Is anyone growing fawn lily (Erythronium species) for food?

I live on the Pacific Wet Coast and we've got an area which is naturally growing Fawn Lily. I'm wondering if anyone's growing them for food?

I think I've read that they make a good understory plant for fruit trees, and had planned on trying to transplant some to near the apple trees I planted two years ago, but I'm not sure how fussy they are about the type of soil, or how much water they'd need while getting established. It's about to be October, so I'm thinking this might be a good time to try transplanting?

We call it trout lily here.  It is a wild edible I know, but I've rarely found enough to harvest in quantity to really experiment with it as food.  please let me know what you find out - it is a beautiful plant and where it grows, I often find wild ginger and other fairly rare edibles.  We get 270+ days of precip here (Avery County NC) with fog most mornings, so probably a fairly similar environment.

We call it Trout Lily here too, or Dog-Tooth Violet. In NY is was fairly uncommon and I couldn't imagine eating the few I'd see.

Here in WV I have a north facing mountainside with some areas carpeted with it. Ramps and morels grow in the same areas so I often forage those two and trample the spotted leaves of the Erythronium sp. since they're up around the same time. I haven't tried eating them. I don't know if they can sustain their numbers against annual digging for food or not. The fact that no one does it around here makees me think probably not.

Back in NY I tried transplanting some into a shady garden several times. They always came up and flowered for a few years, then just leaves and after about 6 years they no longer appeared. I also bought them from a native plants nursery and had the same result (actually I don't think the nursery ones ever flowered).

I think they need copious moisture when they're actively growing and they are not tolerant of sun. I wouldn't try transplanting them again myself. Mine here all have nice, fat seed pods around morel time so if I wanted to establish them somewhere else, I would put mesh bags on the seed pods in the woods, come back later for the seeds and scatter them around or start them in flats.

I also doubt very much that they can handle any competition from grasses. Here we are zone 6b with 40" average annual rainfall.

I looked into Trout Lily for food production as a Spring Ephemeral for a food forest and ultimately decided it wasn't worth using. I opted to try and use Ramps & Spring Beauty instead. As far as Trout Lily is concerned, the bulbs are quite small and the leaves can only be harvested sparingly to keep a colony thriving. I have also found it is used medicinally for emetic properties.

From what I gather, if you're willing to maintain a colony and harvest them very judiciously then I definitely think it's possible to use them for food. That being said, if you are willing to consider ornamental value first and any harvest as a secondary benefit then I would go for it!

Eric S.

Jay, are you looking to harvest the roots or the leaves? Or both?

Eric Silveira wrote:Jay, are you looking to harvest the roots or the leaves? Or both?

I'd say my first goal is to try growing them under some of my fruit trees to improve the "poly" in "polyculture".

My second goal is that if my efforts to spread them to new areas of my property are successful, it is a back-up emergency food supply that most people would be unfamiliar with. As big as the Island I live on is, it is *not* food secure. I've tried a couple of times to get camas growing without a lot of luck, but these little lilies seem to be happily spreading in the one area I've noticed them in.

I do realize that if I were to decide the priority was spring salad, that it would weaken the plant and make harvesting the bulbs a bad idea. What I should do is some food experiments on myself and Hubby, as how our bodies react to it as food is important. My research suggests it contains inulin which some people tolerate better than others.

And wrote:

That being said, if you are willing to consider ornamental value first and any harvest as a secondary benefit then I would go for it!

Not *just* ornamental. I need to look up who pollinates them unless you happen to know? My Island is generally characterized as a Domestic Bee desert. But fruit trees grow well, and there are wild pollinators out there, and I'd like to support them. So I guess you could say that if the local pollinators are the ones who "harvest" from them, I'm good with that!

They could definitely help create a nice polyculture with your fruit trees, especially considering they already grow naturally in one of your areas. I think having them as a backup food supply is an excellent idea, and supporting native pollinators is always a great idea. Without bees, I would guess you would have butterflies and moths as your main pollinators but I know virtually nothing of the pollinators of the West Coast.

I think the best strategy would be to mimic the conditions of the natural patch you have and try to create these conditions in areas where you want the Fawn Lilies to thrive when planted. It depends on the plant, but from what I gather about the Genus, these are rather delicate plants that take a long time to establish. They also are ephemeral in nature, going dormant for the summer months.

That being said, you could try a compost tea with microbes from your naturally occurring Fawn Lily patch. If you notice any particularly helpful mushrooms in that area you could also try a spore slurry, alongside mimicking the other conditions present (Organic matter, acidity, moisture, etc.). One other idea that may work, depending on your comfort level, would be to try and use prescribed burns to control invasive or undesirable species in an area you want Fawn Lilies to thrive. I do not know their exact response to fire, but most Erythronium species are dormant in the summer and their roots should be protected as long as the fire doesn't have a huge fuel load. Although, since they're in a polyculture with your fruit trees, you'll have to be careful to avoid fuel buildup near the trunk.

Hope this helps,
Eric S.

I've just sown three Erythronium species, European (but not Scandinavian) native E. dens-canis, and the American species E. revolutum and E. oregonum. Really hope they grow! From what I've read, it seems some of the American species (including revolutum and oregonum) were staple foods of various First Nations. Also, for some first-hand info, Alan Carter speaks highly of them (https://www.foodforest.garden/2013/07/06/eating-dogs-tooth-violet/)

I've finally found some of my photos to share on Erythronium. I would agree with Alan Carter that they make worthwhile eating. They taste like a slightly oniony potato. I've been growing them in my 'secret garden' for a few years and tried eating them for the first time last year - just gently fried. They passed the 'husband test' so I have since split up the plants to make a larger patch.

Wow Nancy, those bulbs are the largest I've seen for an Erythronium!  Thank you for that picture.  Ok, I admit that I've only seen the bulbs from our wild species.  Do you know what species/variety these bulbs are from?

I think those are probably "Pagoda."
I have three sorts of Erythronium planted, a white, a pink and a yellow one. Pagoda is a yellow flowering one. From memory it was the one with the largest bulbs. I think I will leave them another year and dig and divide them again next year.

Thank you Nancy.  I found this bulb picture on John Scheepers website that made me sure that you're right that it's 'Pagoda'.  I placed an order hoping I can tuck them into the ground before it freezes!  I'm so excited to grow these lovely creatures!

Ooh, that's nice! Have to get some 'Pagoda' too. Sadly too late to buy bulbs this year I think (ground's frozen solid) but next year... Some things I've read imply that 'Pagoda' can be propagated by seed, but it's a hybrid variety? But maybe the seedlings are similar enough to the mother that it doesn't matter so much. Did anyone try?

I haven't tried deliberatrely propagate any of mine by seed. They all seem to divide fairly rapidly, so I dig a clump up, hopefully select a few for eating and replant the rest, spreading them out to increase the area for next time. I think since it has bigger bulbs that pagoda divides more quickly too.

I've been working on Joseph's Landrace Gardening on-line course ( https://growingmodernlandraces.thinkific.com/courses/take/landracegardening/ )
What I understand so far is that Hybrids are designed by professional growers for consistency of results. By growing from seed, you will get more diversity (some more like mom, some more like dad or in this case, pollen donor vs seed donor) but that will allow you to choose for characteristics you want or work well in your eco-system.

The downside is that seeds of most bulbs take a *long* time to get large enough to be harvestable. Dividing is the faster way to go. The "word" is that choosing the largest garlic cloves to plant will give you a good crop in one season. Letting the plants seed, and the seedlings will take years to get as big. But you're gaining genetic diversity in the process. I do some of both. There are places where aphids can be a bother to me. I'll spread garlic seeds there and get some "aphid discouragement" happening while I wait for the bulbs to grow.

Those bulbs certainly look big enough to warrant eating! Glad to see there is a viable hybrid option for food use, and that they have reasonable vigor by division. From what I have read, they are still ephemeral like other members of the genus, but I am curious if they persist a little longer into summer than the other species.

Also, having a genetically diverse patch is super important, especially if you're looking to make a landrace population. The nomad seed project has some really good blog posts on this topic, through the lens of various indigenous stewardship regarding different native plants.

https://www.nomadseed.com/

Eric S.

Yes, genetic diversity is the stuff. I meant hybrid in the sense hybrid of two species, though, as in it might be seed-sterile. Guess my wording was a bit weird...

Eino Kenttä wrote:Yes, genetic diversity is the stuff. I meant hybrid in the sense hybrid of two species, though, as in it might be seed-sterile. Guess my wording was a bit weird...

Ahhh... it's just in how people are thinking sometimes. Yes, if I let my Muscovy cross with my Khakis, the eggs are viable, but the offspring are sterile. You get a single generation of hybrid vigor, but that's it.

I don't know enough about plant genetics to know if the Pagoda seeds would be fertile or not, but there's no harm in trying. I would want to research  what helps/hinders germination within the genus. I've got some seeds in my fridge for fruit trees that required several months of "cold" to germinate. I have some other seeds that I really  have to take a tiny file to thin the cover if I want them to go, and we've got a number of local plants whose seeds really need the gut of a bird to "prepare" them for germination! I don't know anywhere near enough about Erythronium to guess what they need.

There is a free to download ebook available here by Ian Young that seems to go into some detiail on propagating and growing Erythroniums, including from seed. It's designed for horticulturalists, rather than those wishing to eat the bulbs . He mentions that Erythronium japonicum is called katakuri and the starch used for thickening in Japan. Ian does go into some detail as to which species have the laregst bulbs and which are more likely to increase by offsets rather than just by seed. It seems he gardens in Scotland, so his experiences may not reflect plants grown in hotter/drier/colder climates of course. Interestingly for me he says that in Scotland shade is not neccessary for most erythroniums to thrive (the whole of Scotland is in shade!).
Pagoda apparently is a selection of Erythronium tuolumnense which is native to California and readily propagates by bulb offsets. He says it has the largest bulbs of the Erythroniums and

When growing well each bulb will divide producing two flowering sized bulbs every year - in addition to that they may also produce a number of smaller offsets.

So theoretically you could dig and eat half the bulbs every year and still increase your stock.

I can't resist posting another picture of my Erythronium, which are just coming into full bloom at the moment. So pretty! Looks like I didn't get all those daffodils out.....