors. If you park on the city streets you chance a ticket as the class is longer than parking hours allow. A year ago in their downtown park they removed a Limequat leaving the space empty. I have no idea why the tree had to go in that it was regularly fruiting and while not rare a novelty. It was replaced by a Acerola Cherry also called Barbados Cherry. This little tree’s claim to fame is a huge amount of acorbic acid which is natural vitamin C. It often has fruit on the ground. 

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

Foraging classes are scheduled out to the beginning of January. As the potential weather in January reveals it self, and the spread of the Omnicon version of COVID, I will schedule more classes. As my classes are outside, weather — as of now — is a greater influencer than COVID. 

Sunday December 19th, Colby-Alderman Park: 1099 Massachusetts Street, Cassadaga. Fla. 32706. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the bathrooms. 

Sunday December 26th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the bathrooms. The park entrance is on South Denning. Some GPS directions get it wrong.

Sunday January 2nd, as Monty Python used to say, “and now for something different.” Let’s meet at 10 a.m. (at the bathrooms) and wander around Lori Wilson Park, Cocoa Beach, for a couple of  hours. No fee. I did a short private class there a couple of years ago. Not sure it is extensive enough for a regular class. If the weather’s pleasant it will be a nice way to start the new year. 1500 N. Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach Fl 32931.

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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

Green Deane Forum

Want to identify a plant?  Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk about, such as the one to the left. 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: California Wild Mushroom Parties, A Good Reason To Eat Wild Garlic, Black Walnuts and Amaranth, Sea Salt and Plastic, Wild Mustard? Heavy Metals. Oriental Persimmons. What is it? Pine Cough Drops and Needles, Skullcap, Malodorous Plant? Another NJ Tree, Maypop? Roadside Plant, Unknown in Sudan, Please Help Identify, and Preserving Prickly Pear Bounty. You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page. This is my weekly newsletter #486. 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.

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

I recently uploaded a new video about the Australian Pine. I see an attractive stand of them regularly in Port Charlotte (on Bayshore near Ganyard.) It’s a much maligned tree that suffers under the rubricks of “invasive weed.” That means some official decided it is out of control, not good for the environment, and harmful to the local ecosystem. Yet, in other countries it is intentionally planted. The tree has edible parts. While there can indeed be ecological reasons to trash a plant that designation almost always carries with it a load of attitude as well… kind of like botanical bullying.

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

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

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

A young Leonotis leonurus  blossom. Photo by Green Deane

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

The city of Winter Park has added an edible to their downtown park. Photo by Green Deane

My annual Urban Crawl is coming up, my twelfth, on Friday, December 17th.  It’s a free class. We meet in front of Panera’s at 10 a.m. in Winter Park. We wander south to the college, stop at Starbucks to drink & drain, go east to the public library area, then back to Panera’s around noon. There is a free parking garage behind (west) of Paneras if you go to the upper floors. If you park on the city streets you chance a ticket as the class is longer than parking hours allow. A year ago in their downtown park they removed a Limequat leaving the space empty. I have no idea why the tree had to go in that it was regularly fruiting and while not rare a novelty. It was replaced by a Acerola Cherry also called Barbados Cherry. This little tree’s claim to fame is a huge amount of acorbic acid which is natural vitamin C. It often has fruit on the ground. 

Henbit likes cooler weather

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

Cranesbill is barely edible

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

Foraging Classes: This weekend before Christmas we visit Red Bug Slough, always a ncie walk in Sarasota, and then to a familiar standby in east Orlando, Blanchard Park. Please note something different on January second and further down in the newsletter my Urban Crawl next week.    

Saturday December 11th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet by the playground. 

Sunday December 12th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m to noon, meet at the pavilion next to the tennis courts. 

Saturday December 18th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon. This class will not meet and will be rescheduled. 

Sunday December 19th, Colby-Alderman Park: 1099 Massachusetts Street, Cassadaga. Fla. 32706. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the bathrooms. 

Sunday December 26th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the bathrooms. The park entrance is on South Denning. Some GPS directions get it wrong.

Sunday January 2nd, as Monty Python used to say, “and now for something different.” Let’s meet at 10 a.m. (at the bathrooms) and wander around Lori Wilson Park, Cocoa Beach, for a couple of  hours. No fee. I did a short private class there a couple of years ago. Not sure it is extensive enough for a regular class. If the weather’s pleasant it will be a nice way to start the new year. 1500 N. Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach Fl 32931.   

Walt Cook, a Wyoming state veterinarian, takes care of one 300 stricken elk, all of which quickly died after eating a lichen, Parmelia molliuscula.

I am constantly meeting people who want to reduce the entire realm of foraging down to one sentence: “If the animals can eat it you can eat it.” That advice can kill you and or make you very ill. Birds can eat arsenic, squirrels strychnine, poison ivy is high-protein deer food. Conversely day lilies kill cats and avocados crash canaries. Three hundred elk were killed in Wyoming eating native lichen.  Animals don’t have a great sense of what is not edible. Hunger can override what defenses they have. There’a quite a list of false advice for humans. You hear “all black berries are edible.” Wrong. “Most red berries are edible,” Wrong. The best you can do with berries is that almost all white berries are toxic. Not all but almost all, or enough of them to leave white berries alone. In the satirical novella Animal Farm, by George Orwell, the final rule is “all animals are equal but some are more equal than others.” That might be said about eating plants. Goats can eat almost anything. They are the garbage scows of the world, putting pigs to shame. However avocados will kill goats, but not us. In fact Avocados are toxic to most creatures. That said, as humans go we are fairly limited compared to animals, tolerance-wise. That’s another reason to know your plants and use the I.T.E.M. system, Identification, Time of Year, Environment, Method of Preparation. Unlike domesticated plants wild plants still have their defense mechanisms. (Bitter is often a warning sign.) I had a fellow email me from a Mediterranean country. He said his foraging method was if it tasted good he ate it, if it tasted bad he didn’t eat it. He asked me what I thought of that. I replied I hoped he had good life insurance.

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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

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, such as the one to the left. 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: California Wild Mushroom Parties, A Good Reason To Eat Wild Garlic, Black Walnuts and Amaranth, Sea Salt and Plastic, Wild Mustard? Heavy Metals. Oriental Persimmons. What is it? Pine Cough Drops and Needles, Skullcap, Malodorous Plant? Another NJ Tree, Maypop? Roadside Plant, Unknown in Sudan, Please Help Identify, and Preserving Prickly Pear Bounty. You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

This is my weekly newsletter #485. 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.

And on this date 80 years ago I had an uncle in the Navy at Pearl Harbor. He survived the attach and the war. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Goji berries like brackish water locations and the cooler weather of fall and winter. Photo by Green Deane

The Christmasberry, of which there are many, is poorly named. I have found it from late November to mid-April. We found and ate a lot of them in my foraging class last week south of Daytona Beach. I have also found patches barely blossoming to others fruiting heavily at the same time. Whenever you find Lycium carolinium its looks close to dead if not dying, dry, leafless, covered with Ramalina lichen. Except for the blossom it does not look like a member of the Nightshade family, which it is. 

Most folks are surprised to learn Goji Berries grow in North America. Six species were eaten by Native Americans. Among the edibles species on this continent are L. andersonii, Lycium berlandieri, L. carolinianum, L. exsertum, L. fremontii, L. pallidum, and L. torreyi.  L. ferocissimum is a pest in Australia and their native L. australe was eaten by the Aboriginals. The leaves of the L. halimifolium are cooked and eaten in Eurasia as is the L. chinense. The L. chinense and L. barbarum produce the commercial fruit called Goji Berry. L. barbarum is naturalized in England and L. chinense is naturalized  in about 19 states and Ontario. 

Interestingly the USDA nutrition panels on Goji Berries are unusually short, many of them commercially generated. According to the longest one 100 grams of dried Goji Berries have 349 calories, 14.26 grams of protein, 0.39 grams of fat, 77.06 grams of carbohydrates (45 of them sugar) and 13 grams of fiber. Vitamin C is 48.4 mg, two thirds your daily need, and vitamin A 26822 IU (which is some 11 times your daily need.)  Sodium 298 mg, calcium 190 mg, and iron 6.8 mg. That is is high in sodium is not surprising. I always find the species growing where there is brackish water.   

The species does come with some warmings. As mentioned the Goji is in the Nightshade family so perhaps people with an allergy to that family (tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, tomatillos et cetera) should avoid it. Goji is also high in lectins which can also bother people. The reason why we can’t eat raw kidney beans is lectins, the poison Ricin is lectins from the Castor Bean Plant. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins. Cereal grains and legumes are high in lectins. Gluten is a lectin and some people are gluten intolerant. The one medical warning associated with Goji berries is they may increase the potency of drugs like Warfarin (making you bleed more easily.) Goji berries also contain atropine in low amounts

Bauhinia blossoms are edible but not all the seeds. Species vary.

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

Chickweed is highly seasonal. Photo by Green Deane

Real chickweed will soon arrive. If you want to sample it in a variety of ways you have a couple of months at best. I usually find chickweed locally between Christmas and Valentine’s Day. It can be found earlier and occasionally after Valentine’s Day. But those two holidays mark the practical beginning and end of the local chickweed season. It also doesn’t grow much farther south than central Florida. In far northern climates Chickweed is a green of spring. It actually germinates under the snow so it can get a head start on other spring plants. Snow spits here every half century or so and the ground never freezes which is why we can forage 365 days a year. Early Chickweed in the Carolinas can be found Starting in September. Chickweed itself is fairly easy to identify. Besides tasting like corn silk it has a stretchy inner core and one line of hair that runs along the stem switching sides at each pair of leaves. Don’t confuse Chickweed for a local cousin the edible, Drymaria cordata. To read more about chickweed click here.  Also coming on strong is Pellitory. To read about Pellitory again click here.

Most of us have been told eating apple seeds is dangerous. That is usually followed by “there was a man who ate a cup of apple seeds and died…”

Is that theoretically possible? Yes.  You’d have to eat 85 grams of apples seeds, about three ounces, or about 114 seeds, all at one time, all thoroughly chewed. That could, in theory, deliver a fatal dose of cyanide. That’s for a 150 pound person, a larger person could tolerate more, a child much less. Probably children should not eat any apple seeds. The way cyanide works is rather fascinating. It attaches to our red blood cells better than oxygen. So instead of oxygen being delivered throughout the body for mitochondrial use cyanide is. We essentially stop making energy. But what about the guy who ate the cup of seeds? There’s bit of a problem with that.  In 1964 John Kingsbury, Phd., an expert on plant poisonings, particularly regarding farm animals, published Poisonous Plants of the United States and Canada, Prentice-Hall. He was the expert and his book became the book to reference. On page 365 Kingsbury wrote:

“Apple seeds are cyanogenetic. A man, who found apple seeds a delicacy, saved a cupful of them. Eating them at one time, he was killed by cyanide poisoning.”

Kingsbury’s inclusion of the incident in his book gave the story legitimacy and it has been quoted extensively ever since by professionals and amateurs alike. But from a traditional journalistic point of view the story is full of what we called in the newsroom “holes.” Who ate the seeds, when, and where? Basic facts that add credibility. Professor that he was Kingsbury included where he got the story from in footnote 1335. That footnote reads: Reynard, G.B., and J.B.S. Norton in Poisonous Plants of Maryland in Relationship to Livestock. Maryland Agricultural Experimental Station, Technical Bulletin. A10, 1942. 312 pp. So Kingsbury in 1964 is quoting a farm bulletin from 1942. What does that bulletin say? On page 276 of the now 77-year old bulletin Reynard and Norton write about prussic acid harming livestock. (Amygdalin is essentially a sugar and cyanide molecule which when digested releases hydrogen cyanide which used to be called prussic acid.) They note in the last paragraph, above right:

“Apple seeds are mentioned, not as having caused stock-poisoning, but because of the fact that one instance was recorded from personal inquiry in which an adult man was killed following eating a cup of these seeds at one time. The seeds had been saved up, apparently thought to be a delicacy in small amounts and upon being eaten developed enough of the deadly prussic acid to cause this tragic death. The instance is recorded here as a caution to others who might attempt to eat more than a few of these seeds at any one time. Previous investigators have reported that apple seeds contain appreciable amounts of amygdalin from which prussic acid is developed, but actual reports of poisoning are rare.”

Florida Tasselflower is long-term toxic to humans and very toxic for horses.

Livestock poisonings from prussic acid are “rare.” What of  humans?  A 130-year search of the New York Times by this writer produced 437 stories involving prussic acid. Those included suicides, murders and a few accidental medicinal deaths. None by an apple seed overdose (which surely would have made the newspaper.) We are left with no who, no where, and no when as well as a  “recorded from personal inquiry…”  and “apparently.” That means someone told them it had happened. Their reference is as weak as Kingsbury’s. Without a name, a time and place it is not much better than an urban legend. It could have happened, or it just might be a story.  More so, man has been eating apples for some 6,000 years. One would have thought in that amount of time it would have become common knowledge that you don’t eat a lot of apple seeds in one sitting. Also during the days of Johnny Appleseed everyone was making cider and there were millions of seeds available annually for decades if not centuries. One wouldn’t have to save them up at all. Getting rid of apple seeds was a problem, not getting enough of them. Also they dry out very quickly so if you saved only a few at at time by the time you had a cup that way the earlier seeds would not be edible (and drying can reduce the offending chemical. My grandmother dried peach pits for that purpose, making them safe.)  And … with all those millions of seeds around and hungry people why only one report of an apple seed over dose?

We can’t say the story is not true, but we can call it doubtful. Click here to read about Wild Apples.

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

Foraging Classes: Two favored locations for classes this weekend, Port Charlotte and Mead Garden. The Saturday class in Port Charlotte is filling up quickly. It features a variety of edibles including many salt-tolerant species. Mead Garden Sunday is a central location with a great diversity of species. 

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

Sunday December 5th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the bathrooms. The park entrance is on South Denning. Some GPS directions get it wrong.

Saturday December 11th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet by the playground. 

Sunday December 12th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m to noon, meet at the pavilion next to the tennis courts. 

Updating videos: This past month was busy with the uploading of 12 new videos on You Tube in EatTheWeeds: 151: Persimmon Revisited, 152: Lantana, 153: Sea Oxeye, 154: Tropical Almond Revisited, 155: Sumac Revisited, 156: Seagrapes, 157: Tamarind, 158: Bananas Revisited, 159: Ghost Pipes, 160: Swine Cress, 161: Goldenrod, and 162 Dove Plum. The goal over the coming months is to revisit some species that were recorded on old technology. Some new species will be as well. 

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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

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, such as the one to the left. 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: California Wild Mushroom Parties, A Good Reason To Eat Wild Garlic, Black Walnuts and Amaranth, Sea Salt and Plastic, Wild Mustard? Heavy Metals. Oriental Persimmons. What is it? Pine Cough Drops and Needles, Skullcap, Malodorous Plant? Another NJ Tree, Maypop? Roadside Plant, Unknown in Sudan, Please Help Identify, and Preserving Prickly Pear Bounty. You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

My annual Urban Crawl is coming up, my twelfth, on Friday, December 17th. We meet in front of Panera’s at 10 a.m. in Winter Park (north end of Park Avenue.) We wander south to Rollins College, head back north stopping at Starbucks to drink & drain, go east to the public library area, the lake docks, then back to Panera’s. It takes a couple of hours. There is a free parking garage behind (west) of Paneras if you go to the upper floors. If you park on the city streets you chance a ticket as the class is longer than parking hours allow. 

Ghost Pipes on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.

Ghost Pipes, Melbourne Florida. Photo by Green Deane

Time does not make a plant taste better.  In 1904 one Walter Prest wrote that the Monotropa uniflora if parboiled, then boiled or roasted was comparable to asparagus. Merritt Fernald, who wrote a foraging book after WWI  and was the big botanical man at Harvard from 1900 to 1950, gave them a try and said “Our own single experiment was not gratifying in its result.”  Maybe Prest knew something we don’t. There is indeed an asparagus-like flavor to them but they are bitter. Maybe boiling twice would help. Pictures of them show up in profusion this time of year on mushroom pages for two reasons: This is their season and they are parasitic on several species of mushroom so mushroom hunters see them and wonder what they are. I wrote about them a decade ago. At the time they weren’t considered controversial. Now many people view them as special and needing protection. As the plants are quite bitter I’m not sure they need much protecting. You can read about them here. 

Swinecress is easy to identify. Photo by Green Deane

Swinecress is up, and Hairy Bitter Cress, too. They are little mustards one finds in the cooler weather. There are two interesting aspects to Swinecress. Once it has seeded it’s fairly easy to identify. Also Swinecress’ flavor intensifies after you eat it. It also has a naughty name. In fact, many plants have risque names ’cause the fellow who originally named them, Carl Linneas, either had a dirty mind or called them as he saw them. The species name, didymus, means a pair of testes and that is how the seed pod appears. Euphamistic writers try all kinds of ways to get around the obvious. It’s a good cooked green.

A 1944 study looked at some of the nutrients in C. didymus which at the time was also called C. pinnatifidus. They analyzed three samples. The protein content was 3.58 to 4.54%. Carbohydrates were low, 0.937 to 0.975%. Calcium was 0.081 to 0.181 grams per 100 gram sample, phosphorus 0.066 to 0.083 grams and sodium 0.014 to 0026 grams. Iron was 11.43 to 15.11 mg per 100 grams, high, copper 0.210 to 0.263 mg and manganese 0.583 to 0.875 mg. Curiously they tested the manganese not the magnesium. You can read about Swinecress here., and Hairy Bitter Cress here.  

Chinquapins pack a lot of nutrition.

One way to think of Chinquapins is they are small Chestnuts that survived. In the same genus as their bigger relative — Castenea — when the blight wiped out the Chestnuts Chinquepins suffered but some managed to survive. One can see the  Allegany Chinquepin (C. pumila) while hiking the Appalachian Trail. Their nut is about half of the size of their deceased relative but still worth collecting. We also know some of the nutrition of another edible Chinquepin, the Ozark Chinkapin (C.  ozarkensis.)

Per 100 grams it has 443 calories, 18 grams of fat, 57 grams of carbohydrates, 13 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber. The fat is 10 grams monounsaturated, 4 grams polyunsaturated and 4 grams saturated. Potassium is 77 mg, no sodium reported. A second report says they are 5% fat, 55 protein, 40% starch and 50% water with 4736 calories per kilo. European chestnuts, not affected by blight, are the only cultivated and consumed nut that has vitamin C, about 40 mg per 3.5 ounce serving.

Dick Deuerling on a Native Plant Society dig when the Orlando Airport was expanding eastward in the mid-1990’s.

In the Beech family the Chinkapin has been called the most ignored and undervalued native North American nut tree. It has a sweet and edible nut and the tree has been used for fuel, charcoal, fence posts, railroad ties and a coffee and chocolate substitute (as are the seeds of the Blue Beech, aka the American Hornbean, Carpinus caroliniana.) Chinkapin’s native range is New Jersey and West Virginia, west to Missouri and Oklahoma, and south to Texas and Florida. It’s been planted in Wisconsin and Michigan. Dick Deuerling, who was Forager Emeritus locally until his death in July 2013, wrote there was a Chinkapin in Wekiva State Park but did not say where it was. One suspects where there is one there is two but I’ve not found them in the park. 

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

Foraging Classes: Sticking to the east side of the state this weekend with classes in West Palm Beach and just south of Daytona Beach in Port Orange where we should see Goj berries blossoming and or fruiting. 

Saturday November 27th, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet just north of the science center.

Sunday November 28th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the pavilion. 

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

Sunday December 5th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the bathrooms. The park entrance is on South Denning. Some GPS directions get it wrong.

Panera’s in Winter Park where we start and finish the Urban Crawl.

My annual Urban Crawl is coming up, my twelfth, on Friday, December 17th. A reasonable question is what about foraging in a city? There is some surprising research. Dan Brabaner is a geoscience professor at Wellesley College, Boston. With some undergraduate students they studied preserved food collected from fruit trees and the like in the urban Boston area. What they found was cherries, apples, peaches and herbs were relatively low in lead and arsenic. That is, a serving had less amounts of these toxins than the allowed daily amount for a child. The team also did not find a significant difference between peeled and unpeeled fruit. The fruit was low in toxic chemical because they are the furthest away from any toxins in the soil. This would apply to tree nuts as well. Leafy greens faired well, too, because they grow fast and 1) don’t have time to accumulate toxins and 2) most air pollution on them can be washed off. Brabander also analyzed foraged food from plants growing in the urban environment not growing on agricultural soil. These foods had higher micronutrients because they were not growing on worn-out agricultural soil. Calcium and iron were higher as were manganese, zinc, magnesium and potassium. Thus we know that not only do “weeds” pack more of a nutritional punch because they are wild but also because they can be growing in better soil. My Urban Crawl is a free class. We meet in front of Panera’s at 10 a.m. in Winter Park. We wander south to the college, stop at Starbucks for a restroom break, go east to the public library area, then back to Panera’s. There is a free parking garage behind (west) of Paneras if you go to the upper floors. If you park on the city streets you chance a ticket as the class is longer than parking hours allow. 

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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

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, such as the one to the left. 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: California Wild Mushroom Parties, A Good Reason To Eat Wild Garlic, Black Walnuts and Amaranth, Sea Salt and Plastic, Wild Mustard? Heavy Metals. Oriental Persimmons. What is it? Pine Cough Drops and Needles, Skullcap, Malodorous Plant? Another NJ Tree, Maypop? Roadside Plant, Unknown in Sudan, Please Help Identify, and Preserving Prickly Pear Bounty. You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

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

The tree is easy to find but is it edible? The answer is yes, maybe, barely. It depends on which part you’re referring to. The problem is the more edible parts are around when you don’t notice the tree — spring time — and the least edible parts are around when you do notice it. Thus I never quite get around to knowing all that the Golden Rain tree has to offer. In the spring it has tender young shoots and leaves. They are edible after cooking. Don’t try them raw, they have a bit of cyanide in them. Months later in the fall the seeds are reported as a famine food, not exactly a glowing endorsement. In between the yellow flowers are used for a dye as is the bark. Those boiled leaves and shoots do have some antioxidant and anti-tumor capacity but the research is slow making it way out of arcane journals to common knolwedge. As for the seeds… they are kind of in the same position as the particular mustard seed which is used to make Canola Oil. They are edible but like unrefined Canola Oil they can be irritating. What I might try to do is collect some seeds, sprout them, boil them, and give them a try… but let me do that first instead of you.  You can read about the Golden Rain Tree here.

his is my weekly newsletter #483. 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.

Mulberries resemble over-grown blackberries. Photo by Green Deane

Which tree has more life, the Mulberry or the Moringa? The latter will easily grow ten feet a year. But the mulberry refuses to die and they are starting to ripen now. One year I trimmed my Red Mulberry tree and used the stripped five-foot branches to prop up drooping branches on my nectarine tree. Undeterred the propping Mulberry branches took root and sprouted. So I potted them and gave them away. One still lives in a nearby town. As for the Moringa, it reseeded itself and I eventually had to coppice them to keep them in check. One odd thing about Moringa wood is that it is very fragile. You can easily break large branches by hand. My point is if you want a mulberry tree find a fruiting one and break off a branch now and stick it in the ground. It will grow. 

Mulberries can be used like blackberries.

Mulberries set fruit quickly and have a short season. From green to gone can be as short as six weeks. The fruit look like a long blackberry but sweeter (if ripe.) I know someone who tried eating young green fruit and raw leaves and said they had a mild mild-altering effect but also upset the stomach. Young leaves, however,  can be cooked and eaten without mind or gastric upset. There are various species and cultivars of mulberries and they all have edible ripe fruit. However, general opinions agree that the darker the fruit when ripe the better it tastes. In many areas there are “white” mulberries which really have pink fruit. They were wildly planted to provide basic material for the silk industry (silk worms eat mulberry leaves.) Cooked silk worms are edible but do not have a pleasing taste. You can read more about Mulberries here.

The Toxic Atamasco Lily. They can have all white blossoms as well. Photo by Green Deane

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 which we saw in Largo this Saturday past. 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 but 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 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.

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

As far as plants are concerned winter is over and green is busting out all over. Saturday we return to Florida State College in Jacksonville, Sunday’s class is nearly 300 miles southwest in Port Charlotte along the Peace River. 

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

Sunday, April 4th, Bayshore Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. As a holiday has dropped the attendance to zero this class is cancelled and will be rescheduled. . 

Saturday, April 1oth, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday, April 11th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127. 9 a.m. to noon.

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

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

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

Sparkleberries are in blossom. Photo by Green Deane

April is a transition month. Many of winter edibles are ending their season and some of the spring and summer plants are starting. There is overlap and that can vary depending which end of the state you are on. The blueberries, also mentioned recenty, were impressive. I think they were Vaccinium arboreum, also called Sparkleberry and Farkleberry (and mistakenly Tree Huckleberry because they are not huckleberries.) We saw individual trees and a small hurst of them. V. arboreum is the only blueberry locally that gets to tree size. It has a flaking outer bark that reveals a reddish brown smooth inner bark. We also saw two Deerberry bushes, Vaccinium staminuem. That species is easy to identify because the blossoms have long stamens and the underside of the leaf is white. You can read about blueberries here. Incidentally, blueberries can have any number of seeds in them. Huckleberries, however, always have exactly 10 seeds. There can be bits of grit in a huckelberry but only 10 seeds. The leaves also have bright gold glands. You can read about Huckleberries here.

Watercress. Photo by Green Deane

As our cooler months is when we usually see wild members of the Brassica family most of them are nearing the end of their cycle as we warm up. Past season for the most part is Western Tansy Mustard. Wild Mustard and Wild Radish are nearing the end of their bloom and seed cycle. Poor Man’s Peppergrass is here all year but likes the cooler months. The one nice find this past week was Watercress. It’s an import from Europe but found throughout most of North America. Florida once was the winter Watercress growing capital of the United States. Consequently you can find it in nearly any drainage ditch that used to service agricultural land. You can also find in along the banks of local rivers. One thing you have to be very careful about when picking Watercress is not pick any deadly Water Hemlock leaves. They look different but both plants tend to grow in the same area at the same time. I have often seen them intermixed.  So when I pick Watercress I examine every steam and leaf at least twice. To read more about Watercress go here.

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

150-video USB would be a good spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos is being phased out. In fact I do not have any. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube for free. 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 make a $99 “donation” using the link at the bottom of this page or here.  That form provides me with your address, the amount — $99 — which tells me it is not a donation. Please include a snail-mail address because they are sometimes not included.

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.

A species to be looking for now is Smilax, which some consider our best spring time green. You can read about it here. See a video here.

This is weekly newsletter #451 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.

Loquats are starting to ripen. Photo by Green Deane

Loquats actually have a small amount of arsenic in them. Photo by Green Deane

While driving around have you seen a tree with large, dark green leaves and yellow fruit? It’s probably a Loquat which are heavy with fruit now. This past Week I picked 10 pounds of Loquats in less than an hour. That’s calorie positive. Rather than eating them outright I deseeded then dehydrated them. Like plums changed to prunes the fruit changes character but it is still tasty. I have also learned over the years at adding sulfur before drying does not stop the fruit from browning. You can dehydrate tart and sweet Loquats but you should avoid all green Loquats. Unripe fruit can be toxic especially for children. As long as the fruit is yellow to gold they are good. If you can detect any green hues the fruit is not ripe.

Year-old loquat wine. Photo by Green Deane

Loquats are not native but they have naturalized themselves and can be found throughout the region. How you eat the ripe fruit is something of a debate. I just break off the stem that holds them to the tree then eat, spitting out the seeds. You should try to not eat any seeds. An occasional seed is of no great harm but they generally are not considered edible though I have heard of folks roasting them then eating them. I do not recommend that. Some people also peel the fruit but I don’t. To dry them all I do is cut around the equator of a each fruit, take out the seeds (used later to make into Loquat Grappa.) Then dehydrate the fruit at about 130 F.  I also made loquat wine last year during COVID april. It tastes similar to a drysemi-sweet sherry. You can read more about Loquats here.

Wild Garlic/Onion puts cloves on top of the stalks. Photo by Green Deane

Now is the time to start looking for wild garlic/onions. There are seasonal weather influences. Near Gainesville by this time of year I would expect to find wild garlic with cloves. But because of low rainfall both wild garlic and chickweed were behind season. Because of seasonal variations you can find wild garlic locally from now to April or so. What is unusual about Allium canadensis is that it has an onion-like bulb, a strong garlic-scented stem, and grows garlic cloves on top of the plant. To read more about wild garlic go here.

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

Foraging Classes: Heading to a favorited site in southwest Florida this weekend, Port Charlotte at Bayshore Park along the Peace River. 

Sunday February 28th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon, meet in the parking lot at Ganyard and Bayshore. 

Saturday, March 6th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Sunday, March 7th, Mead Gardens, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. to noon. The entrance is on the west side off Denning  not the east side off Pennsylvania. Some GPS maps are wrong. Meet near the bathrooms.  

Sunday, March 14th, Wickham Park, 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park. It wasn’t chickweed as far as the eye could see, but almost. The location: Little Orange Creek Nature Park, Hawthorne, Florida. The event: The Florida Earthskills 2015 gathering. I taught two wild edible plant classes there then a separate class in Gainesville.

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

Chickweed, Stellaria media, has five deeply incised petals. Photo by Green Deane

As for seasonal edibles they are abundant: Chickweed, Pellitory, Cleavers, Wild Radishes, Wild Garlic/Onions, Hensbit, Nettles, Maypops, Oxalis, Sweet Clover, even some frost-brave Poke Weed. And can find Blackberries in bloom as well as the Eastern Redbud. Just because there might be some frost on the palm don’t think there isn’t any food foraging this time of year. It is prime season for many species that are spring and summer plants up north. They find our winters just right and the summers too hot. In Central Florida one does not find an acre of chickweed, but 150 some miles to the north it was quite abundant. Chickweed is highly seasonal and is easy to identify. The main elements we are looking for are a line of hair on the stem that changes sides at every leaf node, a stretchy inner core, five white petals that look like 10 because the are deeply incised, and it tastes like corn silk. If you want to read more about chickweed you can go here.

My step-father, me and our dog “sister” 1958. Photo by Mae L. Jordan.

My step-father built the house we lived in and the horse and hay barns next door. As the building season is short in Maine this took several years. Thus the front yard was totally ignored until my mother demanded one spring that something intentional grow there. She had grass in mind. So my step-father took several wheelbarrows of chaff from the bottom of the hay barn and spread it on what would be the lawn. Within a few weeks it grew a huge crop of Wild Mustard. The second flush was Lamb’s Quarters, also called Fat Hen.

Lamb’s Quarters is mild like spinach. Photo by Green Deane

One day not long after that a neighbor was visiting, a chicken farmer named William Gowen. As he left to walk home he ask my father if he could have a few Lamb’s Quarters. My step-father said he could. Mr. Gowen pulled up about eight five-foot high plants, hefted them over a shoulder, and happily carried them home to eat. Until then I had no idea they were edible. As Mr. Gowen was also a good gardener I am sure any Lamb’s Quarter that dared to grow in his garden also became dinner. I was reminded of him while on the way to my foraging class Sunday. Along the way I saw a lot of Lambs Quarters in several citrus groves. The name  Lamb’s Quarters has nothing to do with lambs. It was a leafy green eaten some 1300 years ago on Lammas Quarter day (August 1st) in England (some say Scotland.) Lammas came from Loaf Mass, as the day was of religious significance. A loaf from newly harvested grain was made and taken to church and blessed. It is called Fat Hen because it supposedly was good to fatten hens. “Pigweed” is a common name for many different plants.

Toxic young Butterweed can make one think of mustards. Photo By Green Deane

It’s time for another warning about Butterweed. It’s a toxic plant this time of year that’s been out for a while but seems to be flushing now. I learned it as Senecio glabellus but now some are calling it Packera glabella. This plant can put you in the hospital with serious liver damage. It is not on par with deadly mushroom but it’s down the same sickening road. There was a case in Southwest Florida just a few years ago. From a forager’s point of view it can — from a distance — resemble wild mustard or wild radish. On closer inspection it clearly is not a mustard. The blossoms are not a yellow cross and the leaves are not sandpappery. Growing in wet spots, Butterweed delivers its load of alkaloid pyrrolizidines without warning. Most alkaloids are bitter. Butterweed leaves are very mild in flavor and have a pleasing texture. Mustards do not. It’s in the Aster family which is 1) huge with some 22,000 members, and 2) plants in that family usually are not toxic.  You can read more about pyrrolizidines here. 

Bulrushes have edible roots. Photo by Green Deane

An often overlooked wild edible is Bulrush, which we saw this past weekend. This tall sedge gets second billing to the another common watery inhabitant, cattails. While there are several species of Bulrush locally the two one sees most often are Scirpus californicus and S. validus. Used like cattails, the easiest way to tell the species of Bulbrushes apart is to look at the seed tufts location and color of the seeds which introduces an important point: The experts tell us there are no toxic sedge seeds thus if you have a sedge you have a source of edible seeds. On these species the seeds are small but are easy to harvest (if you have a boat or a canoe.) To read more about Bulrushes and to identify sedges in general go here. 

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

150-video USB or 135 video DVD set would be a good spring present and either is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been selling for seven years and are still available. I have one set left. They are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have a separate copy.  A second option is a 16-gig USB that has those 135 videos plus 15 more. While the videos can be run from the DVDs the videos on the USB have to be copied to your computer to play. They are MP4 files. The150-video USB is $99 and the 135-video DVD set is now $99. The DVDs will be sold until they run out then will be exclusively replaced by the USB. This is a change I’ve been trying to make for several years. So if you have been wanting the 135-video DVD set order it now as the price is reduced and the supply limited. Or you can order the USB. My headache is getting my WordPress Order page changed to reflect these changes. We’ve been working on it for several months. However, if you want to order now either the USB or the DVD set make a $99 “donation” using the link at the bottom of this page or here.  That order form provides me with your address, the amount — $99 — tells me it is not a donation and in the note say if you want the DVD set or the USB. 

Green Deane Forum

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

This is weekly newsletter #446, If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Chickweed mixed in with Dollarweed, or, potassium, vitamin E and B12 for free. 

Dollarweed and Chickweed. Photo by Green Deane

Wild Plums are fairly easy to locate this time of year. Photo by Green Deane

What are those white blossoms? This time of year it might be three different species and two are related.

Hawthorns are also in the Rose Family. Photo by Green Deane

Like the photo above the most showy now are wild plums. They’re easy to spot this time of year: Just look for small trees with white blossom and no (or few) leaves. Your two choices are Chickasaw Plum (many canoe-shaped leaves which with a 10-powered lens have teeth with bozo-noses) Flatwood Plum (with flat leaves.) (The American Plum is a possibility but I never see this far south.) The blossoms of the plums have five petals and will remind you of an apple or blackberry blossom (which are also in the greater Rose Family.) Speaking of said Hawthorns — directly above — are blossoming now, too, white with few leaves but they are far less extroverted than plums. I don’t see them in the wild south of Ocala. I’ve seen them planted in the Orlando area but they tend to die after a couple of hot summers. Their leaves are more goosefoot or spatula-shape, the blossom resemble the plum blossoms and woody parts are usually well-armed with thorns. If you have a difficult time deciding which species of Hawthorn you have don’t let it bother you. Botanists can’t tell them apart ether. You can read about them here. 

Pawpaws are related to Magnolias. Photo by Green Deane

Another white-blossomed species I look for but not until April or so are Pawpaws. Here in Central Florida the best place to find them is in pastures. They have blossoms similar to Magnolias. Botanists say Magnolias are related to Pawpaw but that the Pawpaws are an older species. While not rare Pawpaws are scarcer here than …say… in the Carolinas. There you bump into them at every turn and they are medium-sized trees. Here they’re often spindly shrubs and there are dwarf varieties as well. They can have white or maroon/purple blossoms. Pawpaws are pollenated by a carrion fly which should give you some indication of how the blossoms smell. The one on the left was seen in mid-February in Largo Florida, definitely earlier than usual. If you find some fruit you have to be careful the first time you eat one. It’s quite rare but some people can have a life-threatening allergic reaction to them. 

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

The weather is moderating. I have one foraging class this weekend and it’s in Palm Harbor east of Tarpon Springs. Note the foraging class schedule is through the end of March.

Sunday, February 23rd, John Chestnut County Park: 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685. Meet at the trail head of the Peggy Park Nature Walk, inside Chestnut Park. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, March 7th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion near the YMCA building and tennis courts.

Sunday, March 8th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. (There are no official bathrooms at this location.)

Saturday, March 14th, Florida State College, south campus, 11901 Beach Blvd.,  Jacksonville, 32246.  We meet at Building “A” next to the administration parking lot. 9 a.m. to noon.

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

Saturday, March 21th, Ft. Meade Outdoor Recreation Area, 1639 Frostproof Highway, Fort Meade, FL 33841. (Frostproof Highway is also Route 98.) 9 a.m to noon. Meet at the second set of bathrooms (in the middle of the park) which is due south from the highway. (Don’t confuse this location with Mead Gardens which is in Winter Park near Orlando.)

Sunday, March 22nd, Wickham Park, 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335.  Meet at the “dog park” inside the park. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, March 28th, Haulover Canal, Merritt Island National Refuge, north of the Kennedy Space Center. We meet the the northwest end of the canal area. 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday, March 29th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange FL, meet at the pavilion. 9 a.m. to noon. 

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

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

It is also time to be on the look out for a “choice” wild mushroom, the Blewit, or Lepista nuda. At first glance it can look like the violet plastic top of some discarded can. The tasty fungus likes cooler weather and is also terrestrial. Usually this time of year most ground-growing mushrooms are not edible. Wintertime here is when you often find edibles mushrooms on wood. The regular mushroom season does’t start until after warm days and spring rains, usually sometime in late April or early May. Long-range weather forecasts say Florida will be warmer than usual this spring and stormier which means wetter. So perhaps mushroom season will start sooner than usual. 

Wild Garlic will be cloving soon. Photo by Green Deane

Both foraging classes this past week found Wild Garlic.  It’s a native that’s 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 an onion bulb on  the bottom end and garlic cloves on 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.

Plantago rugulii is a large local plantago. Photo by Green Deane

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 some years ago. 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. The plant I thought it might be — a mustard — it 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.  While it resembled Plantago major it was in fact Plantago Rugelii. One difference is the P. rugelii has pink/purple at the base of the petiole (stem) 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.

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, forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food. Several hard-to-find books are there page for page. Recent posts this week include Nettle Spanakopita, Pawpaws Starting Early? What are those White Blossoms, Brazilian Pepper Revisited, COVID 19, Palmer Amaranth, In The Loop, Tomatoes: A Fruit First, a Vegetable Second, and Butterweed: Annual Warning.  You can join the Forum by going to the upper right hand top of this page. 

Foraging DVDs make a good gift to watch during winter.

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.

Donations to upgrade EatTheWeeds.com have gone well. Thank you to all who have contributed to either via the Go Fund Me link, the PayPal donation link or by writing to Green Deane POB 941793 Maitland FL, 32794.  There are many needs left such as expanding the foraging teacher page and the page on monotypic edibles. There’s always something and such things get more complex and expensive every year. 

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.

This is weekly newsletter 393, 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.

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

This time of year two wintertime foragables come up, one quite esteemed the other barely edible. They can at first glance look similar so I’ll mention them together. The first is Henbit, pictured above. It’s in the mint family but does not smell or taste minty. It does, however, have a square stem and the blossoms resembles the mints. In northern climates it is one of the first green plants to pop up after the snow goes (it and chickweed.) Locally Henbit likes the cooler months of the year. It was esteemed by the natives because among all the winter and spring greens it is not spicy but rather mild if not on the sweet side. What can be confusing about it is that the leave shape and stem length is different from young to old leaves. But, they all have a scalloped shape. It also has a similar looking relative that is also edible called Dead Nettle. You can see a my video about it here or read about Henbit here.

A Wild Geranium

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

“Sleepy Hibiscus”

We saw several species blooming this past weekend in my foraging class. Among the Hibiscus was the “Sleepy Hibiscus.” It’s a fairly easy shrub to identify because the bright red blossoms never unfurl. The blossoms are usually slightly sweet. (Unlike man, Mother Nature does not have to make thing very sweet, just sweet enough to attract a creature.)  Also blossoming was the Bauhinia. It’s a tree that is both easy and challenging at the same time. The blossoms are edible, look nice in salads. Some of the species have edible seeds and some do not. (They are in the pea family and most pea trees — most but not all — are toxic.) Sorting out which Bauhinia you have can be a challenge, nearly as bad as sorting out which Cereus you have. Like the Cereus cactus there are several man-made hybrids and perhaps even some fake botanical names. It can make species identification a real headache though as far as I know all the blossoms are edible. Only “discovered” 111 years ago the blossom of the Bauhinia blakeana is the emblem of Hong Kong. You can read about the Bauhinia here. By the way the Bauhinia blakeana is an example of a plant have two people’s name for the genus and the species thus it tells you nothing about the species.

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

It will be jacket time at the beginning of my foraging class in Gainesville this Saturday but should then warm up quickly. We might find some late season terrestrial mushrooms or some edible tree-dwelling fungi. Sunday’s foraging class in Winter Park will be warmer with a southwind, always a pleasant location and one I can leave at 8 a.m. to teach rather than the usual 4 a.m.

Saturday November 30th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house. 

Sunday, December 1st, Mead Garden, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  9 a.m. to noon. Meet near the bathrooms.

Saturday, December 7th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the play ground.  

Sunday, December 8th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot. This is a rustic location without water or official bathrooms. Plan accordingly. 

To learn more about the classes and location, to sign up for a class, or to pre-pay go here. 

Chickweed has five deeply incised petals. Photo by Green Deane

Real chickweed will soon arrive. If you want to sample it in a variety of ways you have a couple of months at best. I usually find chickweed locally between Christmas and Valentine’s Day. It can be found earlier and occasionally after Valentine’s Day. But those two holidays mark the practical beginning and end of the local chickweed season. It also doesn’t grow much farther south than central Florida. In northern climates Chickweed is a green of spring. It actually germinates under the snow so it can get a head start on other spring plants. Snow spits here every half century or so and the ground never freezes which is why we can forage 365 days a year and why Morels don’t grow here. Chickweed is fairly easy to identify. Besides tasting like corn silk it has a stretchy inner core and one line of hair that runs along the stem switching sides at each pair of leaves. Don’t confuse Chickweed for a local cousin the edible, Drymaria cordata. To read more about chickweed click here and an aging video on it here. Also coming on strong is Pellitory. To read about Pellitory click here. I also have a video on Pellitory here. 

Carolina Horse Nettle. photo by Green Deane

No. It is not edible nor is it medicinal. Well… maybe it is medicinal, and if anyone says it is edible I ain’t going to try it. Locally you can see two different well-armed “Horse Nettles” this time of year, neither are proven edible as far as I know.  Solanum Carolinense and it’s close relative Solanum Carolinense var. floridanum are definitely off limits. They are toxic. Each starts out with green and white fruit that turns yellow. There is also a thorny  tropical import Solanum viarum. It’s fruit is red when ripe and is more iffy. Called the Tropical Soda Apple how it got to the United States is a good guess. Some think the seeds arrived in the intestinal track of cattle from South America (which suggest edibility of some sort.) A big problem is some members of this family grow more toxic as they age while others grow less toxic. There are reports of S. viarum being used medicinally for things like rheumatism, arthritis, and skin diseases. It does contain steroidal alkaloids. It has also poisoned cattle and sheep (which makes one wonder if it is that toxic to cattle why do they think it was imported in the dung of cattle? However, it might be that leaves and fruit have different toxicities. The poisoning could have come from leaves or green fruit while the ripe fruit seeds were just non-digested hitchhikers.) 

Tropical Soda Apple. Photo by Green Deane

Adding to the mystery is that about fifteen years ago ago I found an American university publication that listed the S. viarum as edible. Do not try to eat it because that is just too iffy for a plant that is also widely reported as highly toxic and fatal, especially the green fruit. I suspect the university botany department was just as confused regarding the identification of the plant as are others. What I wonder about is the ripe fruit. I’ve never seen any credible reference with the necessary details. What I would like to know is what if anything did Brazilian natives do with the plant? That could be a credible reference. Perhaps some of our Portuguese speakers can find that out. Indeed, on one Brazilian site it says (if the translation is to be trusted) “every child ate that fruit” and “consumption can only eat the skin with a thin layer of meat. The seeds are bitter and are not intended for consumption. The rind of the fruit can also be used in cooking, using it just like chili.”  But… is it the same species? I am not going to try. 

Donations to upgrade EatTheWeeds.com have gone well. Thank you to all who have contributed to either via the Go Fund Me link, the PayPal donation link or by writing to Green Deane POB 941793 Maitland FL, 32794.  There are many needs left such as expanding the foraging teacher page, the page on monotypic edibles and the Plant Archive page. There’s always something and such things get more complex and expensive every year.

A very popular wild edible. Photo by Green Deane

Want to identify a plant or mushroom? 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, such as the one to the left. 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: California Wild Mushroom Parties, A Good Reason To Eat Wild Garlic, Black Walnuts and Amaranth, Sea Salt and Plastic, Wild Mustard? Heavy Metals. Oriental Persimmons. What is it? Pine Cough Drops and Needles, Skullcap, Malodorous Plant? Another NJ Tree, Maypop? Roadside Plant, Unknown in Sudan, Please Help Identify, and Preserving Prickly Pear Bounty. You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

The Nine DVD set includes 135 videos.

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

During a foraging class in West Palm Beach this weekend we saw Bananas blossoming. One doesn’t think of Bananas blossoming but they do, a large green and purple blossom that looks like a flower on steroids. The blossoms are edible raw but are usually cooked if not also soaked in salted water first. Chopped and boiled or steamed whole works. The inner pith of Banana trees is also edible as are the seeds of the species that have seeds. Banana water is also medicinal. The trick with Bananas, if one can call it that, is to watch the green bananas carefully. The moment one of the lower green bananas begins to ripen the entire hand is cut off and taken inside. There the Bananas usually ripen from the end up and most of them will ripen off the tree. If you leave them on the tree, a few will ripen and the rest higher up the hand will shrivel up. Unfortunately Bananas trees take two years to produce bananas and then die after producing. A cold winter can wipe out Bananas at the end of one year. Thus one needs two years sandwiching a warm winter to get home-grown bananas. As I sit on the temperate/sub tropical line some years I get Bananas in my yard, other years I do not. To read more about Bananas uses click here.

This is weekly newsletter 381. 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.