Foraging for Food- The weed identification thread.

[Denim Deb]

Dawn, that top pic is spiny pigweed. The second one is some type of nightshade.

 

[Denim Deb]

SD, does # 13 get any kind of flower or berries to it? I have an idea as to what it can be, but am not sure. The one (don't recall now which number it is) that you said was next to the irises, does it have a flower on it or not? I see flowers in the pic, but can't tell if they're off of that plant or not. If not, take a whiff of the plant and see if it makes you sneeze. If it does, it's probably ragweed.

 

[sunsaver]

SD, did you ever chop that thistle in two to see if it's hollow?

 

[BeccaOH]

Great thread!

I know I have these in my yard:
purslane
dandelion
Jerusalem artichoke
lamb's quarters
plantain
red clover
mint
echinacea
mallow (my friend makes a traditional dish for her husband who is from Lebanon and was delighted to know she could forage for mallow - a main ingredient)

And I can get black raspberries, blackberries, wild strawberries, wild grapes, maple sap, sumac, wild cherry, and sometimes elderberries.

My neighbor holds the secret to where the morels and wild asparagus are in the area, while another neighbor is into the ginseng.

I took a foraging class with that friend a few years ago. It was very fun. Bought a book that I need to dig out.

I love this site. It has great info and ways to use the plants that has been lost. http://www.prodigalgardens.info/ (seems to currently be an issue with the articles link but you can view recipes) She had her foraging articles divided out to what she goes hunting for each month.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Savingdogs:

To the best of my knowledge (and it can be hard with just a photo)

#2, #9, and #10 all look like foxglove to me

#3 looks like alder, hard to say for sure

#4 trillium (can I have one please?)

#5 looks kind of like #6, hard to say from the photo

#6 sow thistle -- if so it is edible

#11 bleeding heart

#12 miner's lettuce (hard to say because I can't see the leaves or even the flowers very well) -- if so it is edible

#13 snowberry

#14 thistle of some sort

 

[Denim Deb]

Never mind. Had the wrong pic in mind.

 

[rebecca100]

So here are mine. The first ones I also haven't been able to figure out and the last is perilla mint. It is poisonous to livestock, but thankfully the goats wont touch it.

These two are both the same plant. They form a rosette the first year and then flower the second. The entire area is covered with them. Everything eats them.

This is the first year I have seen so many of these.

This is usually a pretty plant, but beetles are all over them. Some of them are varigated. All have blue flowers kinda resembling a sweet pea.

This is perilla mint. It also grows all over. Just thought I would post a pic of something I DID know and maybe someone else didn't. They are poisonous to goats and cattle.

Sorry the pics are so big. I forgot to resize.

 

[savingdogs]

SD, does # 13 get any kind of flower or berries to it? I have an idea as to what it can be, but am not sure. The one (don't recall now which number it is) that you said was next to the irises, does it have a flower on it or not? I see flowers in the pic, but can't tell if they're off of that plant or not. If not, take a whiff of the plant and see if it makes you sneeze. If it does, it's probably ragweed.

Yes, I believe it does. I don't think they are edible though (to humans at least). I think they are round and red. It gets rather big but looks pretty and lacy especially from a distance. I can get more pictures of it but none of them have berries right now. This is one of the plants the goats do eat so I'd like to identify it. I'm never sure if they are choosing plants that are healthy for them or not. And if the goats eat it, I wonder if it is useful to humans too.

 

[savingdogs]

SD, did you ever chop that thistle in two to see if it's hollow?

Yes, the one you identified as the lettuce IS hollow inside and has a kind of white juice.

The other thistle like thing that is probably Russian thistle I don't want to touch! I'll have someone else weed it.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Dawn, yours look like spiny pigweed and horse nettle (poisonous) which is in the nightshade family.