Unbelievably, this is the 17th diary in the FFF series. Time is really flying this year, and the odd weather isn't helping. June was the wettest in recorded history for Southern New York, and so far July has been bizarrely cool. The hottest week of 2009 was way back in April. (Right: Eastern Comma Butterfly by wide eyed lib)
This odd weather has made figuring out which plants are ripe for harvest a bit of a guessing game, especially for fruit. Right now there's a bit of a gap when nothing new seems to be ripe. The mulberries and black raspberries are tailing off, and the red raspberries and blackberries are still pink or green. Next weekend I'm hoping to go a bit north to my favorite blueberry haunts, but this week I'll take a detour to the land of herbal tea that's free for the picking.
So put some water in your kettle (but never let it boil!), grab your favorite tea cup and join me for a discussion of a few plants that make outstanding hot or cold beverages.
Covered: cleavers, pine, chamomile & black birch
Bonus: compilation of plants for delicious herbal teas
As always, if you're new to foraging and want to give it a try, please read the first diary in the FFF series for some important information.
Today's first plant is cleavers, also known as goosegrass, stickywilly and catchweed. This native plant consists of long, slender, meandering stems punctuated every 2 inches or so by whorls of small, sword-shaped leaves, usually in groups of 6 or 8. In cross section, the whorls resemble asterisks. Left to its own devices, cleavers won't reach much higher than 2 feet in height, but with assistance from taller vegetation nearby, it can reach 3 or even 4 feet. Cleavers isn't a vine, exactly. It doesn't twine around other plants or grasp them with tendrils; instead, it leans on or clings to other plants to gain additional height. In mid-Spring and continuing through Summer, cleavers develop tiny, greenish-white flowers with 4 petals each ending in a point. These flowers quickly mature into tiny, hairy, round seeds. Cleavers grows in partial to moderate shade in all U.S. states other than Alaska and all southern Canadian provinces. In some areas, it's considered invasive. (Above Left: Cleavers by wide eyed lib)
I had noticed this plant in early Spring every year, and I was always struck by how sticky it felt. Yet the stickiness isn't like syrup or goo but more like velcro, with zillions (yes, I counted) of tiny hook-like hairs that cling to your skin when you touch them. It's not at all painful, but it is definitely a strange sensation, and it gives rise to a couple of this plant's common names. For a long time I didn't know what it was called, and I couldn't find it in any of my reference books. Then one day I was looking at a site devoted to getting rid of dreaded lawn and garden "weeds" (nearly all of which are edible), and there it was. Once I knew its name, I was astonished to discover how useful cleavers is both nutritionally and medicinally. (Right: Cleavers Flowers and Seeds by wide eyed lib)
In early to mid-Spring, the stems and leaves of cleavers can be gathered, cooked and eaten as a vegetable. (The sticky, hairy texture makes the idea of eating it raw somewhat repulsive to me, but other people apparently eat it that way, and there's no harm in doing so. Chacon à son goût.) It has a mild, green flavor some people compare to spinach. By the time the flower buds form, cleavers' stems and leaves get too woody to be enjoyable, but all above ground parts remain good for tea until the plant dies off in Fall. The seeds eventually dry up and turn brown on the stems. At that point they can be collected, lightly roasted and ground to make a coffee substitute, though I haven't yet tried this myself. Cleavers is actually in the same family as the coffee plant, so this particular substitute isn't as bizarre as it may sound. Some sources on the web (like this one) claim that cleavers doesn't contain any caffeine, while others (like this one) are equally insistent that it does.
Caution: Some people develop a rash after skin contact with cleavers, especially with the green seeds. It's probably a good idea to wear gloves when gathering this plant. In addition, cleavers clings tenaciously to its neighbors, so it's important to make sure that unwanted plant parts don't end up in your bag still being cleaved by cleavers.
Cleavers has a long history of being used medicinally. I'll defer to my favorite herbal website Plants for a Future for the specifics:
[I]t is often taken to treat skin problems such as seborrhoea, eczema and psoriasis, and as a general detoxifying agent in serious illnesses such as cancer. The whole plant, excluding the root, is alterative, antiphlogistic, aperient, astringent, depurative, diaphoretic, diuretic, febrifuge, tonic and vulnerary... It is used both internally and externally in the treatment of a wide range of ailments, including as a poultice for wounds, ulcers and many other skin problems, and as a decoction for insomnia and cases where a strong diuretic is beneficial. It has been shown of benefit in the treatment of glandular fever, ME, tonsillitis, hepatitis, cystitis etc... A number of species in this genus contain asperuloside, a substance that produces coumarin and gives the scent of new-mown hay as the plant dries. Asperuloside can be converted into prostaglandins (hormone-like compounds that stimulate the uterus and affect blood vessels), making the genus of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry. Ed note: see original for citations.
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When I was a beginner forager, I developed the habit of always looking down. Not only did this make my neck stiff, but I also missed seeing lots of things. While many edible plants do grow close to the ground, some of the best grow above eye level, including the many edible parts of trees. (Left: Pine Tree by wide eyed lib)
Very few, if any, trees have more edible parts than the those in the pine family, a closely related group of conifers that contains between 105 and 125 species, depending on which botanist you ask. Thankfully, the specifics aren't too important because their edible properties are the same, and as a group they're an easy tree to identify. All pines are evergreens with fragrant needles that are considerably longer than they are wide. The needles grow in bundles containing between 1 and 5 needles each. Although not perfectly round, pine needles are much rounder than they are flat in cross-section. Pines also have small, somewhat floppy male cones and female cones that are stiff and usually, but not always, open when the seeds are ripe. The bark varies in color from species to species from dark brown to reddish brown to grey, but it is always deeply furrowed and often scaly. Pines do well in many different environments, from forests to front yards to mountains, thriving in shade and sun and in deserts and riparian zones. They are found in every U.S. state and every Canadian province except Greenland and Nunavut. (Oddly, the USDA plants database claims that no pine trees grow in Kansas, which is pretty hard to believe given that the Kansas Forest Service issues a publication about the ponderosa pine.) (Right: Pine Bark by wide eyed lib)
While I could list the parts of pine trees that are edible, it's honestly easier to list the parts that aren't. The outer bark isn't particularly edible, and neither is the heartwood. The rest is, at least to varying degrees. The young, light green needles are very edible and make a tasty vegetable cooked or raw. They taste... well... piney. The darker needles make a truly spectacular tea-- light green, deeply fragrant and (again) piney, but in a delicate, understated way. Steep a fistful of needles in hot but not boiling water for 10 minutes, sweeten lightly and drink--delicious and jam packed with Vitamin C as well. The male cones (aka pollen cones) are somewhat sweet and delicious raw, while the female cones can be cracked open for their nutty seeds (especially true of the western piñon pine from which culinary pine nuts are harvested). Linda Runyon suggests that you can eat the female cones themselves and perhaps that's true of immature cones, but mature cones seem a bit woody to me. Pine sap, in addition to its uses as emergency glue, is also edible. It tastes a bit like turpentine (which is distilled from pine sap), but some people enjoy chewing it like gum. Finally, in an life-or-death situation or if you find an uprooted tree or a downed limb, you can peel off the outer bark and eat the softer cambium or inner bark of the trunk, branches and roots. It's supposed to taste delicious but I've never tried it. (Please bear in mind that many pine species are extremely slow-growing and can live for hundreds or even thousands of years. Stripping a pine tree of even a relatively small amount of cambium could kill it, either directly or by enabling attacks of harmful fungi and insects, which is why this type of harvesting should never be undertaken lightly.) (Above Left: Male Pollen Pine Cones by wide eyed lib)
Medicinally, all parts of pine have antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, which is why they've been used in cleaning products for at least 100 years. (What, did you think it was only for the nice smell?) Pine tea is used to treat colds, flus and respiratory ailments, and various other pine extractions have been used to treat bladder, kidney, and rheumatic afflictions and diseases of the mucous membrane. Externally, it can be used in liniments to promote healing or to create a soothing inhalant with actions similar to eucalyptus.
Pine doesn't really have any poisonous lookalikes. Yew needles are poisonous, but they're much shorter than pine needles and flat rather than round in cross section. And while some spruce and fir species might be mistaken for pines by those not paying sufficient attention, the needles of those species can also be used to make tea. Best of all, because pine trees are evergreen, they can be harvested year round for food and medicine. (Right: Female Pine Cones by wide eyed lib)
Caution: Pregnant cows who eat only ponderosa or loblolly pine needles for more than a few days have been known to abort their calves. While it's not at all clear that the effects would be the same in human females, pregnant and breast-feeding women should of course always exercise extreme caution before eating any foraged item.
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Returning to the ground, chamomile really doesn't need much of an introduction. What laypeople tend to think of as a single plant is actually 2 different, very similar looking genera: Matricaria (members of which include pineapple weed and German or blue chamomile, the one most commonly used for tea) and Anthemis (which includes Roman chamomile), both of which fall under the larger tribe Anthemideae. Although pineapple weed lacks the white ray flowers found in most other species and the Matricaria species have leaves that are rounder in cross section while Anthemis' are flatter, the finer distinguishing features of the various species are best left to botanists. Luckily, all species in both genera can be used medicinally and for tea. (Above Left: Chamomile; Above Right: Chamomile Leaf, both by wide eyed lib. Based on the flattish cross section of the leaves, I believe the specimen in all 3 featured photos is of the Anthemis genus, possibly Roman chamomile.)
As a group, chamomiles are non-native, annual herbs between 1 and 2 feet in height that can be found in all U.S. states and southern Canadian provinces. They have compound leaves that are alternate, fern-like and finely dissected. In early to mid-Summer, chamomiles develop terminal, compound flower heads with discs comprised of many tiny, yellow flowers usually surrounded (pineapple weed being an exception) by larger outer "petals" which are actually individual white ray flowers. After being fertilized, these fall off and are replaced by domed clusters of tiny tan seeds. The entire plant has an earthy, herbal scent when crushed. (Right: Chamomile Flowers by wide eyed lib)
All above ground parts are good for tea and can easily be dried for out of season use. (Some interesting recipes for chamomile teas and cosmetic items can be found here.) Apart from its renowned relaxation properties, chamomile is helpful for digestive issues and has nervine actions. The flowers have anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, tonic and vasodialitic properties, although some caution is advised because chamomile is somewhat alkaline and very large doses can damage the stomach and intestinal walls. Chamomile is used in lotions for soothing skin and made into drops or a salve for treating earaches and toothaches. All in all, a very tasty and useful herb to recognize.
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The final tea on today's menu is my favorite, bar none. The black birch, also known as the sweet birch, has smooth, grey bark heavily punctuated with faint horizontal raised lines. As this native tree ages, the bark develops darker vertical cracks. Unlike other birch species (c.f. paper birch), black birch bark generally doesn't develop curls. (Left: Black Birch Bark by wide eyed lib)
The leaves are simple, alternate, stalked and officially classified as being double toothed (picture a leaf with giant v-shaped teeth on the edges, and each giant tooth in turn has tiny teeth along its edges-- that's the standard definition). To my eye, black birch leaves have 2 kinds of teeth, some deeper and some more shallow, but I wouldn't call them double toothed. Still, their unevenly serrated margins make them distinctive among other types of trees, even if the leaves of individual birch species (all Betula genus) are difficult to distinguish from each another. In Spring black birches develop drooping male and upright female catkins. The fruits appear a bit later and are small cones filled with winged seeds.
Once you show them the secret, black birches quickly become children's favorite tree. Take a twig, scrape away a little of the outer bark, and inhale deeply. Behold! A scratch and sniff tree! That amazing smell is oil of wintergreen, used (now in synthetic form) in everything from rootbeer to toothpaste to
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wintergreen Life SaversTM. The twigs can be chewed for the full flavor experience, and the cambium or inner bark can be eaten and tastes something like wintergreen candy. (But please see the note above about harvesting pine cambium--the same rules apply here.)
Like maple trees, black birches can be tapped for their sap which is used as an emergency water source, to brew birch beer (either with or without alcohol) or to make a darker and stronger-flavored yet less sweet maple-like syrup. (Above: Black Birch Twigs by wide eyed lib)
But screw all that labor-intensive stuff. The lazy way to enjoy the goodness of black birch is to make tea. Gather 2 cups of small black birch twigs (recently downed or pruned selectively from a large healthy tree that won't miss them too much), rinse, twist them a bit to break the bark, cover in hot but not boiling water and soak overnight. In the morning, strain and sweeten lightly. It's absolutely delicious at any temperature. You can also throw a few leaves in with the twigs, which will add an astringency that some people like and others don't.
Medicinally, the bark has astringent, diaphoretic, diuretic and stimulant properties and is used to treat stomach ailments and fevers as well as dysentery. Essential oils distilled from the bark are anti-inflammatory, analgesic and rubefacient. Some of these effects are due to small amounts of acetylsalicylic acid (aka aspirin) contained in the bark. Children were traditionally given black birch twigs to gum during teething. Whatever you do, don't take oil of wintergreen internally without expert supervision; it's quite toxic.
Unfortunately, the range of black birches is limited to the Eastern U.S. and Ontario, but all members of the Betula family can be used in the same ways, though individual amounts of oil of wintergreen contained in their twigs will vary. The different species are distinguished to the casual eye mostly by bark color and to what degree the bark peels and curls. Other birch species are found in every Canadian province (yes, including Southern Nunavut!) and every U.S. state except Hawaii, so once you identify some birch species near you, you can nibble on different twigs to see which has the best flavor. In my area, I've also tried yellow birch and found it just as tasty as its dark relative. (Above Left: Black Birch Leaf by wide eyed lib)
Finally, young black birch bark can sometimes be mistaken for young black cherry bark. (Older black cherry trees have deep, distinctive reddish cracks that make confusion much less likely.) Although black cherry twigs aren't particularly harmful (and in fact have many medicinal uses), when faced with the scratch and sniff test, they fail miserably. Black cherry twigs smell like a combination of rotten almonds and petrol--about as far from something I'd be tempted to chew on as you can get!
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Finally, here's an alphabetical list of all plants previously covered thus far in the series that make teas that are delicious, medicinal or both, as well as links to the diary each was featured in:
black birch twigs (covered above)
blueberry leaves
catmint
chamomile (covered above)
cleavers (covered above)
clover flowers (red and white)
elder flowers
epazote
ground ivy
lemon balm
mugwort
mullein
sassafras
spicebush
pine needles (covered above)
pineapple weed
raspberry leaves (and blackberry leaves, though I haven't covered those yet)
rose
wild ginger
yarrow
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If you're interested in foraging and missed the earlier diaries in the series, you can click here for the previous 16 installments. As always, please feel free to post photos in the comments and I'll do my best to help identify what you've found. (And if you find any errors, let me know.)
Here are some helpful foraging resources:
"Wildman" Steve Brill's site covers many edibles and includes nice drawings.
"Green" Deane Jordan's site is quite comprehensive and has color photos and stories about many plants.
Green Deane's foraging how-to clips on youtube each cover a single plant in reassuring detail.
Linda Runyon's site features only a few plants but has great deals on her dvd, wild cards and books (check out the package deals in particular).
Steve Brill's book, Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places is my primary foraging guide. (Read reviews here, but if you're feeling generous, please buy from Steve's website.)
Linda Runyon's book The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide contains especially detailed information about nutritional content and how to store and preserve wild foods.
Samuel Thayer’s book The Forager's Harvest is perhaps the finest resource out there for the 32 plants covered. The color photos and detailed harvest and preparation information are top-notch.
Steve Brill also offers guided foraging tours in NYC-area parks. Details and contact info are on his website.
Don Wiss’s website is a treasure trove featuring hundreds of photos of common northeastern edibles.
Finally, the USDA plants database is a great place to look up info on all sorts of plants.
See you next Sunday!
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