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Tag: wild edible

Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)

Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)

A common non-native wildflower, purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) is also known as red deadnettle or red henbit. Due to its propensity to spring up in lawns, it is generally considered an unwanted weed, and by some accounts is considered invasive in New England. Like other members of the mint family (Lamiaceae), purple deadnettle has a square stem and opposite leaves. The small tube-like flowers arranged in whorls at the apex of the plant range from pink to purple. The upper…

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Wild Edible Recipe: Japanese Knotweed Bars

Wild Edible Recipe: Japanese Knotweed Bars

Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) is a widespread invasive plant in this area. By the end of the summer it will grow into large stands up to 10 feet high, but in early May it is just beginning to poke out of the ground. This early stage is the best time to forage for this plant. One of my previous post gave more detail about Japanese knotweed in general, but the main intention of this post is to provide a delicious…

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Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)

Like partridge berry (Mitchella repens), pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata), and spotted wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata), wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) is a low-growing, glossy-leaved perennial common to our area. With numerous common names, wintergreen could easily be the poster child for why Latin names are so important. This small red-berried plant is also called teaberry, checkerberry, deerberry and boxberry, among other things. The plant is shade tolerant, but berries are more common on wintergreen plants growing in clearings. Also, although the plant is considered…

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Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)

Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)

Generally speaking, in the plant world, one flower will produce one fruit. Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) is one of the two exceptions. Partridgeberry, along with only one other species of plant native to Japan, are sometimes referred to as “twinberries” because each fruit is the product of two adjacent flowers. In June, pairs of fuzzy four-petaled white or pink flowers bloom at the end of each stem. Each pair of flowers is comprised of one with a tall pistil and short…

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Sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina)

Sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina)

Many plants and animals are logically named: Common winterberry (Ilex verticillata) produces berries that last through the winter; Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) have a black “cap”; and Beach peas (Lathyrus japonicus var maritimus) are a species of pea that thrives on beaches and dunes. Sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina), however, is much less logically named, as it is neither a fern nor (in my opinion) sweet. Ferns belong to a class of vascular plants that produce spores, rather than flowers and…

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Common Glasswort (Salicornia maritima)

Common Glasswort (Salicornia maritima)

While tall grasses, like Spartina alterniflora, dominate the more frequently flooded lower elevations of a salt marsh, the high marsh areas, which are inundated less frequently, are home to an entirely different and interesting set of plants.  Glassworts, in particular, are exceptionally colorful this time of year. Many people focus on the changing colors of the leaves of various deciduous trees as autumn arrives, but glassworts put on their own colorful fall display. Although almost completely green throughout the spring…

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Wild Edible: Autumn Olive

Wild Edible: Autumn Olive

Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) shrubs are a common sight along Massachusetts roads and at the edges of clearings and fields. These shrubs were commonly planted for windbreaks and erosion control in the 1940s before it was known how invasive they could be. The vast amount of fruit produced by each shrub, and the high germination success of the seeds, means that once there is one autumn olive in a location, there will likely be more. The high number of berries…

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Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis)

Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis)

We are now entering my favorite time of year: berry season. While exploring the Mineral Hills Conservation Area in Northampton, MA this weekend, I noticed ripe black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) for the first time this year.  While I enjoy red raspberries and blackberries as well, black raspberries are undoubtedly my favorite.  So this was quite the treat for me. Wild raspberries are generally smaller and sweeter than the cultivated varieties.  Mature, ripe raspberries will readily separate from their white-coned hulls,…

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Wild edible: Common Milkweed

Wild edible: Common Milkweed

Despite the white, latex-like sap, from which their name derives, common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is a delicious wild edible. Found in fields, along roadsides and other open areas, common milkweed is native to almost all of New England.  It typically grows 3 to 4 feet tall, on stout straight stems, with thick, broad, opposite leaves and is topped with round, slightly drooping clusters of pinkish-purple flowers. Before the flower buds bloom, they somewhat resemble pinkish-green heads of broccoli. In bloom,…

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Dandelion Wine

Dandelion Wine

Dandelions are a common wildflower in New England.  Although native to Europe, they have spread nearly worldwide.  Common dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) have bright yellow flowers 1 to 2 inches wide on top of hollow stalks, which extrude a milky latex-like liquid when broken.  The stalk is surrounded by a ring of basal leaves that are variously cleft and lobed.  While many home owners consider them unwelcome in their lawns, other seek them out as an early season wild edible. Due…

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