Transformational Gardening
April 2011 Foraging Experiences
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March 2011 Foraging Experiences)
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May 2011 Foraging Experiences)
April 1, 2011
I bought five galvanized steel maple sap buckets, covers, spiles (spouts) and a 7/16
inch drill bit. Everything I need to gather maple sap ... except the drill and the maple
tree! I didn't realize how difficult it might be to find a maple tree without the leaves.
Fortunately, even in early April, there are some dead leaves under the trees that can
be unfurled to help with identification. As you can see from the picture on the right,
it is clearly a maple tree and based on the leaf shape and it appears to be a Sugar Maple.
It has similar leaves to the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides), but the Sugar Maple
has fewer teeth on each lobe.
Sugar Maples are large trees growing 70 to 100 feet tall. The leaves are opposite, 3-1/2
to 5-1/2 inches wide with 5 palmately divided lobes. The lobes have 5 main veins
from the base and have few narrow, long-pointed teeth. Leaves are dull dark green above
and paler green beneath. The leaves turn red, yellow and orange in the Fall. The bark
is gray-brown with rough vertical grooves and loose-edged plates.
The season to collect Maple Sap is from early March to approximately mid April. Ideally,
the temperatures get below freezing at night and then rise to above
freezing temperature during the day. The sap will flow as the temperatures rise above
freezing.
I took two collecting buckets and drilled holes in two trees at a slight angle so that
the sap could drip out. I then tapped the spile into the tree and hung the bucket on the
hook that came with the spile. The cover is to keep the rain out that could dilute the
Maple Sap. Putting the cover on is a little bit more tricky than I thought. I still
haven't figured out the easiest way to do it.
I collected 1/2 gallen of Maple Sap from approximately 12 noon to 8:30am the next day.
That is pretty good for just two 12-inch diameter trees! I filtered the Maple Sap and
then tasted it. It is very tasty and refreshing with a suble sweetness.
April 11, 2011
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)
My first encounter with Coltsfoot! I was surprised to see a flower blooming just a
few days after the snow melted.The Coltsfoot flowerheads and buds can be eaten raw
in salads. The flower stems can be eaten raw or cooked. Young leaves can be eaten
raw, but remove white hairs prior to consumption to avoid irritation. When the leaves
get older, they can be eaten by boiling them in one or more changes of water. Apparently,
the ashes of Coltsfoot leaves can be used as a salt substitute.
All parts of the plant can be used to make a medicinal tea by infusion. However,
the leaves are the safest because they contain only trace levels of pyrrolizidine
alkaloids that can be hard on the liver. The tea treats asthma, cough, soothes
mucous membranes (mucilagenous) and is an expectorant. Use by making a strong
infusion or by drying and smoking the leaves.
Coltsfoot is a 3 to 18 inch tall, rhizomous plant. It flowers in early Spring
(April to May) - one of the first flowers seen. The yellow flower is 1 inch wide
and made up of numerous thin ray flowers surrounding disk/tubular flowers. The
flowers bloom first and then the leaves grow out of the stem. The 2 to 8 inch long
leaves are basal, broad and heart-shaped (very large notch), has teeth that look like
black-tipped spines (irregularly spaced), is shallowly lobed, palmately veined and
densely gray-wooly on the underside. The leaves get more rubbery as they age. The
two outermost main veins are not completely surrounded by green tissue.
The flower stem is scaly. Grows in damp soil of streamsides, waste places, roadsides
(paved or gravel roads).
April 15, 2011
Southern Ground Cedar (Fan Clubmoss) (Diphasiastrum digitatum) (Synonyms:
Lycopodium digitatum, Lycopodium flabelliforme)
Southern Ground Cedar and other members of the Clubmoss (Lycopodiaceae)
family are not related to moss, but considered closely related to ferns.
Members of this Genus (Diphasiastrum) have a tree-like structure with a
main stem and side branches (although the stems are so weak that the plant lies
along the ground) and the stalks with the cone-like structures called strobili
have branches of equal length on each fork. Notice the leaves along the branch
are the little spine-like structure lying nearly flat against the branch. Note:
all of the images in this section are of Southern Ground Cedar.
Southern Ground Cedar can be distinguished from similar Clubmosses:
- Northern Ground Cedar (Diphasiastrum complanatum) has only one or two
strobili (cone-like structure) per stalk with Southern Ground Cedar has 2 to 4.
Northern Ground Cedar has conspicuous annual bud constrictions near the tips of the
branchlets. Southern Ground Cedar has no constrictions. Northern Ground Cedar has
a straggly growth pattern, but you can see from the picture at the bottom right
that the laternal (side) branches of Southern Ground Cedar align in the same
plane giving it a more orderly, fan-like appearance.
- Blue Ground Cedar (Deeproot Clubmoss) (Diphasiastrum tristachyum) has
branches that are 4-angled (nearly square) in cross-section. It has a flat-topped
growth form. The leaves on the top and underside of the branches are about the
same size, while the underside leaves for both Southern Ground Cedar and Northern
Ground Cedar are much small than the upper leaves. The plant tends to be blue-green
in color. It has 3 to 4 strobili per stalk. The horizontal stem ground 2 or more inches
underground, while the horizontal stem for Southern Ground Cedar grows at the ground level.
The strobili (cone-like structures) appear in the Fall and they contain spores that the
plant can use to reproduce. Although the plant also spreads by rhizomes (horizontal
underground stems).
When the strobili are collected in the late Summer and Fall, they can be dried to
release a yellow powder (often referred to as Lycopodium Powder). The powder can
be applied topically to treat skin conditions such as eczema, to prevent chafing and
to apply to wounded tissue to absorb moisture. In Chinese Medicine, Lycopodium cernuum
is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, traumatic injuries and spasms of the arms and
legs. In Western Herbal Medicine, Lycopodium spore powder has been used to treat
edema (swelling), as a laxative, to treat diarrhea, to relieve gout, to treat scurvy,
for bladder irritability and to ease rheumatism pains.
This was my first time tasting Shepherd‘s Purse. Many authors call it a mild
salad green. It was mild and even bland in my opinion. But I never had been a big
fan of salad greens. I will go back and harvest more in a week or two.
Shepherd‘s Purse is very easy to recognize when it has gone to seed. It has
distinctive, flat, heart-shaped seed capsules growing alternately up a stem (not
pictured). You can see pictures of these seed capsules on the
Shepherd‘s Purse Local Images web page. This is one reason I was sure it was
Shepherd‘s Purse.
Shepherd‘s Purse will grow in a basal rosette of leaves. The rosette leaves of the
mature plant are only 2 to 4 inches long, oblong, taper from the upper third of the leaf
towards the base and are often deeply lobed but sometimes only slightly lobed (especially when the plant is a seedling).
The leaves tend to be consistently smaller than look-alikes such as Dandelion, Cat‘s
Ear and Sowthistle. The lobes tend to point straight out (perpendicular) from the
leaf. One major distinguishing characteristic are the very tiny sharp spines that can
be see at the edge angle of the lobes. See the picture at the bottom left below for a
close-up view. If you pull the leaf apart at the center a core string will
remain. The plant does not contain a white, milky sap as does many look-alikes (see
below).
There are a number of other plants in a rosette with lobed leaves that could be
confused with Shepherd‘s Purse:
- Dandelion (Taraxicum spp.): Larger leaves. White sap.
Often angled lobes. Smooth margins. Round midrib cross-section
- Cat‘s Ear (Hypochaeris radicata): Larger leaves. White sap. Hairy
margins and erect hairs evenly distributed on all leaf surfaces. Round midrib
cross-section.
- Chicory (Cichorium intybus): Larger leaves. White sap. Erect hairs only
prominent of underside of midrib.
- Virginia pepperweed (Lepidium virginicum): Leaves 2 to 6 inches. Less tapered
at the base. Slightly to deeply lobed. The leaf end and lobes can sometimes be
irregularly toothed. No white sap. Peppery taste.
- Sowthistle (Sonchus spp.): Much larger leaves. Much more prominent and
frequent spines on margines. White sap. Triangular midrib cross-section.
- Wild Lettuce (Latuca spp.): Much larger leaves. White sap. Erect hairs on
underside of midrib. Triangular midrib cross-section.
April 22, 2011
Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)
Harvested some Coltsfoot tops to make an infused tea for my lungs.
April 23, 2011
Virginia Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) (Tentative Identification)
I took pictures of a grass-like plant off the side of a foot path and compared these
pictures with some pictures I took of the same area in June 2010. You can see the picture
of the flower from June 8, 2010 on the far right. It is a 3-lobed, blue flower that
perfectly matches up to a Spiderwort. We only have two Spiderworts in New Hampshire,
the Virginia Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) and the Ohio Spiderwort (Bluejacket)
(Tradescantia ohiensis). The Ohio Spiderwort leaves tend to be pale grayish or bluish
green and the nodes of the stem are mostly hairless (glabrous). The Virginia Spiderwort leaves
tend to be green and the stem nodes are sparsely covered in find down-like hairs
(puberulent).
I am really not sure that this is Virginia Spiderwort, but I will find out in a month or so.
April 24, 2011
April 26, 2011
I saw this very small clump of white flowers in the grass near where I live. It took
an hour to identify. The XID Services weed
identification software was a big help. It does not always get me the exact species, but
it can often identify the genus.
Spring Whitlow Grass is a 2 to 12 inch tall plant with a clump of 1/2 to 1 inch oblong,
hairy basal leaves. The long flower stem is hairy, especially near the leaves. Stem leaves
are absent, unlike the similar species, Cushion Draba (Draba lanceolata) which does
have stem leaves. The 1/8 inch wide flowers have 4 white petals that are so
deeply-notched, it appears as if there are 8 petals.
April 28, 2011
April 29, 2011
I went back today to collect American Trout-Lily for food. Saw three patches of
it growing. The patch in the location more exposed to the sun had flowers already
while the other two patches had no flowers.
I steam the Trout-Lily leaves and bulbs for 8 minutes. The leaves might have been
overcooked a bit and had the consistency of cooked spinach. Good taste, but the
leaves didn't break down much upon chewing (unlike spinach).
April 30, 2011
Showy Forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia [F. suspensa x F. viridissima])
There are three main types of Forsythia in the Northeastern United States:
- Weeping Forsythia (Forsythia suspensa): Branches tend to curve/droop down as
the plant grows fairly wide. The pith (center portion of the branches) is hollow between
the nodes. Leaves are opposite and often 3-foliate, oblong-ovate or broadly ovate with
a toothed margin.
- Greenstem Forsythia (Forsythia viridissima): Branches grow upright. The pith
is chambered between the nodes. Leaves are opposite, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate with
a toothed margin above the middle.
- Showy Forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia): Branches tend to curve/droop down as
the plant grows fairly wide. The pith is chambered between the nodes, especially the
upper branches. Leaves are opposite and sometimes 3-foliate. Toothed margin starting
1/4th of the way up the leaf.
There are many cultivars of Forsythia, especially the Forsythia x intermedia
variety. It is used for a very decorative Spring border along roads and in yards.
As you can see from the images below, the pith is chambered between the nodes.
But you have to look at a cross section along the length of the branch to see that
it is not hollow.
It would be easy to walk by this plant without noticing the flowers as they are
often hidden behind the leaves. It has bell-shaped pairs of yellow flowers, each pair
hanging down from a flower stem originating at the base of the leaf petiole (stem).
Leaves are opposite, ovate (wider at the base), have distinctly hairy but untoothed
margins and leave veins are pinnate and curve towards the rounded leaf tip. It
grows up to 3 feet in height and is found in wet woods, thickets, bogs in peaty
acidic soil. It was growing in woods along with Eastern White Pine
(Pinus strubus) and Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis).
It is similar to Mountain Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera villosa) except that
the leaves on Mountain Fly Honeysuckle are sessile (no leaf stems/petioles) and
the flower stems (peduncles) are extremely short.
In June or July this plant produces pairs of red berries that I think are
inedible.
This is my third clubmoss! Previously, I have identified Southern Ground Cedar
(Diphasiastrum digitatum) and Flat-Branched Ground Pine
(Lycopodium obscurum). Pennsylvania Clubmoss is very similar to Flat-Branched
Ground Pine in that the strobili (cone-like structures) have no stalk (sessile), but
grow right from the leaved branches and the main stem is not prickly (the tiny leaves do not
stick straight out). It grows upright like Flat-Branched Ground Pine -- looks like a
little tree.
But the main difference is that the Pennsylvania Clubmoss branches with
leaves feel round when held, but the Flat-Branched Ground Pine branches feel flat.
This is due to the fact that the Pennsylvania Clubmoss leaves are all the same size
and spread the same amount while the Flat-Branched Ground Pine has leaves on the bottom
that are much smaller and not spreading (which gives it a flat feel). Compare the second
picture on the right of a Pennsylvania Clubmoss branch with the very last picture on the
bottom left which is a labeled picture of a Flat-Branched Ground Pine branch.
I bought five galvanized steel maple sap buckets, covers, spiles (spouts) and a 7/16
inch drill bit. Everything I need to gather maple sap ... except the drill and the maple
tree! I didn't realize how difficult it might be to find a maple tree without the leaves.
Fortunately, even in early April, there are some dead leaves under the trees that can
be unfurled to help with identification. As you can see from the picture on the right,
it is clearly a maple tree and based on the leaf shape and it appears to be a Sugar Maple.
It has similar leaves to the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides), but the Sugar Maple
has fewer teeth on each lobe.
Sugar Maples are large trees growing 70 to 100 feet tall. The leaves are opposite, 3-1/2
to 5-1/2 inches wide with 5 palmately divided lobes. The lobes have 5 main veins
from the base and have few narrow, long-pointed teeth. Leaves are dull dark green above
and paler green beneath. The leaves turn red, yellow and orange in the Fall. The bark
is gray-brown with rough vertical grooves and loose-edged plates.
I took two collecting buckets and drilled holes in two trees at a slight angle so that
the sap could drip out. I then tapped the spile into the tree and hung the bucket on the
hook that came with the spile. The cover is to keep the rain out that could dilute the
Maple Sap. Putting the cover on is a little bit more tricky than I thought. I still
haven't figured out the easiest way to do it.
My first encounter with Coltsfoot! I was surprised to see a flower blooming just a
few days after the snow melted.The Coltsfoot flowerheads and buds can be eaten raw
in salads. The flower stems can be eaten raw or cooked. Young leaves can be eaten
raw, but remove white hairs prior to consumption to avoid irritation. When the leaves
get older, they can be eaten by boiling them in one or more changes of water. Apparently,
the ashes of Coltsfoot leaves can be used as a salt substitute.
All parts of the plant can be used to make a medicinal tea by infusion. However,
the leaves are the safest because they contain only trace levels of pyrrolizidine
alkaloids that can be hard on the liver. The tea treats asthma, cough, soothes
mucous membranes (mucilagenous) and is an expectorant. Use by making a strong
infusion or by drying and smoking the leaves.
Southern Ground Cedar and other members of the Clubmoss (Lycopodiaceae)
family are not related to moss, but considered closely related to ferns.
Members of this Genus (Diphasiastrum) have a tree-like structure with a
main stem and side branches (although the stems are so weak that the plant lies
along the ground) and the stalks with the cone-like structures called strobili
have branches of equal length on each fork. Notice the leaves along the branch
are the little spine-like structure lying nearly flat against the branch. Note:
all of the images in this section are of Southern Ground Cedar.
Southern Ground Cedar can be distinguished from similar Clubmosses:
This was my first time tasting Shepherd‘s Purse. Many authors call it a mild
salad green. It was mild and even bland in my opinion. But I never had been a big
fan of salad greens. I will go back and harvest more in a week or two.
Shepherd‘s Purse will grow in a basal rosette of leaves. The rosette leaves of the
mature plant are only 2 to 4 inches long, oblong, taper from the upper third of the leaf
towards the base and are often deeply lobed but sometimes only slightly lobed (especially when the plant is a seedling).
The leaves tend to be consistently smaller than look-alikes such as Dandelion, Cat‘s
Ear and Sowthistle. The lobes tend to point straight out (perpendicular) from the
leaf. One major distinguishing characteristic are the very tiny sharp spines that can
be see at the edge angle of the lobes. See the picture at the bottom left below for a
close-up view. If you pull the leaf apart at the center a core string will
remain. The plant does not contain a white, milky sap as does many look-alikes (see
below).
I took pictures of a grass-like plant off the side of a foot path and compared these
pictures with some pictures I took of the same area in June 2010. You can see the picture
of the flower from June 8, 2010 on the far right. It is a 3-lobed, blue flower that
perfectly matches up to a Spiderwort. We only have two Spiderworts in New Hampshire,
the Virginia Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) and the Ohio Spiderwort (Bluejacket)
(Tradescantia ohiensis). The Ohio Spiderwort leaves tend to be pale grayish or bluish
green and the nodes of the stem are mostly hairless (glabrous). The Virginia Spiderwort leaves
tend to be green and the stem nodes are sparsely covered in find down-like hairs
(puberulent).
I am really not sure that this is Virginia Spiderwort, but I will find out in a month or so.
I saw this very small clump of white flowers in the grass near where I live. It took
an hour to identify. The XID Services weed
identification software was a big help. It does not always get me the exact species, but
it can often identify the genus.
Spring Whitlow Grass is a 2 to 12 inch tall plant with a clump of 1/2 to 1 inch oblong,
hairy basal leaves. The long flower stem is hairy, especially near the leaves. Stem leaves
are absent, unlike the similar species, Cushion Draba (Draba lanceolata) which does
have stem leaves. The 1/8 inch wide flowers have 4 white petals that are so
deeply-notched, it appears as if there are 8 petals.
I went back today to collect American Trout-Lily for food. Saw three patches of
it growing. The patch in the location more exposed to the sun had flowers already
while the other two patches had no flowers.
There are three main types of Forsythia in the Northeastern United States:
There are many cultivars of Forsythia, especially the Forsythia x intermedia
variety. It is used for a very decorative Spring border along roads and in yards.
As you can see from the images below, the pith is chambered between the nodes.
But you have to look at a cross section along the length of the branch to see that
it is not hollow.
It would be easy to walk by this plant without noticing the flowers as they are
often hidden behind the leaves. It has bell-shaped pairs of yellow flowers, each pair
hanging down from a flower stem originating at the base of the leaf petiole (stem).
Leaves are opposite, ovate (wider at the base), have distinctly hairy but untoothed
margins and leave veins are pinnate and curve towards the rounded leaf tip. It
grows up to 3 feet in height and is found in wet woods, thickets, bogs in peaty
acidic soil. It was growing in woods along with Eastern White Pine
(Pinus strubus) and Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis).
It is similar to Mountain Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera villosa) except that
the leaves on Mountain Fly Honeysuckle are sessile (no leaf stems/petioles) and
the flower stems (peduncles) are extremely short.
This is my third clubmoss! Previously, I have identified Southern Ground Cedar
(Diphasiastrum digitatum) and Flat-Branched Ground Pine
(Lycopodium obscurum). Pennsylvania Clubmoss is very similar to Flat-Branched
Ground Pine in that the strobili (cone-like structures) have no stalk (sessile), but
grow right from the leaved branches and the main stem is not prickly (the tiny leaves do not
stick straight out). It grows upright like Flat-Branched Ground Pine -- looks like a
little tree.
But the main difference is that the Pennsylvania Clubmoss branches with
leaves feel round when held, but the Flat-Branched Ground Pine branches feel flat.
This is due to the fact that the Pennsylvania Clubmoss leaves are all the same size
and spread the same amount while the Flat-Branched Ground Pine has leaves on the bottom
that are much smaller and not spreading (which gives it a flat feel). Compare the second
picture on the right of a Pennsylvania Clubmoss branch with the very last picture on the
bottom left which is a labeled picture of a Flat-Branched Ground Pine branch.
