American Brooklime or American Speedwell (Veronica americana)

Veronica americana, variously called American Brooklime or American Speedwell, is a plant native to temperate and Arctic Asia and North America where it grows in streams and bottom-lands  It is an herbaceous perennial. American Speedwell is edible and nutritious and is reported to have a flavour similar to watercress. The plant can be confused with Skullcap and other members of the mint family. However, members of the mint family have square sided stems, while Veronica species have rounded stems, and are easily distinguished from skullcap.

·         Flowers, leaves and stems are all edible raw.

·         The leaves which have a taste that ranges from bland dull to peppery are edible; of course they are best harvested when young.

·         Plant is suitable as a potherb

·         Plant is high in vitamin C.

·         Native North Americans used Veronica species as an expectorant tea to alleviate bronchial congestion associated with asthma and allergies.

·         Found in Western Canada and the Northwest Territories.

Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Sheep's Sorrel,Red Sorrel,Sour Weed, and Field Sorrel

Not to be confused with Mountain Sorrel, Wood Sorrel, Alpine Sorrel or Alpine Mountain Sorrel( Oxyria digyna);Rumex acetosella is a species of sorrel, also known as Acetosella vulgaris;  bearing the common names sheep's sorrel, red sorrel, sour weed, and field sorrel. The plant and its subspecies are common perennial weeds. It has green arrowhead-shaped leaves and red-tinted deeply ridged stems, and it sprouts from an aggressive rhizome. The flowers emerge from a tall, upright stem. Female flowers are maroon in colour.

In North America it is a common weed in fields, grasslands, and woodlands. It favours moist soil, so it thrives in floodplains and near marshes. It is often one of the first species to take hold in disturbed areas, such as abandoned mining sites, especially if the soil is acidic.

Livestock will graze on the plant, but it is not considered very nutritious and it contains oxalates which make the plant toxic and block nutrient absorption from other foods, if grazed in large amounts. There are several uses of sheep sorrel in the preparation of food including a garnish, a tart flavouring agent, a salad green, and a curdling agent for cheese. The leaves have a lemony, tangy or nicely tart flavour.

·         Leaves are edible raw

·         Raw leaves may have a bitter taste

·          Not very nutritious to begin with, they are undoubtedly best when first simmered in several changes of water.

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Common Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius, Yellow Salsify (Tragopogon dubius) and Meadow salsify (Tragopogon pratensis)

 

Tragopogon dubius (Western Salsify, etc.) is a species of Salsify native to southern  and western Asia and found as far north and west as northern France. Although it has been reported from Kashmir and India, recent evidence suggests that specimens from these areas may be a different species. Western Salsify has been introduced into North America where it has become widespread, being reported in all provinces of Canada except Newfoundland and the northern territories.

Like most salsifies, the Western Salsify grows as an annual or occasionally biennial forb, reaching a height of typically 20-60 cm but sometimes almost a metre. It grows typically in warm, sheltered spots with moist soil. Its yellow flower is 4-6 cm in diameter and is likely to be seen in late spring or early summer. The flowers open early in the morning and often close up by late afternoon. Later the plant forms a seed head that resembles that of the dandelions but is distinctly larger.

Because Western Salsify is a widespread plant, it has a large number of alternative common names. They include Western Goat's Beard, Wild Oysterplant, Yellow Salsify, Yellow Goat's Beard, Meadow Goat's Beard, Goat's Beard, Goatsbeard, Common Salsify, or Salsify. Some of these are also, or more commonly, used for other species, and are better avoided. A synonym, Tragopogon major, may also be encountered.

Unlike the dandelion; which it somewhat resembles in appearance; and some other species of salsify; such as the Oyster Plant Tragopogon porrifolius, Western Salsify is not generally regarded as edible; though the root can be eaten (raw or cooked) and so can the young stems.

·         Roots can be roasted, as a coffee substatute. Young leaves can be eaten raw.

·         Varieties in Western Canada include Common salsify (Tragopagon porrifolius, Yellow Salsify (Tragopogon dubius, and Meadow Salsify (Tragopogon pratensis)

·         Grows in dry disturbed areas.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Milkwort/Sea Milkweed (Glaux maritima)

This image or file is a work of a United States Department of Agriculture employee, 

taken or made during the course of an employee's official duties. 

As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

Warning: may cause sleepiness and/or nausea, if eaten in quantity.

• Rhizome is edible, after prolonged cooking.
• Young leaves  can be used as a flavouring agent.
• Plant was tradiditionally consumed with grease, and only jusy before bedtime, due to seditive effect.
• Grows in inland marshes, wet meadows, and coastal tidelines.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Pineapple-weed (Matricaria discoidea)

 is also known by the common names Rayless mayweed and Wild chamomile. It is often mistaken for Chamomile, earning its second botanical name Chamomilla suaveolens, though the smell omitted from the flowers can help determine a proper identification (see below). A member of the daisy family, Pineapple weed has earned the nickname “street weed” after its proclivity to grow along the sides of roads, in cracks in concrete, thriving in both dry and sandy soil. As Doris Day would sing; Please, please don't smoke eat the daisies.

Matricaria discoidea, commonly known as pineappleweed, wild chamomile, and mayweed; is an annual plant native to North America and Northeast Asia but which has become a cosmopolitan weed. It is in the family Asteraceae. The flowers exude a chamomile/pineapple aroma when crushed. They are edible and have been used in salads (although they may become bitter by the time the plant blooms) and to make herbal tea. Pineapple weed has been used for medicinal purposes, including for relief of gastrointestinal upset, infected sores, fevers, and postpartum anemia.

Pineapple weed flowers used to be gathered for food by children, although most find it too bitter to consume raw. The plant, when bruised and rubbed on skin, provides an effective, yet temporary insect repellent.

The young flower heads can be used to make tea by steeping a handful of the flowers in hot water for ten minutes and then straining

The plant grows well in disturbed areas, especially those with poor, compacted soil. It can be seen blooming on footpaths, roadsides, and similar places in spring and early summer. In Canada, it can be found from British Columbia all the way to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

·         Flowerheads are edible raw

·         Plants although bitter, can be eaten raw.

·         Plants can be powdered and sprinkled on meat, to reduce spoilage , and to keep away flies.

·         Grows on roadsides and disturbed ground in plains, foothills and mountain regiions.

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Glasswort, Pickleweed, Sea Asperagus

 Salicormia europaea

 Glasswort (salicornia rubra

The common name glasswort came into use in the 16th century to describe plants growing in England whose ashes could be used for making soda-based (as opposed to potash-based) glass.

·         Plant is edible raw but is better when cooked (remember to avoid boiling any vegetable, whenever possible).

·         Top-half of stems can be harvested allowing the bottom to grow a new shoot.

·         Grows in salt water marshes and in the salty soil near high-tide areas.Because it grows in salt marshes, plant has a salty taste.

·         Plant is best when gathered before flowering.

·         The variety in Western Canada is Red glasswort (Salicornia rubra)

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan. All rights reserved

Pearly Everlasting (Anapahlis margaritacea),

 

This image or file is a work of a United States Department of Agriculture employee, taken or made during the course of an employee's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Pendragon39. This applies worldwide.

The more conspicuous part of the inflorescence is the numerous white bracts that surround the actual flowers.

Anapahlis margaritacea, is a flowering perennial plant in the Asteraceae family. Since it is the only North American species is often simply called pearly everlasting in Canada and the United States of the Americas. However, it is also native to Asia and has been widely introduced in Europe. It grows erect up to heights of about six feet and has narrow, alternate leaves. One salient feature is that the undersides of the leaves are covered in tiny hairs, giving them a wooly feel and appearance. The stems are dry and brittle. The flower is small, and white to yellow, and grows in a corymb inflorescence.  The plant is dioeciously. It prefers dry, sunny climates, although it is hardy to temperatures well below freezing; it is common throughout North America excepting states that border the Gulf of Mexico.

•          The leaves and young plants are edible when cooked.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Oxeye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare,daisy

The copyright holder, Rob Bendall, allows anyone to use this image unconditionally for any purpose; provided that the copyright holder IS PROPERLY ATTRIBUTED.

The oxeye daisy has the vernacular names common daisy, dog daisy, moon daisy, is a widespread flowering plant native to Europe and the temperate regions of Asia. It is one of a number of Asteraceae family plants to be called a 'daisy.

Leucanthemum vulgare is a typical grassland perennial wildflower, growing in a variety of plant communities including meadows and fields, under scrub and open-canopy forests, and in disturbed areas. It is a perennial herb 2 feet by 1 foot wide. The stem is mostly unbranched and sprouts laterally from a creeping rhizomatous rootstock. The leaves are dark green on both sides. The basal and middle leaves are petiolate, obovate to spoon-shaped, and serrate to dentate. The upper leaves are shorter, sessile, and borne along the stem.

Blooms from late spring to autumn. The small flower head, not larger than 2inches; consists of about 20 white ray florets that surround a yellow disc, growing on the end of 1 to 3 ft. tall stems. The plant produces an abundant number of flat seeds, without pappus, that remain viable in the soil for 2 to 3 years. It also spreads vegetatively by rhizomes.

·         Roots are edible raw.

·         Spring shoots are edible raw

·         Leaves have a strong taste

·         Young leaves can be eaten raw.

·         The un-opened flower buds can be marinated and used in a similar way to capers.

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Mustard

Mustard plants are any of several plant species in the genera Brassica and Sinapis. Mustard seed is used as a spice. Grinding and mixing the seeds with water, vinegar or other liquids, creates the yellow condiment known as mustard. The seeds can also be pressed to make mustard oil, and the edible leaves can be eaten as mustard greens.

Although some varieties of mustard plants were well-established crops in Hellenistic and Roman times, there are almost no archaeological records available for any of these crops. Wild forms of mustard and its relatives the radish and turnip can be found over west Asia and Europe, suggesting their domestication took place somewhere in that area.

Mild white mustard (Sinapis hirta) grows wild in North Africa, the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe, and has spread farther by long cultivation; oriental mustard (Brassica juncea), originally from the foothills of the Himalaya, is grown commercially in India, Canada, the UK, Denmark and the US; black mustard (Brassica nigra) is grown in Argentina, Chile, the US and some European countries. Canada and Nepal are the world's major producers of mustard seed, between them accounting for around 57% of world production in 2010.

The varieties to be found in Western Canada are True mustards (Brassica) Wintercresses (Barbea)Tansy mustards (Descurainia) and Tumble-mustards Sisybrium)

·         Mustard is edible as a cooked green

·         Boil older plants in two changes of water to reduce bitterness

·         Grows in open disturbed areas in plains, foothills and mountain regions

Marsh-marigold Caltha palustris)

I the copyright holder, release this work into the public domain; this applies worldwide
As is the case with many members of the family Ranunculaceae, all parts of the plant are poisonous and skin rashes and dermatitis have been reported from excessive handling of the plant.

Caltha palustris (kingcup, marsh marigold)[1] is a perennial herbaceous plant of the family Ranunculaceae, native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

It becomes most luxuriant in partial shade, but is rare on peat. In the United Kingdom, it is probably one of the most ancient native plants, surviving the glaciations and flourishing after the last retreat of the ice, in a landscape inundated with glacial meltwaters.

Height is up to 31 inches tall. The leaves are rounded to kidney-shaped1.2–7.9 inches across, with a bluntly serrated margin and a thick, waxy texture. Stems are hollow.

The flowers are yellow, (1–2 inchesi n diameter, with 4-9 (mostly 5) petal-like sepals and many yellow stamens; they appear in early spring to late summer. The flowers are visited by a great variety of insects for pollen and for the nectar secreted from small depressions, one on each side of each carpel.

Carpels form into green sac-like follicles to 1 cm long, each opening to release several seeds.

It is sometimes considered a weed in clay-like garden soils, where every piece of its root will survive and spread. In warm free-draining soils, it simply dies away. Marsh-marigolds are in decline as agricultural land continues to be drained, but they are still the most three-dimensional of plants, their fleshy leaves and shiny petals impervious to wind and snow, and standing in sharp relief against the tousled brown of frostbitten grasses. Most of the plant's surviving local names - water-blobs, molly-blobs, water-bubbles - reflect this solidity

1.       Some people will eat the leaves when cooked; boil 10-60 minutes, until tender.

2.       Roots can be cooked and eaten

3.       The variety found in Western Canada is the Yellow marsh marigold (caltha palustris)

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved

Strawberry Blite (Chenopodium capitatum, Blitum capitatum)

is an edible annual plant, also known as Blite Goosefoot, Strawberry Goosefoot, Strawberry Spinach, Indian Paint, and Indian Ink.

It is native to Canada and most of North America , including northern areas. It is also found in parts of Europe and New Zealand.

Flowers are small, pulpy, bright red and edible, resembling strawberries. The juice from the flowers was also used as a red dye by natives. The fruits contain small, black, lens-shaped seeds that are 0.7-1.2 mm long. The greens are edible raw or as a potherb, but if raw should be eaten in moderation as they contain oxalates. The seeds may be toxic in large amounts.

Strawberry Blite is found in moist mountain valleys.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Canadian Violet,Western Dog Violet,Marsh Violet

Viola canadensis is more commonly known as Canadian white violet, Canada Violet, tall white violet, or white violet. As its name suggests, it is a species of violet which bears white blooms. The flowers are white, with yellow bases and sometimes streaks of purple. The petals are purple tinged on the backside. The leaves are heart shaped, with coarse, rounded teeth. It is native to Canada.

Viola adunca is a species of violet known by the common names hooked spur violet, sand violet, and western dog violet. It is native to North America and found throughout Canada.

This is a hairy, compact plant growing from a small rhizome system. The leaves are spade- or heart-shaped, sometimes with broadly wavy margins. They are generally 1 to 4 centimetres long. The single-flowered inflorescence grows at the end of a long, very thin peduncle. The nodding flower is a violet with five purple petals, the lower three with white bases and purple veining. The upper two petals may have hooked spurs at their tips.

Marsh violet (Viola palustris)

All the plants described and shown above are edible raw.

Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) Chamerion angustifolium,

Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium)

Chamerion angustifolium, commonly known as Fireweed (mainly in North America), Great Willow-herb (some parts of Canada),or Rosebay Willowherb (mainly in Britain), is a perennial herbaceous plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. It is native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, including large parts of the boreal forests.

            

The floral emblem of the Yukon  grows 2-7 feet high; the flowers vary in colour from white, which is rare, to magenta; the brilliant petals glow translucently; in the Yukon’s short summer sunshine. This hardy late blooming flower, which stays long after most of the other Yukon wild flowers are gone

            The plants should be picked in the shoot stage, or when they are less than six inches high. They can be eaten raw, cut up and added to salad, or they can be cooked as greens. The leaves are rich in vitamins C and A. There is also a Dwarf Fireweed (Epilodium latifolium)

Fireweed Spinach-

          1. Pick fireweed before it goes to bud, or when its 2-6 inches high.

2. Steam in a pot with the lid on, over a few drops of water. Cook like spinach, testing with a fork to see that it's done.

3. Sprinkle with butter or oil, lemon juice or vinegar, salt and pepper, to taste.
©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan) All rights reserved.

Wild Mint (Mentha arvensis) Spearmint (Mentha spicata) and Peppermint Metha piperita

Many of the greens, packaged and sold as fresh mint on your local supermarket produce counter are not mint, (read below, then check it out).
Mint is a herbaceous, rhizomatous, perennial plant, growing to 12–35 in tall, with smooth stems, square in cross section. The rhizomes are wide-spreading, fleshy, and bare fibrous roots.

The varieties of mint found in Western Canada are Wild mint,Spearmint and Peppermint; they all grow in moist areas of the plains, foothills, and mountains. All of the varieties are very common, in the Vancouver British Columbia,  and Edmonton Alberta areas.The photo,directly above, shows mint that was purchased from a supermarket.

 Wild Mint (Mentha arvensis)as this photo clearly shows, a cross section of the mint stem is square, not round.

Spearmint

Peppermint

Although now found wild occasionally with its parent species; Peppermint (Mentha piperita), also known as M. balsamea Willd. is a hybrid mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint and is usually sterile. The plant, indigenous to Europe, is now widespread in cultivation throughout all regions of the world. 

• Peppermint oil has a high concentration of natural pesticides, mainly pulegone(Found mainly in Mentha arvensis
• Powdered leaves can be sprinkled on berries and drying/hanging meat to help keep insects away.
• In 2007, Italian investigators reported that 75% of the patients in their study who took peppermint oil capsules for four weeks had a major reduction in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms, compared with just 38% of those who took a placebo. A second study in 2010, conducted in Iran, found similar results. 

• Plants are edible raw. Probably best used to improve the flavour of other foods; commonly used with meats, especially lamb, or mutton, also added to drinks, and to salads.

©Al (Alex-Alexander )D. Girvan All rights reserved.

Sweet Gale (Myrica gale)

Myrica gale is a species of flowering plant in the genus Myrica, native to northern and western Europe and parts of northern North America. It is a deciduous shrub growing six feet. Common names include Bog Myrtle and Sweet Gale. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, 1 to 2 inch long, oblanceolate with a tapered base and broader tip, and a crinkled or finely toothed margin. The flowers are catkins, with male and female catkins on separate plants (dioecious). The fruit is a small drupe. The foliage has a sweet resinous scent and is a traditional insect repellent, used by campers to keep biting insects out of tents. It is also a traditional ingredient of Royal Wedding bouquets and is used variously in perfumery and as a condiment.

In northwestern Europe (Germany, Belgium and Great Britain), it was much used in a mixture called gruit as a flavouring for beer from the Middle Ages to the 16th century, but it fell into disuse after hops had become widely available. In modern times, some brewers have revisited this historic technique.

It typically grows in acidic peat bogs, and to cope with these difficult nitrogen-poor growing conditions,(similar to legumes) the roots have nitrogen-fixing actinobacteria which enable the plants to grow.

• Leaves are edible raw
• Leaves andnutlets are suitable for soups, stews and other cooking
• Should not be consumed by pregnant women ; since it can induce abortions.

©Al (Alaex-Alexander) D Girvan. All rights reserved.