| {Obligatory public service announcement: before you actually head out to forage anything, please read the first diary in this series for some important information. Thanks!}
 This is trout lily, also known as dogwood violet. (That wikipedia link is pretty lame, so here's the USDA plants database link as well.) Trout lilies grow in the Eastern half of the U.S. and Canada and are particularly fond of moist environments. Each plant consists of one or two highly distinctive, glossy, hairless leaves with smooth edges and green and purple mottling. The leaves are about 3-4 inches long and spring directly from a tiny underground corm. They are part of the true lily family, unlike the also edible but inaccurately named daylily. (Left: Trout Lily Leaves by wide eyed lib)
In mid-Spring a flower stalk grows from the corm and quickly bursts into a beautiful yellow flower with 3 petals and 3 sepals that tilts toward the ground (thus my fingers in the photo holding it up). Apparently there's also a trout lily with a white flower, though I haven't seen it myself. In the next couple of days, the petals will fold back toward the stem, and the flower will more closely resemble a classic lily before falling off and being replaced by a tiny, smooth, bright green seedpod.
Although I'm certain the leaves and tiny corms are edible before the buds appear (had some for dinner last night in fact), I've read conflicting information about whether the leaves are still edible after the flower appears, and whether the bud and flower are edible at all. As always, caveat forager. Even if some plants are flowering, you can still harvest and eat the leaves of the ones that aren't. The leaves and corms have a mild, crisp flavor a bit like cucumber. They can be eaten raw, or steamed or sauteed for just a few minutes. They're startlingly beautiful against a mixed green salad and would make a lovely garnish for any dish. (Right: Trout Lily Flower by wide eyed lib)
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 I've mentioned Japanese knotweed in a couple of diaries because there was a patch that teased me by poking shoots out of the ground earlier than normal but then refused to grow tall enough to be worth harvesting. Finally, though, I was greeted by some lovely shoots. Although the two plants aren't related, adult Japanese knotweed resembles bamboo in many ways; both plants have tall, hollow stems with knobby joints at various points along their length. They have vastly different leaves, however. (Left: Knotweed Shoot With Winter Stems by wide eyed lib)
Adult Japanese knotweed is too woody to eat, but you can use the prior year's dried out stalks (up to 10 feet tall) to find where to look for the shoots in Spring. The shoots resemble jointed asparagus and are marbled green and garnet. They have leaves which are smaller versions of the adult leaves-- about 4 inches long, triangular, veined, and wavy along the edges. The leaf stalks clasp the stem with beige, papery sheaths.
 Originally imported into the U.S. as an ornamental, Japanese knotweed escaped cultivation and is now found along the East Coast, the West Coast and most of the middle of the U.S. and Canada. In some areas it's classified as invasive. It spreads via underground rhizomes and will readily displace other plants. In late summer, tons of tiny flower stems grow upward from the leaf joints and burst with equally small greenish-white flowers. The fruits appear in Fall, are dark brown and resemble small nuts. (Right: Knotweed Shoot Closeup by wide eyed lib)
Luckily for anyone who wants to help control the spread of this plant (or just eat well), the shoots are very tasty. It's easiest to gather them when they're about 6-8 inches tall and still nice and tender. Shoots can still be gathered until they're about a foot and a half tall, but they may have developed some woodiness near the surface that would require peeling. No matter when you harvest, discard the leaves. (If you're trying to halt the spread of this plant, pull up all the shoots as they appear, as this will hamper the ability of the rhizome beneath to store enough food for the coming year.)
Knotweed tastes a bit like rhubarb and can be used in many of the same ways. It can be paired with fruits, stewed and sweetened, made into jelly (with added pectin) or cooked like a vegetable. (I've assembled the filling for a Euell Gibbons-inspired knotweed pie. See the left hand side of this page for the original recipe. My tweaks were 1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp vanilla, and Mr. wide eyed lib is making the pie crust. I'll report back later tonight about how our pied beauty pie turned out.) Japanese knotweed works especially well with carrots or sauteed onions because the sweetness helps balance the sourness. Cooked, it gets quite soft and can be used as a lemon substitute. Not surprising given its sourness, this plant is high in Vitamin C, but it also contains a good amount of Vitamin A, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, and manganese. Finally, it's an excellent source of resveratrol, which lowers "bad" LDL cholesterol and decreases the risk of heart attacks. You can even buy Japanese knotweed in capsule form, but why would you?
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Today's final new plant is waterleaf, also known as Indian Salad. The species that grows near me is called Virginia waterleaf and has irregularly notched leaves with 5 to 7 lobes. Waterleaves earned their common name from the fact that they grow in wet places and the feather-compound leaves of many species have white spots on them as though they were stained by water. One species or another grows throughout the U.S. and Southern Canada, with the apparent exceptions of Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Maine, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. The species most prominent on the West Coast seems to be ballhead waterleaf. Other species include broad-leaved waterleaf with maple-like leaves, and large-leaf waterleaf with 7 or more lobes. Some species are hairy and others are hairless. (Above: Virgina Waterleaf Plants by wide eyed lib [The five-sided, olive-green leaves with lime-green veins are English ivy leaves; please don't confuse the two because English ivy is poisonous.])
 Regardless of the species, waterleaf plants grow about 1-2 feet tall and have dense clusters of five-lobed flowers that look like little bells, complete with protruding stamens that vaguely resemble extra-long clappers. The flower colors range from white to purple to blue. I'm not certain what the fruits or seeds look like, but I'll try to find out later this year. (Left: Virginia Waterleaf Closeup by wide eyed lib)
All waterleaf species have edible leaves that are best collected in early to mid Spring and taste something like parsley. By the time the flower stalks appear, the leaves are less tender and probably not worth bothering with. Hairless to nearly-hairless species are delicious raw, and any species can be briefly steamed or thrown into a soup near the end. If I can find enough of them, I might experiment with making a pesto or tabbouleh.
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To end this week, I'd like to check in with a few old friends (both originally discussed in this diary) and see what they're up to.
  Our old friend garlic mustard has been busy developing buds and, in the sunniest places, actually flowering. Like cabbages and other members of the mustard family, garlic mustard has cross-shaped flowers that inspired the original family name, Cruciferae (as in crucifix). (Just to complicate things, the family name was recently changed to Brassicaceae.) (Above Left: Garlic Mustard Bud; Right: Garlic Mustard Flowers, both by wide eyed lib)
Buds and flowers are both edible, with buds tasting like broccoli on steroids and flowers tasting like a slightly milder version of the garlicky leaves. I can eat the flowers raw, but the buds are too strong for my tastes. Garlic mustard is so plentiful that I was easily able to gather a few cups of the buds, and I plan to experiment with various ways of cooking them. I suspect boiling them for about 5 minutes and then shocking them in cold water might mitigate the bitterness. If I'm successful, I'll report back.
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 Finally, here is a jewelweed shoot. Look for them in damp woodlands and low-lying areas with partial sun. Jewelweed shoots are fairly distinctive with the lowest two leaves being a bluish-green and somewhat pumpkin-shaped, and all higher leaves being greener and oval with toothed edges. In my area, jewelweed shoots are about 1-2 inches tall right now and equally wide.
In addition to the wonderful skin-soothing properties discussed in this diary, until the shoots are about 8 inches tall, you can pick them, boil for 20 minutes and eat them. Make sure you discard the water and don't eat jewelweed shoots or leaves raw because jewelweed is very high in selenium, and selenium poisoning is no fun. (Above: Jewelweed Shoot by wide eyed lib)
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As always, please feel free to post photos in the comments and I'll do my best to help identify what you've foraged. (And if you find any errors, let me know.)
Here are some helpful foraging resources:
"Wildman" Steve Brill's site covers many edibles and includes nice drawings.
"Green" Deane Jordan's site is quite comprehensive and has color photos and stories about many plants.
Green Deane's foraging how-to clips on youtube each cover a single plant in reassuring detail.
Linda Runyon's site features only a few plants but has great deals on her dvd, wild cards and books (check out the package deals in particular).
Steve Brill's book, Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places is my primary foraging guide. (Read reviews here, but if you're feeling generous, please buy from Steve's website.)
Linda Runyon's book The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide contains especially detailed information about nutritional content and how to store and preserve wild foods.
Steve Brill also offers guided foraging tours in NYC-area parks. Details and contact info are on his website.
The USDA plants database is also a great place to look up info.
See you next week!
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