Eat the Weeds Newsletter 14 April 2015
by Green Deane
The blossoms of the Pineapple Guava have edible petals. Photo by Green Deane
Perhaps no ornamental was championed as much as the Pineapple Guava. However the perfect shrub for many places never really caught on. There could be many reasons. It probably didn’t help that a close relative, the Strawberry Guava, is a severe invasive species in some locations. The shrub also does not get showy. You even have to look for the showy blossoms. While the entire blossom is edible most people only eat the petals. Five or six months from now they will be dark green fruit that never change color as they ripen. They just get softer. The shrub is easy to identify when in blossom. To read more about both guavas, go here.
Tallow Plum, a semi-parasitic edible. Photo by Green Deane
The learning never stops. There is a local semi-parasitic plum, the Tallow Plum or Hog Plum (there are so many “hog” plums we might as well stay with Tallow Plum.”) When bright yellow ripe the plums are tangy but rather sparse. Over the years I have found them three times, all on the east coast of Florida, in the fall, all in hot, sandy places. These were on the south side of Haulover Canal, just north of the space center, at the Enchanted Forest, a park in Titusville, FL, directly west of the space center, and about 120 farther south near Port St. Lucie in the George LeStrange Preserve. All east coast, all in the fall, all in dry, sandy environments, commonly called scrub. Two times there were very low-growing and the third not tall at all.
Tallow Plums often look more like vines than shrubs. Photo by Green Deane
This Saturday past I had a foraging class in Redbug Sough in Sarasota. It’s coastal but fresh water damp, lots of shade. During the class a student asked “what this?” It was a yellow green fruit with a large stone inside. As in the article below, location is so important to identification. I was flummoxed for a few moments until I thought of Tallow Plum, and a subsequent check showed that’s what it was and that it does grow in that area of the state. I had to expand the descriptors. Hot, sandy, east coast, fall had to change though I suspect the fruit was a fall left over. But now I know where there is one on the west coast, in a humid, shady area. To read more about the Tallow Plum, go here.
Foraging is more than identifying edible wild plants. It also involves knowing how to cook them, when they are prime to harvest, and subject of this review, where to find them. In real estate the mantra is “location, location, location.” We could use that with plants but a refinement would be “environment, environment, environment.”
Sea Purslane(red stems) easily transplant. Photo by Green Deane
We know not to look for swamp plants in a desert, unless there is an isolated spring there such as an oasis. Likewise, few cactus grow in swamps though there are exceptions. We also usually find salt tolerant plants near the shore or inland near salt licks (and sometimes along northern roads salted every winter.) But some of those salt-tolerant plants will grow in your garden and do not need to be in a salty environment. Sea Purslane is found on the shore or near brackish water where its job is to build soil by forcing the wind to slow down and drop sand. But, it will also grow in your garden, no salt or wind needed. Other plants are more picky and won’t grow well if not in their preferred location.
Blueberries are extremely soil pick. Photo by Green Deane
For example, one species I am long-familiar with is Blueberries. They like soil on the acidic soil, a pH below 7 on a 14-point scale. I grew-up in poor-soil Maine where one could find 120-acre fields of nothing but Blueberries. Yet where I live now, in Florida, Blueberries are found in small colonies in isolated pockets. Why? One answer is Florida is a limestone plate (alkaline not acidic) so it is a waste of time to look for Blueberries unless there are acid-producing pines, oaks or perhaps cypress nearby. I planted Blueberries specifically bred for Florida but one has to tend to the soil — the amount of acid — nearly as much as one has to work daily to keep a pool from turning green. They eventually died, one of my few failures.
Dandelions like acidic soil. Photo by Green Deane
Another example is Dandelions. I have observed for several decades that Dandelions don’t like Florida, or at least the areas of Florida I visit. They like acidic soil. It might be it is not Florida’s heat they don’t like but rather the alkaline (“sweet”) soil. The few places I have seen Dandelions growing have been areas of acidic soil. Dreher Park in West Palm Beach is a good example. What Dandelions there are there can be found growing in lawn grass amongst oaks. With that in mind let’s survey some plants and what soils and conditions they like.
Pokeweed does not like to grow near oaks. Photo by Green Deane
Some plants can do well in nearly any soil. Henbit, Dead Nettle and Shepard’s Purse are good examples. However, the close relative of Shepard’s Purse, Poor Man’s Pepper Grass, likes soil on the alkaline side. This means you probably won’t find Pepper Grass near Pines and Oaks. Plants that like acidic soil (below a pH of 7.0) and you can find near Oaks and Pines include Eastern Bracken Fern, Curly Dock, Mullein, Nettles, Violets, Pineapple Weed, Plantagos, Wild Radish, Sheep Sorrel, Sow Thistle, and wild Strawberries. Plants that like it on the “sweet” or alkaline side besides Pepper Grass? Wild Carrots, Lamb’s Quarters, Amaranth, Pokeweed, White Mustard, and Purslane. Don’t look for those in an oak scrub.
Wild Garlic likes heavy soil and low bacterial count. Photo by Green Deane
Besides the pH of soil the kind of soil can make a difference. Chicory likes “heavy” soil meaning lots of clay, or rocks. Also liking heavy soil is Broadleaf Dock, Daisies, Milkweed, Plantains, true Thistles, and Wild Garlic. Plants that can endure hard packed soil include Field Mustard, Morning Glories — some of which are edible — and Pineapple Weed (it used to grow in our gravel driveway.) Going the other directions, plants that like sandy soil include Goldenrods and Sandspurs. Plants too look for in agricultural soil include chickweed, Dandelions, Lambs Quarters, Plantains, Amaranth and Purslane. And while Florida Betony can grow edible roots in rich loam or sand it tends to grow larger and easier to harvest roots in sand.
Oxalises like soil high in magnesium. Photo by Green Deane
By their very presence some plants can tell you about what’s in or not in the soil. Burdock likes soil very high in iron and sulfate but low in calcium and manganese. Chickweed and Dandelions like low-calcium low-phosphorus soils. Crabgrass likes very low levels of calcium, phosphorus but high levels of chlorine, magnesium and potassium. Oxalis and Hop Cover, however, prefer low levels of calcium but high levels of magnesium. Purslane and Mustard like high phosphorus levels.
Red Clover likes soil high in potassium. Photo by Green Deane
If you see a healthy patch of White Clover you know the soil is lacking in nitrogen. Or said another way, you won’t find happy White Clover in nitrogen-rich soil. I suspect that holds true for other members of the pea family as well. Because of preferences you will usually not find amaranth and clover growing together. Red Clover, however, prefers to grow in areas of soil high in potassium. Wild Garlic also likes high potassium as well along with high leaves of chlorine, magnesium, and sodium.
Knowing where to look can increase your chances of finding and identifying wild edibles.