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Winter greens ??
I found this plant just this month growing abundantly in a partial shady, moist, fertil soil around our Asian Pear trees and a Comfrey plant. We have had frosty nights that does not affect it negatively. The plants are only about 3 inches tall, yet still a taproot can be found. Can anyone identify this? (The "Edible Wild Plants" book I have rules out wild mustard and sorrels.)
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...all_greens.jpg http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...allgreens1.jpg http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...allgreens2.jpg |
The leaves look a bit like dandelion. Does it smell like dandelion?
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I really don't know what dandelion smells like as we have had so few around here this year. Do dandelions sprout and grow during late fall/winter months?
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Looks like some sort of brassica to me. The turnip green, rape, kale and other brassicas appear similar. TTT
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One way to see if its a dandelion would be to snap off a fresh leaf and see if any milky substance is in the stalk which is a telltale sign.
My first instinct was a young chard or a brassica like TnTnTn said. |
If there is milky substance in the stalk, does that mean it is or it isn't a dandelion?
We have no planted any turnips, rape, kale or any brassica in our garden. I have no idea where these came from. We did have a lot of Dock, Plantain and Redroot Pigweed come up wild in the garden; but this doesn't look anything like those. We also had smartweed come up abundantly; but this is not that either. |
There are a lot of 'wild' or volunteer brassica types around cultivated areas that persist for years. TTT
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ROFL Yep, TnTnTn, I'm learning that alright. :)
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Have you ever seen a lot of yellow flowers around there in the spring? Could it be wild mustard. It will come up for years from seed....James
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ed=0CDYQ9QEwAQ http://www.pennilessparenting.com/20...aged-food.html . |
Thanks James. I'll go over and look at those urls.
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Maybe watercress ?
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Yes, dandelion sprouts and grows in the fall. And they don't always have milky sap.
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My vote is for dandelion. I have dandelion seedlings growing here now that look just like that. They won't develop the lobes until the leaves mature more.
Just pinch off a bit and taste it. If it's dandelion it should have a mildly bitter taste. . |
I took some of the leaves and chewed them up. They had a mildy bitter taste and reminded me of turnips.
If this is indeed dandelions, I am truly blessed. I take a tablet for high blood pressure that depetes my potassium; and dandelion greens contain this mineral. :) |
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I'm not ruling out dock as we have plenty of that on the place; however, these are not growing like our dock do.
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Wait................... does'nt dock have a tap root...mmmmmmmmmm .
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Mustard greens have a bitter taste but less than turnip greens, sort of peppery....James
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I picked some yesterday, just pulled entire plant out of ground and cut off the root system. I washed them and added some tiny fresh tomatoes (cut in half). Then I mixed up some poppy seeds, black pepper, powdered mustard and a little sea salt with some Olive Oil and tossed the fresh greens/tomatoes in this. Spread some shreaded mixed cheese and some thinly chopped/sliced ham with some slices of purple onion. These greens gave this chef's salad one of the best tastes I've had in a salad. The slight tang was perfect!
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Looks like arugula to me, but I'm not sure as only grow the rustic variety that has deeper cut leaves.
Is it peppery and kind of vaguely peanutty? |
Tiempo, I would not describe the taste as "peanutty". It is slightly bitter with a sweet-like turnip taste to it.
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it looks like chard to me. One year my chard went to seed and then I little chards popping up all around that looked lik ethe plant you found. Did you ever grow chard in your garden in the past?
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