Sea Holly / All Year Round / Edible Sea Holly is one of those plants that from looking at it and touching it you wouldn’t imagine it was edible one bit, it has sharps spikes on it but once you get past them there are some tasty bits to enjoy.…
Category: coastal
The Salty Agaric / Summer / Autumn / Edible Scientific Name Agaricus Bernardii Common Names The Salty Agaric, The Salt-loving mushroom. Family Agaricaceae Habitat As their common name suggests they love salty environments so are most often found near to the coast, although they are becoming more common on inland…
Wild Fennel / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Edible Latin Name: Foeniculum vulgare Physical Characteristics: A tall umbellifer that can grow to 1.5-2m tall in favourable conditions. Leaves The leaves, which begin sheathed, are very finely branched and appear feathery. Flowers The flowering stalks are round in the cross…
Sea Plantain / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Edible Other Common Names: Coastal Plantain, Plantain by the Sea, Goose tongue Latin Name: Plantago maritima subsp. maritima (there are several subspecies, differentiated by their geographical distributions). Physical Characteristics: Looking a bit like a wider, more succulent grass stem with a…
Salty Fingers / All Year / Edible Other Common Names: Pigface, Karkalla, Beach banana, Purple dew plant, Rounded noon-flower Latin Name: Disphyma crassifolium Physical Characteristics: A creeping succulent plant with finger shaped leaves and daisy-like flowers rimmed in bright purple. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs that tend to…
Buck’s Horn Plantain Other Common Names: Stagshorn plantain, Minutina Latin Name: Plantago coronopus Physical Characteristics: The whole plant rarely grows more than 10cm tall. Leaves Hairy leaves growing in a basal rosette. Each individual leaf has teeth’ coming off the sides that look like a crow’s foot at the end,…
Nori / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Winter / Edible Other Common Names: sometimes called Laver (not strictly correct, but they are very similar) Latin Name: Pyropia yezoensis, californica, tenera and other species. Note that Laver is in the Porphyria genus, but the seaweeds in each are often reclassified.…
Irish Moss Seaweed /Autumn / Winter / Spring / Edible Irish Moss (the source of carrageenan) Note: You may have heard more about Carrageenan than about Irish Moss, and you may be surprised to find controversial material after googling carrageenan! Irish Moss is the seaweed from which the fibre/carbohydrate carrageenan…
Sea Aster / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Edible Common Name: Sea Aster Latin Name: Aster tripolium, Asteraceae Harvest Season: Young leaves become visible in April and you may find a bit of fresh growth until October. Rely on your sense of good, healthy, fresh-looking foliage. Habitat: Mainly salt…
Hotten-Tot Fig / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Winter / Edible Common Names Sour Fig/Ice Plant (The name Hottentot Fig is also known, but foragers should be aware that this name has colonial and racist history in South Africa where the plant originated) Latin Name Carpobrotus edulis, Aizoaceae (Fig-Marigold…