While I may seem like a foraging expert, I'm not. Writing this series has pushed me to learn more about plants. Some of my new knowledge comes from pre-writing research, but most comes from close observation. It's one thing to recognize mullein on sight but quite another to describe its lifecycle and photograph each stage. (Left: Poisonous Porcelain Berries by wide eyed lib)
Since March I've taken thousands of pictures of flowers and the resulting fruits. I can often make a good guess about the form of a fruit just from seeing its flower, even on unfamiliar plants.
While this may be a geeky parlor trick, it isn't arcane knowledge. All you have to do is observe some plants frequently during their active growing seasons. When do they develop leaves, flowers and fruits? What do each of these structures look like? The human brain evolved to make connections. Why not go outside and make some?
Covered: goldenrod, oxeye daisy & apple
Updated: knotweed & garlic mustard
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.
This tall, waving wildflower is a kind of goldenrod. Rather than being a specific species, goldenrod is the common name for all the plants in the Solidago genus, which consists of more than 100 species. I spent some time trying to figure out which species I'd found but all I got for my troubles was a sunburn and some very angry bees. (Did I mention I'm allergic to bee stings?) Luckily, all of the Solidago species are closely related and have the same edible and very similar medicinal properties. (Right: Goldenrod by wide eyed lib)
Goldenrods are native, upright, non-branching, perennial herbs on weak, leafy stems that can reach 8 feet in height. The many leaves are alternate and linear to lance-shaped with faint to deep teeth and lighter-colored veins that form a smaller leaf shape on each leaf. Their primary method of propagation is via underground rhizomes, but they can also spread through wind-blown seeds. Although goldenrods could be mistaken for other plants (including certain lilies) prior to flowering, once their inflorescences burst into golden splendor, goldenrods are very distinctive. They grow in every U.S. state and all Canadian provinces in meadows and pastures, along the sides of roads and in any well-drained place with lots of sun.
Goldenrod typically appears in Spring to early Summer as a rather plain-looking basal rosette but quickly grows a flower stalk. Different species flower at slightly different times, but August and September are generally peak flowering times. The flowers are saffron yellow, long-lasting, tiny and extremely numerous. They're often on long spikes but the spikes are branching on some species and shorter on others. By late Fall, the flowers have given way to tiny brown seeds on gauzy parachutes. The tall stems often survive over winter, becoming silvery-brown and brittle. Goldenrod attracts a wide variety of wildlife, including bees and various butterflies. This, plus its attractive winter form, makes it a popular garden plant. (Left: Goldenrod Leaves by wide eyed lib)
All parts of goldenrod are edible, although they should not be eaten in bulk. The leaves, flowers, stems, roots and seeds can all be eaten cooked or raw. The leaves have a pleasant bitterness, and the flowers have a slight sweetness. Both are tasty in salads and stir fries. (I haven't tried the roots yet.) Entire plants can easily be dried for winter storage. The best use for the leaves and flowers (fresh or dried) may very well be for tea. The flowers in particular create a richly flavored tea with a lovely yellow color. Some of the species (most notably S. odora) are anise-scented and create a similarly anise-flavored tea.
Medicinally, goldenrod has antiseptic, anti-fungal, astringent, carminative, diuretic, tonic and stimulant properties. An infusion of the dried and powdered herb is antiseptic. The entire plant contains anti-fungal saponins that can be used to treat Candida, the cause of yeast infections. The leaves can be packed into a wound to staunch bleeding. Tea from the leaves and flowers has been used to treat coughs and colds, dysentery and intestinal issues. Essential oil from the flowers can be used to counter flatulence and vomiting. The root is a mild analgesic and relieves mouth pain when chewed. Tea from any part of the plant is also a restoring tonic. (Right: Goldenrod Flowers by wide eyed lib)
Goldenrod often gets unfairly blamed for seasonal hay fever, but the true culprits are ragweeds that bloom at the same time and grow in the similar environments. Nonetheless, some florists and other people who frequently handle goldenrod have reported developing allergies, so some caution is advised.
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The oxeye daisy is the common name for a group of non-native plants in the Leucanthemum genus that many have seen growing in the wild and some have admired for their simple beauty, but few realize are edible. They grow in sunny and partially sunny fields, gardens and waste places, as well as at the edges of forests and roads in every U.S. state and Canadian province except Nunavut. Several states, including Ohio and Washington, classify them (particularly L. vulgarus, by the far the most common species) as a noxious weed. (Left: Oxeye Daisies by wide eyed lib)
Oxeye daisies are perennials growing from fibrous roots whose leafy flower stalks can reach about 2.5 feet in height. The leaves are 2-3 inches long, forest green, linear, irregularly toothed or scalloped at the edges and have a pale midrib. The terminal flower heads are about 2 inches wide, typically appear in late Spring and have about 20 white ray flowers and many yellow disk flowers. The flowers give way to many tiny brown seeds in Fall, and the plant dies back to the roots each year before restarting its cycle the following Spring.
Many flowers share the common name daisy, but oxeye daisies are distinguished by a leafy flower stalk and irregularly lobed or scalloped leaf edges. Common daisies and other flowers in the Bellis genus have very similar flowers on leafless flower stalks, and their basal leaves are thicker and spoon-shaped (rather than linear) without scalloping on the edges. It's not a problem if you confuse the 2 basic groups because at least the leaves, buds and white petals of Bellis species are edible, and although I'm not sure about the stems, I suspect they are as well. (Right: Oxeye Daisy Leaf by wide eyed lib)
With the exception of the yellow disk flowers (which are best avoided because they may cause stomach upset), all above ground parts of oxeye daisies are edible. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked in sandwiches, salads, soups and stir fries. They're delicious with a slight sour tang. The stems can be used in the same way, although they are best before the flower buds fully form. The white petals have a slight sweetness and are great in salads, but they can be used in anything from jello to popsicles to ice cubes. Try sprinkling them over the top of a fruit salad. The leaves and stems can be dried or frozen for winter storage, but the flower petals become somewhat flavorless. All edible parts (fresh or dried) also make a delicious herbal tea.
As for the medicinal uses, here's what Plants for a Future has to say:
The whole plant, and especially the flowers, is antispasmodic, antitussive, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, tonic and vulnerary... The plant has been employed successfully in the treatment of whooping cough, asthma and nervous excitability. Externally it is used as a lotion on bruises, wounds, ulcers and some cutaneous diseases. A decoction of the dried flowers and stems has been used as a wash for chapped hands. A distilled water made from the flowers is an effective eye lotion in the treatment of conjunctivitis. [Ed. Note: See original for citations]
(Above Left: Oxeye Daisy Closeup by wide eyed lib)
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Our final new plant for today is the apple. The Malus genus, to which apples and crabapples belong, contains somewhere between 30 to 55 different species, depending on whom you ask. ("Crabapple" seems to be simply the common name for smaller apples. As far as I can tell, there's no botanical reason for making a distinction between apples and crabapples.) All species hybridize freely, which makes nailing them down difficult. Various species are native to North America, Europe and Asia. (Right: Apple Leaves by wide eyed lib)
The vast majority of commercial apples, regardless of color, shape or size, are of the species M. domestica. Each individual cultivar (like McIntosh, Northern Spy or Granny Smith) is a graft of the original tree. If you were to plant the seeds, you would get apples, but they would likely not resemble the original apple. Wild apples come in an astonishing array of sizes from smaller than a cherry to larger than a commercial apple. Although M. domestica is non-native, it's naturalized throughout the vast majority of the U.S. and Southern Canada, in part because of actions of John Chapman (1774-1845). If that name doesn't ring any bells, you might know him better as Johnny Appleseed. Although he was in truth more of a business man than legend portrays him, there's no question that the orchards he planted across the Midwest helped spread the species across the continent.
Apple trees are short and gnarled, sometimes so much so that they are mistaken for shrubs. The bark is grey with many vertical and horizontal fissures revealing a pink-tinged inner bark. (Much to my dismay, my bark photos are too dark. Click here or here for some better apple bark photos.) The twigs are dense, jumbled, somewhat scaly, and hairy under magnification. The leaves are alternate, simple, oval, furry on the reverse and serrated on the edges. They tend to clump at the ends of branches. In early Spring, apple trees burst into profuse, pinkish-white, fragrant blossoms with 5 petals. These blossoms make small-fruited apple trees a popular landscaping plant, but they're also edible, with a nice astringency. (Left: Apple Blossoms by wide eyed lib)
The fruit takes longer than many other fruits to develop and ripen, and the earliest apples generally ripen in July. Some apples don't ripen until they are touched by frost in November or December. Because apples are pomes, the remains of the flower sepals can often be seen on the bottom of each fruit in the form of a 5-pointed crown. However, smaller apple species are sometimes missing this crown and have a dark dot instead.
One way to distinguish apples from similar-looking fruits is to slice the fruit along its equator. Apples will have 5 radially symmetrical chambers each containing a single seed. The seeds start off white but become brown as the fruit ripens. Apples have no poisonous lookalikes. It's possible to mistake an apple for a hawthorn fruit, but hawthorn trees have thorns, and the fruit lacks the 5 part symmetry of apples. It's not a dangerous mistake in any case; hawthorn fruit is just as edible.
Some wild apples don't look much like commercial apples. They can be off-round and lumpy with spotted skin. Apple species ripen at different times and can be anywhere from firm to mushy when ripe. Color also varies (from green to yellow to red), so the best way to test for ripeness is to taste one. If you like what you taste, gather a bunch. If not, wait a while and try again. Many apple trees are worm-infested, so it's important to check for holes, but other cosmetic flaws can generally be ignored. Some apple varieties never get sweet enough to use alone, but these can be combined with other apples and extra sweetener in just about any recipe. (Right: Apples by wide eyed lib. This apple tree was host to a Porcelain Berry vine, and the maple-shaped leaves belong to the vine rather than the apple tree.)
I don't know about you, but when I think of apples, I think of pie and applesauce. Unfortunately, most wild apples I come across are too small and tedious to seed for pie, which makes applesauce (or apple jelly) the best alternative. Although raw apple seeds are poisonous (containing quite a lot of cyanide), cooking renders the toxin harmless. Because of this, you can skip the food mill when making applesauce and simply put the cooked, sweetened and seasoned mush into a blender or food processor, seeds and all.
Apples are naturally full of pectin, which is useful for jelly making but also reduces cholesterol and helps in removing heavy metal residues from the body. Pectin also slows the absorption of sugars, making it useful for diabetics and hypoglycemics. The acidity of apples helps relieve indigestion and soothes upset stomachs, while the fiber relieves constipation. In addition, the bark has anthelmintic, refrigerant and soporific properties, and the leaves contain a natural antibiotic.
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I'll close with updates to 2 plants that we haven't seen in a while.
These heart-shaped, alternate, simple leaves are our old friend Japanese knotweed. Although the plant looks quite a bit different than it did back when I first discussed it, the stems still have their characteristic magenta mottling. It's not edible this time of year, but by locating it now, you can make note of places to return to for shoots next Spring. (Above: Japanese Knotweed by wide eyed lib)
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These straw-colored branching skeletons are all that remains of this year's garlic mustard flower stalks. The branches stand out because they're just about the only thing that's the color of straw at this time of year. (Garlic mustard was originally covered in this diary and updated here.) At the end of each branch is a slender seed pod filled with tiny, black seeds. The seeds taste wonderful-- the perfect marriage of garlic and mustard. They can be tossed into soups and stirfries and even used to coat fish, bread, bagels or bread sticks. I've also used them in salad dressings. Not only does collecting them have the potential to enhance your food, but you'll also being doing the environment a favor; garlic mustard is a serious invasive in most places. Rather than tediously collect individual pods, simply snip the dry stems right below the branches and stick the whole top into a heavy duty plastic bag (a lighter bag will quickly develop holes). Repeat until the bag is full. To winnow out the seeds, close the bag at the top, letting out the excess air, and then shake the bag and scrunch the branches up a bit with your hands. Tilt and shake the bag so the seeds fall into a bottom corner, hold the bag over a bowl or wide-mouthed bottle and cut a small hole in the corner so that the seeds spill into the bowl. Yum! (Above Left: Dead Garlic Mustard Flower Stems; Above Right: Garlic Mustard Seed Pod, both by wide eyed lib)
See you next Sunday!
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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 21 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.
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