Alternate Leaves Archives - The Cargo Cult Café

Tall Coneflower: Edible & Medicinal

May 6, 2016 by Mike Leave a Comment

Tall Coneflower, Rudbeckia laciniata, is a sunflower plant of moist thickets that you can’t miss and it offers both edible and medicinal benefits. The flowers are yellow and has a disk that is a greenish-yellow knob. American Indians ate the shoots, leaves, and stem. Medicinally, the plant is diuretic, tonic and balsamic and the blossoms were used as a burn dressing.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!

Tall Coneflower Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software. Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 1. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 671-677

Foster, Steven and James A. Duke. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. 2nd. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print. pg. 142

Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 30

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 495

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 376-377

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.

Honewort or Wild Chervil: Edible

May 4, 2016 by Mike Leave a Comment

Honewort, Cryptotaenia canadensis, sometimes referred by its alternate name Wild Chervil (depending upon the field guide). It is an edible plant that can be found in rich woods from May to September. The flowers are small and in umbel clusters. The upper leaves alternate along the stem and the leaves themselves are divided into three leaflets that are sharply and irregularly toothed and often lobed. Honewort has a similar flavor to commercial chervil and contains several vitamins and minerals. The young leaves and stem can be eaten raw, added to salads or boiled for 10-15 minutes. The stem can be used like celery, the seeds used like seasoning, and the tough root can also be eaten raw but it is better when boiled for 30 to 45 minutes. So, the next time you are in the woods don’t be quick to overlook the plain looking plants, they may be what you need to bring spice into your backcountry meal.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!

Honewort or Wild Chervil Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Brill, Steve. Wild Edibles Plus. Computer Software. WinterRoot LLC. Version 1.5. 2012. Web. Feb. 15, 2014.

Fernald, Merritt Lyndon & Alfred Charles Kinsey. Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1996. Print. pg. 287-289

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 218-219

Niering, William A., & John W. Thieret. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers Eastern Region, Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. Print. pg. 339-340 pl.192

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 40-41

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.

Golden Alexanders: Edible, Medicinal & Cautions

April 15, 2016 by Mike Leave a Comment

Golden Alexanders, Zizia aurea, is a golden flower of May and June. This plant is potentially toxic and eating the roots has caused vomiting and other adverse reactions. Be careful with members of the parsley family. Both the flowers and stalk are edible, the flowers can be prepared like broccoli. It has been used medicinally by both American Indians and in western herbal medicine. Golden Alexander or Zizia was used for headaches, fever, hysteria, epilepsy, chorea, leucorrhea, backaches and increasing sexual drive in men.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry.

Golden Alexanders Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Boericke, William, Materia Medica, 1901.

Deane, Green. Edible Flowers: Part Sixteen. Eat the Weeds. Web

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 614

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 226-227

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.