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Every year I say I'm going to focus more on wild edibles and every year something gets in the way, so hopefully, this year, I'm gonna get 'er done.
There are many Spring shoots that are edible, but because they are shoots, not full size, with full size leaves, and flowers, they can be more difficult to identify, and we all know the consequences of mistaking a poisonous plant for an edible one.
So, to this end, I recently bought Shoots and Greens of Early Spring in Northeastern North America by Steve Brill. While it is quite a good book, I am still not satisfied, so I decided to do my own reference.
What I am planning on doing is taking pictures of early shoots as they come up out of the ground and continuing to take pictures of the same plants every week or so, so I can watch them as they develop. This helps to identify them at various stages of development and confirms their earlier identification. So for the last couple of weeks, I have been 'Stalking the Wild Asparagus', to quote Euell Gibbons. Not too much up yet. I should mention that my project includes only plants that are not readily identifiable (for me, at least)
These are my results so far:
This is Wild Garlic (Allium canadense). Pretty easy to identify although, apparently, there are some poisonous look-alikes. Now all the wild food books say that the onion smell absolutely confirms that it is of the onion family, rather than a poisonous look- alike. Here's my problem with that - after handling a few of these plants. your hand smells like an onion, and it certainly isn't Wild Garlic, nor edible for that matter, unless you're Jeffrey Dahlmer (sp?) Reinforcement for the idea of good, comparative pictures.
The next one is (I think ???) Common Day Lily (Hemerocallis fulva).
I have never identified it before at this stage of growth before, so this becomes one of the target plants. According to the books, some possible poisonous look-alikes include Daffodils and Irises. Now I don't have a garden, so I'm trying to find some pictures of these two plants for comparison.
If anybody out there can help me with this, I would appreciate it. If possible (yes, I know I'm being fussy), pictures at about the same stage of development as the suspected Day Lily would help.
A couple of other early season appearances that are more readily identified:
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara). A lot of people misidentify this as a Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) because besides the yellow ray flower, it has the same kind of pappus (white seed fuzz) when it goes to seed. One quick identifying feature is the reddish scales on the sides of the stem. Interestingly, enough, early peoples apparently referred to this plant as 'Son before the father', because unlike most other plants, the flower appears, then the leaves.
Another picture, showing the scales
Coltsfoot has been used as a candy, cough syrup, tea, and seasoning (salt-like when the leaves are burnt) (reference - Edible Wild Plants, Lee Allan Peterson, Houghton Mifflin, 1977, ISBN# 0-395-31870-X, page 84). What this Peterson guide doesn't mention is that there is a caution about using this plant because of something called pyrrolizidine alkaloids which can adversely affect the liver (references: Medicinal Plants, Steven Foster/James A. Duke, Houghton Mifflin, 1990, ISBN# 0-395-46722-5, page 130 (another Peterson guide
) and Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms of North America, Nancy J. Turner/Adam F. Szczawinski, Timber Press, 2001, ISBN# 0-88192-312-5, page 277.
Another one is Motherwort ( Leonurus cardiaca) so-called because it's supposed to aid in childbirth. It's also credited with having other useful herbal medications. One thing I find interesting about this plant is the great difference between the appearance of the lower and upper leaves later in the year.
Here's a plant I don't recognize, but will continue the photo series. Anybody know what it is?
Since I am far from being an expert, any corrections, suggestions, etc. are extremely welcome and solicited - accuracy being more important than saving face.
I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for looking.
Doc
There are many Spring shoots that are edible, but because they are shoots, not full size, with full size leaves, and flowers, they can be more difficult to identify, and we all know the consequences of mistaking a poisonous plant for an edible one.
So, to this end, I recently bought Shoots and Greens of Early Spring in Northeastern North America by Steve Brill. While it is quite a good book, I am still not satisfied, so I decided to do my own reference.What I am planning on doing is taking pictures of early shoots as they come up out of the ground and continuing to take pictures of the same plants every week or so, so I can watch them as they develop. This helps to identify them at various stages of development and confirms their earlier identification. So for the last couple of weeks, I have been 'Stalking the Wild Asparagus', to quote Euell Gibbons. Not too much up yet. I should mention that my project includes only plants that are not readily identifiable (for me, at least)
These are my results so far:
This is Wild Garlic (Allium canadense). Pretty easy to identify although, apparently, there are some poisonous look-alikes. Now all the wild food books say that the onion smell absolutely confirms that it is of the onion family, rather than a poisonous look- alike. Here's my problem with that - after handling a few of these plants. your hand smells like an onion, and it certainly isn't Wild Garlic, nor edible for that matter, unless you're Jeffrey Dahlmer (sp?) Reinforcement for the idea of good, comparative pictures.
The next one is (I think ???) Common Day Lily (Hemerocallis fulva).
I have never identified it before at this stage of growth before, so this becomes one of the target plants. According to the books, some possible poisonous look-alikes include Daffodils and Irises. Now I don't have a garden, so I'm trying to find some pictures of these two plants for comparison.
If anybody out there can help me with this, I would appreciate it. If possible (yes, I know I'm being fussy), pictures at about the same stage of development as the suspected Day Lily would help.
A couple of other early season appearances that are more readily identified:
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara). A lot of people misidentify this as a Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) because besides the yellow ray flower, it has the same kind of pappus (white seed fuzz) when it goes to seed. One quick identifying feature is the reddish scales on the sides of the stem. Interestingly, enough, early peoples apparently referred to this plant as 'Son before the father', because unlike most other plants, the flower appears, then the leaves.
Another picture, showing the scales
Coltsfoot has been used as a candy, cough syrup, tea, and seasoning (salt-like when the leaves are burnt) (reference - Edible Wild Plants, Lee Allan Peterson, Houghton Mifflin, 1977, ISBN# 0-395-31870-X, page 84). What this Peterson guide doesn't mention is that there is a caution about using this plant because of something called pyrrolizidine alkaloids which can adversely affect the liver (references: Medicinal Plants, Steven Foster/James A. Duke, Houghton Mifflin, 1990, ISBN# 0-395-46722-5, page 130 (another Peterson guide
) and Common Poisonous Plants and Mushrooms of North America, Nancy J. Turner/Adam F. Szczawinski, Timber Press, 2001, ISBN# 0-88192-312-5, page 277.Another one is Motherwort ( Leonurus cardiaca) so-called because it's supposed to aid in childbirth. It's also credited with having other useful herbal medications. One thing I find interesting about this plant is the great difference between the appearance of the lower and upper leaves later in the year.
Here's a plant I don't recognize, but will continue the photo series. Anybody know what it is?
Since I am far from being an expert, any corrections, suggestions, etc. are extremely welcome and solicited - accuracy being more important than saving face.
I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for looking.
Doc
