Wild Fennel / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Edible Latin Name: Foeniculum vulgare Physical Characteristics:Â 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…
Category: Plant identification
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…
Lilac / Spring / Summer / Edible Other Common Names:Â Lilac flower, sweet lilac Latin Name: Syringa vulgaris and other species Physical Characteristics:Â This is a deciduous shrub that blooms in spring with cones of wonderfully fragrant flowers. It can grow up to 7m tall and can form suckers with…
Buck’s Horn Plantain Other Common Names: Stagshorn plantain, Minutina Latin Name: Plantago coronopus Physical Characteristics:Â 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,…
Reindeer Moss / All Year / Edible Other Common Names: Reindeer lichen, Reindeer cup lichen, Grey reindeer lichen, Caribou moss, Deer moss Latin Name: Cladonia rangiferina Physical Characteristics:Â While it is colloquially known as a moss, this is actually a lichen, which is a symbiont of at least one fungus…
Old Man’s Beard / All Year / Edible After processing Old Man’s Beard, it can be dried, or powdered and added to energy balls, crackers, and sauces that need thickening. Other Common Names: (this refers to the lichen, not the species of Clematis that goes by the same common name).…
Oak Moss / All Year Round / Edible Oak Moss and other Lichens have been used as food and medicine as long as there have been people. Other Common Names: Tree moss Latin Name: Evernia prunastri Physical Characteristics:Â Growth primarily on the trunks and branches of oak trees. It is…
Few-Flowered Leek / Spring / Summer / Edible Identification Guide for Few-Flowered Leek A non-native, invasive member of the Allium family. Do your bit for nature and eat it 🙂 Common Names Few-Flowered Leek, Few-Flowered Garlic. Botanical Name Allium paradoxum Scientific Classification Kingdom – Plantae Order – Asparagales Family –…
Lords and Ladies / Spring / Summer / Autumn / Toxic Through this piece, we’re going to look at the full Identification Guide for Lords and Ladies as well as how to make sure we don’t confuse this one with common or lambs sorrel or accidentally pick it amongst our…
Ladies Smock / All Year Round / Edible Ladies Smock is A native, perennial member of the Brassica family, with a delicious mustardy taste. Very easy to identify. Common Names Ladies Smock, Cuckoo flower, Mayflower or Milkmaids. Botanical Name Cardamine pratensis Scientific Classification Kingdom – Plantae Order – Brassicales Family…