crockettjohnson Hatfield

i amended this post with everyone's contributions if that's of any interest. if my hunches about the dried dock in item 13 is right,  i think item 16 & 18 are the only stumpers at the moment. the fruiting plant pictured in #16 is in the back of another home a few doors down from ours as well.

Paleo Gardener wrote:
Dandelion, wild lettuce, and young sow thistles are often hard to tell apart, but they are all edible, so #1 is definitely edible. A mature dandelion will have deep indents in its leaves, and a wild lettuce or sow thistle will get prickly.

thanks, paleo gardener. i haven't ventured much with the wild lettuces as many are quite large here in chicago this time of year and, i imagine, probably not as good as spring growths. of course, i could be wrong but it seems like at least 1 or 2 of the books i've looked through on wild edibles seem to suggest the late summer is a bit of an inbetween stage for hunting wild edibles before autumn nuts & berries.

Jeanine Gurley wrote:
This collection of photos would be a great resource if labeled with the names on the photos.  It hard to find actual photos - I can usually just find drawings.

I tried to go back and forth from the answers to the photos but with my half blind eyes it just wasn't working out.

jeanine, i agree. i just updated the pics so they are at a more visible scale. there should now be no need to toggle between this forum and imageshack. in a moment i'll add some of the IDs everyone has produced so far.

thanks for the quick feedback, h ludi.  i thought maybe pics 12 and 13 were plantain and dock. the rest were bafflers for me. is it safe to say that the leaf shape on the wild lettuce is the the common attribute that makes these lettuce? i can't help but notice, for instance, that they have an uncanny resemblance to arugula among other leafy greens.

pic 7 is one of the most common 'weeds' in the area (illinois) but i, too, am totally stumped. every abandoned lot and unhemmed yard is likely to have it growing and often at about 5 or 6 feet. the leafs are almost ribbon-like. the stem tends to be a bit hairy and slightly prickly to the touch.  thanks again. i really do appreciate it at this early, early stage (the only thing i absolutely identified recently was sorrel  - the clover, flowers and taste are dead giveaways.

thanks in advance to anyone else who cares to share further thoughts.

crockett

hi there,
i'm sure many of these have been posted and discussed here previously. i'd nevertheless be grateful for any input experienced foragers could provide in identifying the plants in these photos. i have a few books on loan from the library that has helped somewhat but at this early stage of trying to get familiar with the natural growth around us, i'm still not at a very confident place in identifying much - especially when it's in a wild urban setting as opposed to more "natural" environments (i.e. forest preserves and such). thanks to everyone in advance!

i have been posting amendments as different folks have been putting in their observations.


1. dandelion / wild lettuce / lactuca virosa

2. ?

3. chiltepin / pepper / solanum

4. Convolvulus - morning glory relative

5. ragweed / ambrosia

6. Peppergrass  Lepidium / capsella bursa pastoris

7. flea bane / euphorbia

8. wild lettuce

9. chiltepin / solanum

10. wild lettuce

11. queen anne's lace / wild carrot



12. common plantain

13.  i believe this is dried out or chemically treated dock. it bears a strong resemblance to description and photo of dock in thayer's 'nature's garden' book.

14. purslane

15. wild lettuce

16. yucca

17. sunflower

18. beggars tick

19. threadleaf daisy

20. cosmos