Which wild plants do you commonly use?

[face]

My yard is already cranking out food. I've been eating violets, dandelion, cress, wild mustard, miners lettuce; pokeweed shoots are coming up, and mulberries are starting to ripen. I must have eaten 30 different wild foods last year, and this year I'll be spending more time out in the woods!

Do any of y'all live in or near Asheville, NC?

 

[Nelco]

some flowers are straight bitter..i assume they're meant not to be eaten.

 

[outskirts]

Japanese Knotweed shoots are coming up... NOW! Fallopia japonica (Polygonum cuspidatum) (Japanese Knotweed): white Minnesota wildflowers
You can steam them for about 5 minutes, it's like rhubarb tasting asparagus.
Japanese Knotweed

 

[venusinpisces]

I'm practically jumping for joy right now because I just now discovered that my almost completely untended back yard is teeming with huge patches of cleavers(galium aparine). These were definitely not here when I moved in nearly 4 years ago and no doubt it's because of letting things run wild. This is another plant I've used and even bought as a tincture in the past, so how convenient it's growing not ten feet from my back door! Herbalists use it as a diuretic and for cleansing the lymph glands as well as the blood. This is perfect timing as I just quit smoking with the use of a vaporizer and my glands have been a tiny bit swollen
for awhile now. I didn't know that vaporizers are used for breaking up congestion--well only a couple days after I switched I got my first cold/flu in over 2 years, and it was severe. It's 2 weeks later and I'm better now but still hacking stuff up in the morning, which never happens otherwise. How perfect that cleavers are used as a cold remedy as well! After going through this I am never taking up smoking again. Going to change my profile now. and I still need to drop the 420 altogether but one thing at a time I suppose..
oh and the best method of preparation is to steam them for a minute or two because they have spines that make them unpalatable as a raw vegetable. They can also be made into a tincture with grain alcohol or even vodka if it's all you have. Just rinse the leaves, stuff them tightly into a jar and cover, then leave for a month or so.

 

[trotsky]

I don't know about the pitch pine, but I know you can also eat the inner bark of white pines by drying it out and grinding it up for flour, or just boiling it. The needles can also be used for tea. Apparently if you peel and boil the shoots, then boil them in a 50/50 mixture of sugarwater, then roll them in granulated sugar, you can make a decent sort of candy.

You can also use sassafras twigs to clean your teeth if you sort of fray the ends.

And I'm surprised nobody's mentioned frying up some fiddleheads!

 

[RnJ]

I make roasted dandelion root tea (/coffee) and also a tea out of pineapple weed. Blackberries are an easy snack too. Tried red clover tea one time and it was a bit of a joke (pretty tasteless!). Rose petal tea is decent but takes quite some picking.

 

[outskirts]

and I still need to drop the 420 altogether but one thing at a time I suppose..

Hey you can always cook and eat the 420 instead of smoking it
I know... that's the start of a whole other thread. lol

 

[outskirts]

and also a tea out of pineapple weed.

Oh that stuff is so good! I have not drank that in years, I can't seem to find it anywhere around here.

 

[venusinpisces]

So I'm learning that it's a lot more efficient to just make an infusion out of the cleavers instead of eating them since harvesting the leaves is a very labor intensive method. Since I have so many of them, infusion means cramming as many as I can fit in the pot and then covering with boiling water. I was researching the effectiveness of cleavers tea and came across an article about how it is traditionally used in cancer treatment. Holistic therapies can result in a huge die off of toxins which really overburdens elimination, particularly of the lymph glands. Again, this is perfect because I've been using high potency homeopathy which is resulting in some profound physiological/mental changes. This is obviously a good thing but the cleavers should help to even out the bumps, so to speak. The tea tastes wonderful!

Hey you can always cook and eat the 420 instead of smoking it
I know... that's the start of a whole other thread. lol

I've been using the vaporizer for consumption until I quit for good. It's better than edibles since, with them, the physical effect is so strong that I'd be crashing my bike into things all the time. Been there, done that. :blush: It's hard to control how much you're doing and really easy to get far too intoxicated that way. Edibles are definitely healthier than smoking for those who don't have a vaporizer, though. But yeah, that's a whole other subject..

 

[outskirts]

I once crashed my bike too! lol
But that was from eating a handful of Jimson Weed(stramonium datura) leaves.
That stuff is brutal and dangerous, is best left for medicinal uses. There are much better wild intoxicants growing anyway.

 

[venusinpisces]

yes it is extremely dangerous--I was once at a Rainbow Gathering when someone on Datura died after walking into a lake and forgetting how to swim. It's in the "worst traveler freak out" thread. You were lucky to have only crashed your bike!

 

[Ithyphallic]

I use Dandelions alot, the root for detoxifying tea, the leaves and flowers for salads. Wild Ginseng for all the things ordinary ginseng is for, yet harvested in my own woods instead of the plantations in china. Morrel, chantrelle and of course psilocybin mushrooms, but usually only when I'm on the west coast because I have alot of friends that are insanely good at mushrooms hunting..
Stinging nettle makes an awesome tea, or you can cook it up like spinach, very good for you.

I'm adding more as the spring moves along, more that I can identify safely.

 

[outskirts]

I gather mushrooms from time to time, but I usually just stick to oyster mushrooms since I don't need to double check a guide
book to gather them. They are really tasty and hard to mistake for any other kind. I've always found plants to be easier to identify than fungus, once I learn a plant I don't need a book to identify it again. I have gathered Fly Agarics(Amanita muscaria) in the past, but I do not recomend them. I don't think the side effects are worth the trip with them. If your after the funny mushrooms stick
with the psilocybins.

 

[outskirts]

Wild Ginseng for all the things ordinary ginseng is for, yet harvested in my own woods instead of the plantations in china.

If your sitting on land with wild ginseng then your sitting on serious $$$! If I'm not mistaken most states with decent amounts of
wild ginseng growing in them have laws on the books pertaining to their harvest and sale. So you may have to look into that in certain states if your digging a lot of it. If it's not on your land and your gonna poach some... Be careful! In some places that's like stealing chickens, you could get shot at, yes even if they are wild plants. Wild ginseng is much more valuable than either woods grown or shade grown ginseng.

 

[Unslap]

I think burdock was mentioned. I want to recommend the large roots of this large-leafed invasive plant. I just ate some of the roots raw and they're like mild carrots. The leaf stalks were fine, but I disliked the leaves.

These apparently live in all of the US and most of Canada

 

[crow]

Aloe. hands down.

 

[flashinglights]

I like to gather Mugwort (I dreamed about flying in a UFO last night after smoking a mugwort joint), pennyroyal for sun tea, apples and blackberries, plantain on the rare occasion it's not trampled and dirty, fennel also for tea, wild onions.

Need to start using cattails. I'm blown away by how much you can do with them.

 

[BobbinGoblin]

Herbal First Aid - this is a great zine from Microcosm that includes loads of plant uses and natural remedies and is conveniently travel-sized.
It is the first section of this book: Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable Nesting Skills.

My most-used wild plant is Mullein.

 

[face]

I'm headed out to harvest some Rabbit Tobacco today. Its an excellent smokeable lung expectorant. It combines so well with mullein, as either a tea, tincture, or smoking blend.

I used to harvest plants along the traintracks until I saw the railroad spraying herbicides 20-feet in each direction along some tracks. Has anyone else seen this? When harvesting plants hear tracks, how close is too close?

 

[Monterey]

Rosemary is all over the place in America. In cities and in the wild. I always grab a sprig when I am walking. They have camphor in them and chewing on them keeps your breath from getting sour. Mmmm, tasty antiseptic.

My side of the mountain! I have never met anyone else who read it. It should be required reading in elementary school.

- Monterey