Plantain-Leaved Pussytoes (Wild Harvest Tour Special)

 

Wild Harvest Tour Special Edition

 

Just to let you all know, the next few blog posts will be covering things that were exclusively seen on the Wild Harvest Tour, these are plants found in the woods of North Carolina. Some of these plants are good, some are bad but they are things you need to know about. I hope you enjoy the focused content folks.

 

https://www.facebook.com/people/Sandhills-Wild-Harvest/61557940700225/?sk=photos

 

 

Sorry for the still image from the YouTube video, it seems I failed to take a picture of it during the tour.

 

 

Common Name: Plantain-Leaved Pussytoes

 

Other Common Names: Pussytoes, Plantain-Leaved Everlasting, Ladies Tobacco, Indian Tobacco, Mouseear.

 

Botanical Family: Asteraceae (The Aster Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Antennaria plantaginifolia

 

Description & Habitat:  Although the specimen identified for this post was found in a Mesic forest near a dirt road and that forest was a border between Scrub Oak, Sourwood and Loblolly Pines typically, this plant will be found in dry open woodlands, meadows and rocky places. It prefers dry, acidic sandy or rocky poor soils and likes dry woodlands with light dappled shade. This plant is best identified by its spoon shaped leaves which resemble Plantain (Plantago major). The leaves of this plant also bear light white fuzz on them as is seen in the photograph.

 

When & What to Harvest: The leaves are used for a number of ailments while there is no noted best time to harvest them given that this plant is herbaceous it might be best to harvest in the late spring into summer.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None known.

 

Related Edible Species: The Pussytoes family is noted to be hard to tell apart with the exception of Plantain-Leaved Pussytoes.

 

Recipe: I could not find a recipe for this one in the conventional sense, just some suggestions for how to use it medicinally. For instance boiling the foliage of this plant in milk is a supposed folk remedy for Diarrhea and Dysentery. A team made of the leaves supposedly helps with lung ailments, and the leaves supposedly can be poultice on bruises, sprains, boils and swellings to relieve discomfort and possibly accelerate healing.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/antennaria-plantaginifolia/

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

 

Summer Vegetable Plants (NEW!)

Tomato – Sweet 100

Tomato – Lemon Boy

Tomato – Black Krim

Tomato – Paul Robeson

Tomato – Cherokee Purple

Tomato – Brandywine, Suddeth’s Strain

 

Pepper – Cayenne

Pepper – Habanero

Pepper – Ghost

 

Herbs (New!)

Bee Balm

 

Garden Plants

Lamb’s Ear

Yucca

 

Coming Soon:

American Aloe

Cutleaf Coneflower

Spineless Prickly Pear

 

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Striped Wintergreen

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is June 1^st at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

Paper Mulberry

 

As seen at a Farm in Red Springs NC, note the variable shapes of the leaves.

Like a lot of things in the Moraceae family Paper Mulberry can throw a lot of leaf ID curveballs.

Common Name: Paper Mulberry

 

Other Common Names: Tapa Cloth Tree,

 

Botanical Family: Moraceae (The Mulberry/Fig Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Broussonetia papyrifera

 

Description & Habitat:  Paper Mulberry is a non-native tree native to Asia. Its native range includes China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, India, Myanmar and Southeast Asia. Paper Mulberry is considered an ornamental shade tree and it is commonly found as an invasive in open habitats such as forests and the edges of fields. In the wild it can be found as a large shrub or as a small tree with heights of over thirty feet. Its leaves are its most unidentifiable feature, though smaller leaves are simple and ovate in shape with pointed tips and serrated margins. The leaves of larger more mature specimens look more like what you’d expect from a Mulberry, they can be heart shaped or mitten shaped with the potential for deep lobes and two or three lobes near the base of the leaf. This plant does exude a milky sap if injured. It is aggressive and is considered an invasive in at least the State of Florida, which means it is a invasive threat in North Carolina most likely. I can easily spread and form thickets and or colonies in waste areas fields, forest margins or by the road side. This plant was introduced in the United States by at least 1903, someone didn’t do their proper research and did not know this plant can asexually clone itself by underground runners much like Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) can. The current scientific name comes from Pierre Maria August Broussonet (1761-1807) who was a professor of Botany at Montpelier, France. Also it should be noted that Paper Mulberry is still listed in some publications as Morus papyrifera.

 

When & What to Harvest: This tree eventually will produce fruit, but the problem with it is that it requires a certain amount of chilling hours that are unlikely to happen in Zone 8b. So that leaves the vegetable value. The young leaves can be eaten if steamed or boiled, the bark can be used to make paper or cloth called tapa, and if you can get fruit fromt his tree it is very high in calcium and magnesium.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None that I know of.

 

Related Edible Species: Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera).

 

Recipe: As far as I can tell there are no normal recipes for this just notes on how you can cook it. Here is some info on how you make fiber out of it:

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijms/2016/1498967/

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

 

Wild Harvest Tour – May News II

 

Here we all are, and this Saturday is the fourth Saturday of the month and you know that that means. It is finally time for the Wild Harvest Tour and, just in case you missed the announcements for it, the Wild Harvest Tour is a guided tour that introduces participants to the various plants and fungi that are useful to you in either a food, medicinal or herbal sense. We will show you what is out there, how to use it, as well as a bit of woodland hiking safety. The tour is led by two mycologists (Eric & Jesse of Sandhills Mushroom farm) and a plant expert (me) and we’ve added on an extra hour so it will last about three hours. It runs from 9:00am to 12:00pm. The per-person entry fee is $40.00 and, the address is 3447 Marks Road, Cameron North Carolina 28326. We suggest arriving a bit before 9am if possible and to follow the basic safety protocol for woodland hiking which can be found at the link below.

 

https://americanhiking.org/resources/ticks/

 

You can see photos of the tour on our Facebook page at the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/people/Sandhills-Wild-Harvest/61557940700225/?sk=photos

 

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Cardinal Basil

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is May 25^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

Marsh Parsley

 

Marsh Parsley is so wispy that in this photo it is hard to see against a backdrop of pine straw.

It isn't the best photo, but the spot where the specimen emerged was recently landscaped meaning the seed for this plant came likely in with the Gardenia.

An up close look makes this plant look like Dill or A carrot that is in the late stage of it's life.

 

 

Common Name: Marsh Parsley

 

Other Common Names: Fir-Leaf Celery, Slender Celery, Wild Celery

 

Botanical Family: Apiaceae (The Carrot Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Cyclospermum leptophyllum

 

Description & Habitat:  Marsh Parsley is and summer annual plant that is native to South and Tropical America. It has very finely dissected leaves and its rapid growth will see it forming a freely branching mound about two feet tall. At a glance it resembles a Wild Carrot, but close inspection will reveal that it is lacking certain features exclusive to carrots. This plant is fast growing and will produce multiple generations in a given year making it hard to eradicate if introduced into an ideal area. Several sources of information suggest that it is a undesirable plant for pastures as it may taint the quality of milk. Beyond this a few sources indicate that when grown in soils that are frequently wet or in areas that frequently flood its flavor as a wild herb may be compromised in a way as to make it inedible. Note, this plant was previously known as Apium leptophyllum, A. tennuifolium and Cyclospermum ammi.

 

When & What to Harvest:

The leaves can be harvested as a replacement for parsley in cooking.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: Other than a possible passing resemblance to Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) none known.

 

 

Related Edible Species: A wide selection of the carrot family is safely edible.

 

Recipe: Unfortunately I did not locate any recipes for this one and every source suggests using it like celery or parsley in a purely seasoning role.

 

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

 

For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.

 

Summer Vegetable Plants

Tomato – Chocolate Cherry

Tomato – Lemon Boy

Tomato – Black Krim

Tomato – Paul Robeson

Tomato – Cherokee Purple

Tomato – Brandywine, Suddeth’s Strain

 

Pepper – Cayenne

Pepper – Habanero

Pepper – Ghost

 

Herbs (New!)

Bee Balm

Lemon Balm

Oregano

Sweet Genovese Basil

 

Garden Plants

Daylilies

Dahlias

Lamb’s Ear

 

Coming Soon:

American Aloe

Yucca

Cutleaf Coneflower

Spineless Prickly Pear

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (2): Arbequina Olives, Leeks (Short video)

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is May 18^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.