Plant Identification
Idaho & Beyond The North Americas
Many edible plants live in even thought barren landscapes. We think that we must get food form a store, a box, a package. When we look around We find that Edible plants are all around US. All we have to do is look in, lawns, gardens, trees, parks, hills, mountains. Then we find that there are a secret Food source, THERE CALLED WEEDS.
Edible Food Sustenance
Bamboo
This familiar plant, made into everything from floorboards to pajamas, is actually a type of grass. And if anyone near you has ever planted any (it's actually grown by U.S. farmers in warm climates and even as far north as New England), there’s a good chance some of it will spread into your yard because, once it escapes, the weed can be very invasive and hard to control. Bamboo shoots are full of fiber, and are sometimes described as tasting like corn. Should any pop up in your vicinity, harvest shoots that are less than two weeks old and under 1 foot tall. Bamboo shoots have to be cooked before you eat them: Peel the outer leaves away and remove any tough flesh. Cut across the grain into one-eighth-inch slices, and boil in an uncovered pan for 20 minutes (or longer, if there’s still a bitter taste to them). After they’re prepared in this way, you can eat them with some soy sauce, add to salads, or use them in stir-fries.
Cattail
(Typha latifolia) A staple food in the diet of many Native American tribes. Nearly every piece of a cattail is edible. The trademark brown cattail portion can be harvested in early summer and eaten like corn.Boil leaves like spinach, and the white part of the stem base can be eaten raw or boiled. Roots or rhizomes offer a crunch. Munch them raw or boil them.
Chicory
(Cichorium intybus) The blue and lavender toned blooms of this weed are familiar faces along roadsides. Flowers, buds, leaves and roots are edible. Add blooms and young leaves to salads for a gourmet pick-me-up, or try pickled flower buds. Roots can be boiled and eaten, but harvest them before the stalks appear and boil them with several water changes. Otherwise, they’re bitter. Dried and roasted, roots are often ground to add to coffee or even used as a coffee substitute.
Chickweed
(Stellaria media) Harvest leaves, stems and flowers packed with vitamins and minerals. Many herbalists harvest chickweed in early spring to take advantage of the early green and consume the nutrient-rich leaves. Research has shown that chickweed is also high in omega-6 fatty acid derivatives, but don’t consume too much at once, or you risk a bout of diarrhea.
Creeping Charlie
(Glechoma hederacea) It’s a member of the mint family, and young leaves bring an almost bitter, minty taste. Harvest older leaves for brewing medicinal teas. Historically, creeping Charlie leaves have been used to brew beer, acting like hops to clear, flavor and enhance keeping qualities.
Cress
(Barbarea verna) Also known as land cress, winter cress or American cress. Bears many similarities to watercress. Cook like any traditional green. Cress is packed with vitamins and minerals, like calcium and iron.
Daylily
(Hemerocallis spp.) The colorful buds and flowers of daylily are edible. You can eat the cultivated varieties in your garden, or harvest wild daylilies. Tubers are also edible. Prepare like a potato.
Garlic
(Allium vineale) Bright green above the dormant turf. Use wild garlic like onions or chives.
Heartsease
(Viola tricolor) Those blooms are also edible. Heartsease leaves are also edible. The name heartsease refers to the flower’s use as a remedy for a broken heart.
Tulip
(Tulipa spp.) Both petals and bulbs of tulips are edible, but the bulbs are more of a famine food. To prepare bulbs safely, remove the outer papery skin and the yellow center, which is poisonous.
Nasturtium
(Tropaeloum majus) Tangy, peppery Flower. Reduce the zinginess of the flavor by keeping plants well-watered. Leaves are rich in vitamin C.
Peppers- Edible Vegetables, All of the Plant is Edible
Potatoes- Edible Vegetable, All of the Plant is Edible
Prickly Pear (Opuntia spp.)Found in nearly every state, prickly pear cactus offers multiple plant parts for eating. The pears produced by plants are sweet and can be eaten raw. Don’t handle fruits with your bare hands; burn or wash off the nearly invisible spines or glochids before handling the fruit. Prickly pear fruits are high in vitamin C and antioxidants. Harvest young, small pads for eating. Remove skin, trim and dice. Toss with salads for a lemony bite, or fry, boil or sautee it.
Purslane
This plant has rounded, succulent, leaves and a reddish stem and grows everywhere, so it's very likely that you'll find a purslane plant somewhere in your neighborhood. Notoriously difficult to kill as a weed, purslane is probably better suited to your dinner plate anyway. It's loaded with antioxidant vitamins like vitamins A and C, and also contains healthy omega-3 fatty acids. You can eat the stems and leaves fresh—try them in salads or sandwiches—or use them in soups or in recipes that call for spinach (they’re related and have a similar taste).Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)
Rose (Rosa spp.)One of gardening’s most beloved and recognized flowers is also edible. Which roses taste best? Use fragrance as a guide. The more fragrance a rose has, the more flavor it has. Pink and yellow roses offer the best flavor. Harvest roses after dew dries. Use immediately or refrigerate until use. Dig into recipes and you’ll discover that rose petals can flavor ice cream, drinks, sauces, cake frosting—all kinds of desserts. Avoid using roses from florists or even ones from your garden if you use systemic pesticides.
Sorrel (Oxalis spp.)Wood sorrel is a common weed (the little yellow-flowered plants) and also an ornamental, like this Oxalis purpurea. All sorrels are edible, although some have stiff stems that are difficult to chew. Harvest leaves, which are rich in vitamin C, to eat raw in salads or cooked like greens. Roots are starchy and can be boiled like potatoes. The pointed seedpods of sorrels offer a lemony, refreshing flavor burst.
Sunflowers- Flower Head, Sap of the Flower
Edible Food Sustenance
Bamboo
This familiar plant, made into everything from floorboards to pajamas, is actually a type of grass. And if anyone near you has ever planted any (it's actually grown by U.S. farmers in warm climates and even as far north as New England), there’s a good chance some of it will spread into your yard because, once it escapes, the weed can be very invasive and hard to control. Bamboo shoots are full of fiber, and are sometimes described as tasting like corn. Should any pop up in your vicinity, harvest shoots that are less than two weeks old and under 1 foot tall. Bamboo shoots have to be cooked before you eat them: Peel the outer leaves away and remove any tough flesh. Cut across the grain into one-eighth-inch slices, and boil in an uncovered pan for 20 minutes (or longer, if there’s still a bitter taste to them). After they’re prepared in this way, you can eat them with some soy sauce, add to salads, or use them in stir-fries.
Cattail
(Typha latifolia) A staple food in the diet of many Native American tribes. Nearly every piece of a cattail is edible. The trademark brown cattail portion can be harvested in early summer and eaten like corn.Boil leaves like spinach, and the white part of the stem base can be eaten raw or boiled. Roots or rhizomes offer a crunch. Munch them raw or boil them.
Chicory
(Cichorium intybus) The blue and lavender toned blooms of this weed are familiar faces along roadsides. Flowers, buds, leaves and roots are edible. Add blooms and young leaves to salads for a gourmet pick-me-up, or try pickled flower buds. Roots can be boiled and eaten, but harvest them before the stalks appear and boil them with several water changes. Otherwise, they’re bitter. Dried and roasted, roots are often ground to add to coffee or even used as a coffee substitute.
Chickweed
(Stellaria media) Harvest leaves, stems and flowers packed with vitamins and minerals. Many herbalists harvest chickweed in early spring to take advantage of the early green and consume the nutrient-rich leaves. Research has shown that chickweed is also high in omega-6 fatty acid derivatives, but don’t consume too much at once, or you risk a bout of diarrhea.
Creeping Charlie
(Glechoma hederacea) It’s a member of the mint family, and young leaves bring an almost bitter, minty taste. Harvest older leaves for brewing medicinal teas. Historically, creeping Charlie leaves have been used to brew beer, acting like hops to clear, flavor and enhance keeping qualities.
Cress
(Barbarea verna) Also known as land cress, winter cress or American cress. Bears many similarities to watercress. Cook like any traditional green. Cress is packed with vitamins and minerals, like calcium and iron.
Daylily
(Hemerocallis spp.) The colorful buds and flowers of daylily are edible. You can eat the cultivated varieties in your garden, or harvest wild daylilies. Tubers are also edible. Prepare like a potato.
Garlic
(Allium vineale) Bright green above the dormant turf. Use wild garlic like onions or chives.
Heartsease
(Viola tricolor) Those blooms are also edible. Heartsease leaves are also edible. The name heartsease refers to the flower’s use as a remedy for a broken heart.
Tulip
(Tulipa spp.) Both petals and bulbs of tulips are edible, but the bulbs are more of a famine food. To prepare bulbs safely, remove the outer papery skin and the yellow center, which is poisonous.
Nasturtium
(Tropaeloum majus) Tangy, peppery Flower. Reduce the zinginess of the flavor by keeping plants well-watered. Leaves are rich in vitamin C.
Peppers- Edible Vegetables, All of the Plant is Edible
Potatoes- Edible Vegetable, All of the Plant is Edible
Prickly Pear (Opuntia spp.)Found in nearly every state, prickly pear cactus offers multiple plant parts for eating. The pears produced by plants are sweet and can be eaten raw. Don’t handle fruits with your bare hands; burn or wash off the nearly invisible spines or glochids before handling the fruit. Prickly pear fruits are high in vitamin C and antioxidants. Harvest young, small pads for eating. Remove skin, trim and dice. Toss with salads for a lemony bite, or fry, boil or sautee it.
Purslane
This plant has rounded, succulent, leaves and a reddish stem and grows everywhere, so it's very likely that you'll find a purslane plant somewhere in your neighborhood. Notoriously difficult to kill as a weed, purslane is probably better suited to your dinner plate anyway. It's loaded with antioxidant vitamins like vitamins A and C, and also contains healthy omega-3 fatty acids. You can eat the stems and leaves fresh—try them in salads or sandwiches—or use them in soups or in recipes that call for spinach (they’re related and have a similar taste).Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)
Rose (Rosa spp.)One of gardening’s most beloved and recognized flowers is also edible. Which roses taste best? Use fragrance as a guide. The more fragrance a rose has, the more flavor it has. Pink and yellow roses offer the best flavor. Harvest roses after dew dries. Use immediately or refrigerate until use. Dig into recipes and you’ll discover that rose petals can flavor ice cream, drinks, sauces, cake frosting—all kinds of desserts. Avoid using roses from florists or even ones from your garden if you use systemic pesticides.
Sorrel (Oxalis spp.)Wood sorrel is a common weed (the little yellow-flowered plants) and also an ornamental, like this Oxalis purpurea. All sorrels are edible, although some have stiff stems that are difficult to chew. Harvest leaves, which are rich in vitamin C, to eat raw in salads or cooked like greens. Roots are starchy and can be boiled like potatoes. The pointed seedpods of sorrels offer a lemony, refreshing flavor burst.
Sunflowers- Flower Head, Sap of the Flower
Garden Variety
Basics in the garden
Beans-
Broccoli-
Carrots-
Cauliflower-
Corn-
Cucumber-
Lettuce-
Peppers-
Peas-
Potatoes-
Pumpkins-
Basics in the garden
Beans-
Broccoli-
Carrots-
Cauliflower-
Corn-
Cucumber-
Lettuce-
Peppers-
Peas-
Potatoes-
Pumpkins-
Trees
Various Trees have edible food, where da ya think them orange ball things come from
Medicine Weeds
Medicine
Clover- Been used as remedy for cancer. It contains the phytoestrogen genistein, which, although controversial, has been found to have a protective effect against colon and prostate cancers. However, there's some evidence that phytoestrogens can have opposite effect on breast cancer, go easy on the red clover. Clover flowers are high in protein. You can also eat white clover, but it's not as nutritious or flavorful as red.
Dandelion
Perhaps the most familiar lawn weed of them all, the dandelion may also be the weed that’s most known to be edible. In fact, the reason it exists in the U.S. is that European settlers introduced it as a salad green. You can buy dandelion greens at some specialty food markets, but odds are, there are some growing, for free, a whole lot closer to you. They have a slightly bitter taste when they mature, so harvest the tender leaves that appear in early spring and in late fall, when they're sweetest. The flowers are edible too and have a mildly bittersweet flavor. And eat them up! Dandelions have more beta-carotene than carrots.
Kudzu- Can actually be eaten itself. This highly invasive weed, introduced from Japan now covers over 7 million acres of the South U.S. The plant is also used in Chinese medicine for treating allergies, colds, fevers and as a digestive aid. Brew a kudzu tea by chopping up a cup of leaves and boiling them for about 30 minutes to treat what ails you.
Japanese Knotweed
Another invasive species you can control with your appetite, Japanese knotwood looks a little bit like bamboo, but they're not related—even though it’s sometimes called “Japanese Bamboo." This weed might be harder to find if you don't live in the Northeast or Midwest, where invasive populations have taken root. But if you do see some, harvest the green and red shoots when the weeds are 6 to 8 inches tall, before they turn woody. Remove any tough leaves or rind and steam or simmer for a tart, rhubarb-like taste.
Lamb's Quarters
Despite what it sounds like this isn't meat. Lamb's quarters is a weed commonly referred to as "wild spinach," and fortunately, it starts to appear in early summer after the last of the spring spinach has disappeared from farmer's markets. It's loaded with calcium and protein, as well as vitamins A, C and K, even more so than spinach. The best way to eat the leaves, or pretty much any green weed in this list, is to wash them well, sauté them in olive oil while they're still wet (the steam helps them wilt), then add a dash of salt, garlic, pepper and a squeeze of lemon or lime, says Hank Shaw,
Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album)Also known as lamb’s lettuce, goosefoot or pigweed, lamb’s quarters is an effective stand-in for spinach—raw or cooked. Harvest young leaves and shoots only; older leaves can be tough. For best flavor, harvest from plants under 12 inches tall. A real taste treat is creamed lamb’s quarters. It’s also delightful in a wilted salad.
Plantain (Plantago major)Leaves taste best when they’re young and offer high levels of calcium and vitamins A and C. Eat young leaves raw in salads, or boil like cooked greens. Plantain leaves also work well steamed. Prep leaves like any tough green (think kale). Blanch leaves first and then saute in butter with garlic for a yummy treat. As they age, leaves tend to become bitter and stringy. Chew a leaf of plantain to a paste and apply to insect stings for instant relief and to prevent swelling.
Saint John's Wart- Including Hypericin, Hyperforin, and Pseudohypericin, Anti-Viral, Anti-Depressional.
Watercress. You can pay $3 for a bunch of watercress—an antioxidant powerhouse—at your local grocery store…or you can find a stream and stock up for free. An increasingly popular ingredient in gourmet salads, many people don't realize that watercress is actually a weed. It grows alongside streams and riverbanks in nearly every U.S. state. The most popular way to eat watercress is to add it to salads raw. If you need some ideas, check out the watercress recipes
Wild Nettle- diuretic, astringent, pectoral, anodyne, tonic, rubefacient, styptic, anthelmintic, nutritive, hermetic, anti-rheumatic, anti-allergenic, decongestant, expectorant, anti-spasmodic, and anti-histamine, anti-lithic/lithotrophic, herpetic, galactagogue, and an anti-histamine.
Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)Leaves, stems and roots of stinging nettle are edible. It takes skill to prepare raw leaves for eating without receiving stings. Don’t do it without training. Use leaves as a spinach substitute and add them to soups, casseroles or omelets. This weed also makes a wonderful pesto. Stinging nettle leaves are rich in vitamins, protein and minerals like calcium and iron. Tea made from roots is used for medicinal purposes only. Always wear gloves when gathering stinging nettle to avoid stings. If you do get stung, dig a few root pieces to rub on stings or use jewelweed flowers.
More to come, Plant Identification.
Central & South America
More to come