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nerion

Woodland plants - identification please!

Hi folks, newbie here. I've only been foraging twice but really enjoy it and have already eaten lovely stinging nettles, dandelion and wood sorrel.

I've also made the common sorrel/cuckoopint mistake and won't be doing that again. Embarassed

Anyway, on my last forrage in the woods, I saw a few plants I didn't recognise and wonder if someone could tell me their names - and if they're edible please.

I think the second picture may be cow parsley but I realise this can be mixed up with fools' parsley and hemlock. What are the best ways to differentiate?

Many thanks,

Andy





sally_in_wales

top one lesser celandine, bottom dogs mercury I think
jamanda

The first one is celandine. It will have pretty little yellow flowers soon. ( It's also called pilewort)
nerion

Flipping heck, that was quick! Thank you! Keep 'em coming. Very Happy
jamanda

The middle one could be cow parsley or it might not - not one to eat!

Any way, welcome to the forum Very Happy

eta you might find these interesting

http://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Finding_food/Top_Ten_Wild_Foods_in_March/

http://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Finding_food/Top_Ten_Wild_Foods_for_April/
Minamoo

Flipping heck, that was quick! Thank you! Keep 'em coming. Very Happy


Hello!

Good to see another person getting hooked by the foraging bug! The most important thing for you to do now before you go out and start picking things with the intention of eating is to invest in a good guide book. I've found that the river cottage series is amazing for beginners (I have 'Mushrooms', 'Hedgerow' and 'Edible Seashore' and love them). Foraging can be very dangerous if you're not careful. So a good guide book (preferably more than one as plants can look slightly different depending on their habitat) is a must.

You can eat the leaves on the lesser celandine at this time of the year. And if you have it in your garden, the roots when steamed taste like baby new potatoes. Very labour intensive 'potatoes' but fun to do once. Smile
nerion

Awww, thank you! And it's Hugh and his wonderful gang who've got me into foraging - and growing my own herbs. Don't have enough room for veg.

I shall invest in the books. I have already bought Food for Free and Mushrooms from the Collins Gem series.

Thanks again,

Andy

PS What about plants no2 and no3 then? What are we dealing with?
sally_in_wales

Dogs Mercury definately isnt edible, don't eat that one
Midland Spinner

I second the advice to get a good field guide - Don't just rely on foraging hand books, get a proper botanists field guide as well. AND learn to use it properly.
Personally I use "The Wild Flower Key" by Rose (but it may be out of print).

Practice as well: Start with plants you definitely know and follow the keys and then the descriptions to ensure that you can properly identify all the parts of the plant and reach the right conclusion from the key. Learn to use a hand lens. Don't just guess, do it properly. It Could Save Your Life.
cab

Probably cow parsley, but it would be foolish to try to identify such a thing from a picture alone.

And the bottom one looks quite like ground elder from where I'm sitting.

The top one has been correctly ID'd as lesser celandine. Edible leaves, not THAT exciting, but useful at this time of year.
bubble

the bottom one is dogs mercury,surprised you've been caught out there cab.
cab

Could be a fine example of me wandering up to a patch of tasty plants with an expectant look on my face, only to be disappointed. Only happens once or twice on every forage Laughing

Dunno though, looks like a patch of ground elder poking through the leaves. I'd want a closer look.
sally_in_wales

I didnt think ground elder got those little bobbly bits at this stage?
cab

Bobbly bits?

It'd be easy enough to be sure though, the two smell rather different, and in hand they're not at all confusing.
wildfoodie

that pale shiny green does look like newly sprouted ground elder but the bobbly bits for me make it a definite dogs mercury id.
cab- the bobbly bits - paler greenish yellow -are clearest on the plants in the bottom right corner of the pic nestling on top of the leaves
cab

that pale shiny green does look like newly sprouted ground elder but the bobbly bits for me make it a definite dogs mercury id.
cab- the bobbly bits - paler greenish yellow -are clearest on the plants in the bottom right corner of the pic nestling on top of the leaves


Oh, yeah, bobbly bits. Flat out hadn't seen them. No,that doesn't look like ground elder! Laughing
hedgehogpie

From the top: Lesser Celandine, edible leaves if harvested before flowering. The bulbils/tubers are best left until after the plant has died back at the end of the season and they're tiny and fiddly.

Middle: Possibly Cow Parsley, but as there are some seriously toxic look-alikes in the family Apiaceae, leave well alone until you can be absolutely sure. One to observe carefully as it grows so that you can get to know it intimately. No rush to make yourself ill!

Bottom: Dog's Mercury. Another toxic plant best avoided & one to watch out for when you're picking Ramsons as the two often intermingle.
nerion

Wow, thank you all so much - and I shall defintiely take your advice about the cow parsley. I guess it's easier to identify when in flower, too.

I hope you don't mind me posting the pics - just that I'd love to know every single plant out there - edible and inedible. You've all been really helpful. Surprised)
maryf

I agree with the id's given and also recommend midlandspinner field guide, The Wild Flower Key, Francis Rose - I got a new one on Amazon last spring, it was very usefully supplied with a plastic jacket so I do really take it into the field. I f you haven't used a key before do take the advice to practise on plants you know. sarahloo

Can I just recommend Roger Phillips "Wild Food" as well as the River Cottage guides previously mentioned. They are all quite inspiring because they have lovely photos and recipes as well as interesting little stories and anecdotes. The guy that forages for River Cottage is quite a comedian sometimes too Smile meggy

We have a lot of hemlock - ID by red spots/areas on stems.
Steer clear! Middle photo looks like could be either cow parsle or hemlock but would need closer look - hemlock definitely coming up here (herefordshire) at mo.
hedgehogpie

Hemlock also smells strongly like rats wee. Confused dpack

the rev keeble martin has a nice field guide nerion

Hi folks,

You were all so helpful last time, here are a few more plants (and fungi) that I'm unsure of. Would love it if you could help.



1. Funny little plant but I have no idea what it is. Looks like a lot of little green bums on the woodland floor!




2. Not sure about this one but thought it may be lambs' sorrel?




3. These are TINY leaves - maybe a centimetre long at the most.




4. Maybe one of the dead nettles - more rounded leaves than stinging nettle (see bottom right). How do you tell the dead nettles apart when they're not in bloom?




5. No idea about this one. Relatively large leaves and red stems.




6. Thought this may be ground elder? Doesn't have the "twiddly bits" of dog's mercury.



7. No idea about this one - looks like a minature bush.




8. I think this may be a "wort" - but which one?




9. Another one that looks parsley-esque.




10. Fungi at last - though it does look like a turd! It was way past its best and home to a spider and dead insect inside. What kind of mushroom is it?



11a. Initial joy at spotting these as I thought they were velvet shanks. But the lack of brown stem made me think: sulphur tufts.




11b. Same mushrooms, picked. From young on the front left to older on the front right. My guide book states that the young'uns have a gossamer veil, which you can see on the first two. Am I right? Sulphur tufts?

Many thanks, folks. I also picked nettles, wild garlic and wood sorrel. Time to make some soup now! Very Happy
earthyvirgo

I lost track of the number but I'm pretty sure there was a campion in there (No.2?), and Jack by the Hedge, the one you thought was dead nettle (I think).

Is 8 a little cranesbill? I know I've seen it in the slate shale around here.

9 looks like a buttercup.

The first one only looks odd because it's no showing its true leaves yet. It's possibly a tree seedling - sycamore maybe.

EV
jamanda

1 - Can't tell - try again when it's not just got it's cotyledons

2 - Red campion

3 - bluebells

4 - Jack-in-the-hedge (peppery and edible)

5 - hogweed

6 - ground elder

7 - I don't think that's indigenous

8 - some sort of cranesbill and herb robert with the more divided leaves

9 something buttercuppy

Will leave the shrooms for someone else - might be worth putting them in a separate thread so the mushroom boys look at them.

9
earthyvirgo

7 isn't Feverfew is it Jamanda?

EV
jamanda

It could well be - and I should have got it as it grows outside my back door Rolling Eyes bubble

1-???2-white campion [or red] or wood forget-me not,3- ??? 4- Garlic mustard,5-hogweed 6-gound elder 7- greater celandine chelidonium majus 8-sanicle sanicula europaea bottom r.h. side is herb robert Geranium robertianum 9- artemisia vulgaris? 10 -daeldinia concentrica [with ash mostly]11a and 11b -coprinus micaceous? Very Happy Smile Very Happy Treacodactyl

7 looks more like a Corydalis to me.
10 is commonly known as King Alfred's cakes or cramp balls and although it isn't edible it takes a spark when dry and smoulders nicely, you can keep an ember alight for well over half an hour.
bubble

7 -is definately greater celandine [no relation to the lesser]it exudes a yellow liquid where a leaf is cut.[poppy family]Masses of it in east anglia esp. the sandy soil of the brecklands. jamanda

Would explain why I don't know it. I've never been to stanglia.

Where are you Nerion?
nerion

Hi folks, I'm in Derbyshire. Thanks for all the replies - keep 'em coming! Very Happy Minamoo

Ok. I am not normally the one to say this.....but you really need to get yourself a good ID book and get yourself onto an organised wild food walk where people can show you these plants and help you identify them. It's all well and good posting pictures of forums, but you simply cannot simply rely on a random bunch of internet people (knowledgeable as they might be) to identify plants for you to then eat. Your tentative identifications have almost all been wrong and this could get quite dangerous.

Take a step back. GO out and buy yourself a good ID book. The new photo edition of Richard Mabey's food for free and the "Hedgerow" and "Mushrooms" books in the river cottage series by JOhn Wright are my personal favourites. Go out with those books and try to find the plants you see in there. Ignore anything you can't find in the book or have doubts about. You are trying to run before you can walk. Foraging is loads of fun but is also potentially fatal if not done properly. Please please please be careful.

And don't pick seedlings. They are much harder to identify. When you're starting out it is best to wait until the flowers of the plants come up so you can be 100% sure you have the right plant.
bubble

agree completely with Minamoo ,you've already mistook cuckoo pint for sorrel,sooner or later you are going to poison yourself or somebody else!!!The only sure way is to be nursed on in a group who are experienced and knowledgeable.You cannot use books and forums alone!!! jamanda

The fact that a bunch of relatively confident foragers are disagreeing over some plants when id-ing from just a photo should tell you it's not an ideal way of doing things. I would certainly want more than that if I were to eat the stuff - especially fungi or umbellifers (or what ever they are called these days) nerion

Hi, thanks for the replies. I do have the Food for Free and Collins Gem Mushroom books - but some plants, such as those photographed and posted here, are not in the book.

I only posted the pics to help me learn from you guys the plants that I'm unaware of. I'm not aware of any local groups or I would indeed join one.

Sorry if I've offended anyone by posting the pics - but some of the replies have been very helpful (and very accurate).

As for the cuckoo pint/sorrel misadventure, Google those words - I am not the only person to do this. You learn from your mistakes and I've certainly learned this lesson. I won't eat anything now unless I'm 100% certain of what it is.

As for the pics above, I wasn't suggesting I was going to eat them - merely seeking to find out what they are.
jamanda

No-one's offended. We just don't want you to poison yourself!

This was my best thumbed guide during my degree in botany. Still use it.

eta - I quite like the game of the on line id-ing. Just aware that it could be bad if I got it wrong.
nerion

I don't want to poison myself either - especially after the cuckoo pint faux pas.

As I say, I saw some plants I couldn't identify and thought the lovely people on this forum could help if I posted some pics - that's all. I wasn't intending to eat any of them!
jamanda

I don't want to poison myself either - especially after the cuckoo pint faux pas.

As I say, I saw some plants I couldn't identify and thought the lovely people on this forum could help if I posted some pics - that's all. I wasn't intending to eat any of them!

That's aright then. Keep the pics coming. Very Happy
nerion

I don't want to poison myself either - especially after the cuckoo pint faux pas.

As I say, I saw some plants I couldn't identify and thought the lovely people on this forum could help if I posted some pics - that's all. I wasn't intending to eat any of them!

That's aright then. Keep the pics coming. Very Happy

Very Happy Thank you, Jamanda. Just trying to educate myself. The only things I've cooked with from foraging so far are nettles, wild garlic and wood sorrel - things I'm 100% certain of what they are.

I have been reading lots about foraging over the past few months - about edible plants/fungi and the nasty stuff. That's why I thought those mushrooms were sulphur tufts and left them well alone.
jamanda

Come to the skills share in the Autumn. We'll have a forage then.

(Not much in the way of details on that thread yet - more at pencil in this date stage than anything else atm.)
nerion

Sounds great - just might do that. Long way though so would have to combine it with a holiday or something. Minamoo

Hi, thanks for the replies. I do have the Food for Free and Collins Gem Mushroom books - but some plants, such as those photographed and posted here, are not in the book.

I only posted the pics to help me learn from you guys the plants that I'm unaware of. I'm not aware of any local groups or I would indeed join one.

Sorry if I've offended anyone by posting the pics - but some of the replies have been very helpful (and very accurate).

As for the cuckoo pint/sorrel misadventure, Google those words - I am not the only person to do this. You learn from your mistakes and I've certainly learned this lesson. I won't eat anything now unless I'm 100% certain of what it is.

As for the pics above, I wasn't suggesting I was going to eat them - merely seeking to find out what they are.

Don't worry. You didn't offend in the least. I was just a bit worried that you may end up poisoning yourself which would be bad. We do enjoy playing the "guess this plant's name" game and I'm sure people will enjoy it even more knowing that you're going to be ok. Smile And you should defo go to the skillshare if you can. It's always a wonderful event. I don't know if I'll be able to make it this year as I have to submit my PhD in September. But I can hope....!
nerion

Aw, thank you! Smile Love this forum! sarahloo

Just out of curiosity - what happened when you ate the cuckoo pint? (if you don't mind my asking!) Midland Spinner

I agree with Minamoo too - in fact I'd go further - once you get a good field guid (the collins one is good, but I prefer Rose's Wild Flower Key), practice using it to identify plants you already know by working through the keys etc, until you are sure that you can do that, then work on plants that you think you know, but aren't 100% sure about. That way you'll build up the skills to ID plants that you don't know at all. dpack

7 looks more like a Corydalis to me.
10 is commonly known as King Alfred's cakes or cramp balls and although it isn't edible it takes a spark when dry and smoulders nicely, you can keep an ember alight for well over half an hour.

burn well
Minamoo

7 looks more like a Corydalis to me.
10 is commonly known as King Alfred's cakes or cramp balls and although it isn't edible it takes a spark when dry and smoulders nicely, you can keep an ember alight for well over half an hour.

When i first started foraging I got the two names confused and called them King Alfred's balls. Laughing
hedgehogpie

I admire your enthusiasm, where you are now is at the bottom of a fabulous but steep learning curve (and probably a lifelong obsession!). Books, photographs and asking on the 'net won't fill in all the gaps but you're making a start.

Even joining a group is no real guarantee if the person leading it isn't as proficient as they could be (every man and his dog seem to be running foraging courses these days) or is no good at communicating the biggest lessons you need to learn which is always, always err on the side of caution. Never take anything for granted so check and re-check before you jump in and remember to give yourself time to learn properly.

It's exciting but you don't want to do yourself or anyone else serious damage. It's never wrong to ask - it's the fool who doesn't, not the person who acknowledges that they need to.

1. Too small and the leaves are immature to id, could be a tree seedling such as sycamore (Acer pseudoplatantus)

2. Possibly a Campion (Silene dioica - red campion, or Silene latifolia - white campion).

3. No idea, I'd need to see that one at a more avanced state of growth.

4. Hedge Garlic (Alliaria petiolata)

5. Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)

6. Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria)

7. Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus)

8. The red leaves bottom right are Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) the other leaves Doves foot cranesbill (Geranium molle)

9. Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

10. Cramp Ball fungus (Daldinia concentrica)

11. Mica cap (Coprinus micaceus)

Try to learn to recognise and use the botanical names as well as the common ones - they're a good way of pinning down an indentification when you're checking resources for info as common names can be variable countrywide.
nerion

Many thanks for your reply! As I said in another thread, the books are on the way (to join those I already have) and I've spoken to a member of the British Mycological Society with a view to joining him on forays.

I may be a newbie but I'm trying to be a responsible one. The horror stories I've read about eating the wrong mushrooms fill me with dread and I don't want to be hooked up to a dialysis machine - or worse - thanks very much.
hedgehogpie

You're attitude is exactly right. Don't ever stop asking, questioning the answers or lose your enthusiasm.

It's great seeing someone just getting onto the path. I've personally been quietly obsessed with wild food one way or another for over 30 years now & it gives me enormous pleasure to watch someone else discovering what's likely to be a lifelong passion. Good luck to you! Very Happy
nerion

You're attitude is exactly right. Don't ever stop asking, questioning the answers or lose your enthusiasm.

It's great seeing someone just getting onto the path. I've personally been quietly obsessed with wild food one way or another for over 30 years now & it gives me enormous pleasure to watch someone else discovering what's likely to be a lifelong passion. Good luck to you! Very Happy

Awww, thank you so much. Hugh FW has a lot to answer for!
hedgehogpie

Laughing In my case it began when I was 7 with a very old book by a guy called Ernest Thompson Seton, another equally ancient one by L.C Cameron and then along came Richard Mabey and Ray Mears! jamanda

I started with the Flower Fairy books. Embarassed Laughing
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