Eating our Fernmount Food Forest weeds.

Take Care: Please ensure you know your weeds before consuming them from your garden. Roadside weeds may have been sprayed or polluted.

 These are common edible weeds in the Fernmount Food Forest and the local area.

Ragweed aka Thickhead

 

Ragweed aka Gynura crepidioides aka

Thickhead

Ragweed, Gynura crepidioides

Some online articles conflate Okinawa Spinach (Gynura bicolour)) with Ragweed (Gynura crepidioides) and sometimes both plants are depicted, cut and bundled, in Asian vegetable markets.

Okinawa Spinach (Gynura bicolour)

Gynura crepidiodes, a common weed in the Bellingen valley

Thickhead

"Gynura crepidioides Benth. is a synonym of Crassocephalum crepidioides"

"Crassocephalum crepidioides, also called ebolo, thickhead, redflower ragleaf, or fireweed, is an erect annual slightly succulent herb growing up to 180 cm tall. Its use is widespread in many tropical and subtropical regions, but is especially prominent in tropical Africa. Its fleshy, mucilaginous leaves and stems are eaten as a vegetable, and many parts of the plant have medical uses. However, the safety of internal use needs further research due to the presence of plant toxins. ^{[2]" Ref: Wikipedia}

"Cultivation Details

Grows well in soils that are rich in organic matter. Often cultivated as a food crop in the tropics, the plant has light, plumed seeds that are easily distributed by the wind. It has escaped from cultivation in many areas and become an invasive weed in some places.

Edible Uses

Leaves - raw or cooked. A distinctive, pine-like flavour. The leaves are fleshy, somewhat mucilaginous with a nutty flavour]. The tender and succulent leaves and stems of ebolo are mucilaginous and are used as a vegetable in soups and stews, especially in West and Central Africa. It is much appreciated for its special flavour, which is sharp but not bitter. In Sierra Leone the leaves are also popular and are made into a sauce with groundnut paste. In Australia it is eaten as a salad green, either cooked or raw"  Ref: Useful Tropical Plants

Also Search for Gynura crepidioides in Google Book 'Vegetables' for an excellent article.

"Boil a few leaves amongst other greens such as silverbeet or spinach but don't eat too often in view of the report of the pyrrolizidine alkaloids." Tom and Anne's Garden


 

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Plantain

This is seen less and less on the FFF land. Mowing and mulch eradicate this weed fairly well, Perhaps I need to grow it in a garden bed.

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/pastures-and-rangelands/species-varieties/narrow-leaf-plantain

"The shoots of the broadleaf plantain, when green and tender and no longer than about four inches, can be described as a poor-man's fiddlehead, with a nutty, asparagus-like taste. Pan-fry in olive oil for just a few seconds to bring out this taste. The longer, browner shoots are also tasty prepared the same way, but the inner stem is too fibrous. You'll need to place the shoot in your mouth, clench with your teeth, and quickly pull out the stem. What you're eating are the plantain seeds.

The leaves of the equally ubiquitous narrow-leaf plantain, or Plantago lanceolata, also are edible when young. The shoot is "edible" only with quotation marks. You can eat the seeds should you have the patience to collect hundreds of plants for the handful of seeds you'd harvest. With time being money, it's likely not worth it." http://www.livescience.com/15322-healthiest-backyard-weeds.html

Plantain – the prime fodder crop as a herbal healer

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Sow Thistle

 

"Most livestock will readily devour sow thistle in preference to grass, and this lettuce-relative is edible and nutritious to humans — in fact this is the meaning of the second part of the Latin name of the common sow thistle, oleraceus.<sup>[12] " Wikipedia

Recipes: Eat the Weeds</sup>

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 Commelina cyanea

Photo: Commelina cyanea, Scurvy Weed. Watsons Bay, NSW

Blue Wandering Jew

The common name is not PC but is very recognisable.  Commelina cyania or Native 'Wandering Jew' has blue flowers. 

The White flowered variety is NOT EDIBLE and is TOXIC

"The edible wandering jew weed is not the same species as the popular house and garden plant. That white flowering species is from a genus called Trandescatia, and it is both inedible and toxic, while the blue flowering ‘weed” is called Commelina cyania or Native wandering Jew. It is also called “the scurvy plant” because early settlers in Australia ate this vitamin C rich plant to alleviate scurvy. 

This plant is native to the East coast of Australia and Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands and there has been no research conducted into the nutritional and phytochemical constituents. It is a bush food that was favoured by aboriginals for thousands of years but that is all we know." The War on Weeds - Eating Your Enemy

Our chickens eat both plants voraciously.

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Purslane 

Purslane – a medicinal succulent

A much 'plucked for salad' Purslane plant does not get lost in the weed patch

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Cats Ears

I am told the best way to differentiate Cats Ears (edible) from Dandelions (very edible) is by checking the leaves. Cats Ears have a fleshier leaf with hairs like the inside of a cat's ear. I also find that Cats Ears have a branching stem, Dandelions a single stem.  Cats Ears like Dandelions are edible. They can be eaten raw. The good news, from a Greek friend of a friend, is that Cats Ears, boiled for 20 minutes until no longer bright green, are very scrumptious.

 

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Chickweed 

 

 The Chickweed (Stellaria media)
pictured in the centre of this photo can be a very useful edible. At a recent Seedsavers event Chickweed fritters were very popular.

 

This is loved by the chickens. The stems can be quite fibrous so chop small. Chopping small before stir-frying with garlic is a useful tip when cooking many green veges.

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Gotu Kola

Gotu Kola

 See also: gotu kola weed

'Gotu kola (Centella asiatica), also known as Asian pennywort, is a perennial with small kidney-shaped leaves that is commonly found in warmer parts of Australia. It has been shown to boost brain function and is effective in treating wounds and varicose veins.' SMH

See also: Gotu Kola

  Note where the stem joins the leaf.

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Cobblers Pegs

 

Cobblers Pegs aka Farmers Friend aka Blackjack (Bidens pilosa),  is a common weed in our valley.

Blackjack

Cobblers Pegs

I often pluck a fresh young leaf to chew when walking. They are slightly bitter but I read it is very healthy for you.

"Although this plant is considered a weed in some parts of the world, in other parts it is a source of food or medicine.^[18] For example, it is reportedly widely eaten in Africa,^[19] and in Vietnam, during the Vietnam War soldiers adopted the herb as a vegetable, which lead to it being known as the "soldier vegetable".^{[20]" wikipedia}

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Black Nightshade (Solanum_nigrum)

Link: Black Nightshade

Do not confuse with Deadly Nightshade. 

http://capitalnaturalist.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/black-nightshade.htm

References:  https://detox.net.au/edible-weeds-herbs-and-edible-bushfoods/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_nigrum

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Also of edible interest:

 Birds Nest Fern

and

Spider plant (Cleome gynandra)

are grown as edible crops.